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There's always a "stumper"....

I've had a Vic V for many years. Although I've gone through and completely dipped the spring motor to remove all old grease and re- lubed it with synthetic Redline grease and oiled/ adjusted everything else, I simply cannot get it to run steadily- it speeds up and slows down randomly... and very intermittently at that. There's no real pattern as to when in the wind- down cycle this happens, either. I'm talking variations of maybe 10 RPM or so. It's quite annoying, and despite the fact that I'm regarded as being pretty good at repairing and restoring these machines this one is persistent. Even varying governor end play doesn't seem to help. Any ideas?

Check and make sure the gear on the spring barrel (called the bull gear I believe) is not damaged. Sometimes the teeth on this gear will get torn up and cause the motor to speed up and slow down intermediately like you were describing. Maybe that's not the problem but it's just about the only thing I can think of that would cause that.
Good luck,
-Nick

Another place to check is the bottom of the spindle shaft. There should be a small ball bearing there. I have had similar symptoms with machines where this is missing.

If the ball bearing at the bottom of the spindle shaft is missing, you can use a metal BB pellet from a BB gun. I had a Victor motor that was missing that bearing so I used a BB pellet in its place. The motor runs smooth and quiet now.
-Nick

Victrolaboy wrote:If the ball bearing at the bottom of the spindle shaft is missing, you can use a metal BB pellet from a BB gun. I had a Victor motor that was missing that bearing so I used a BB pellet in its place. The motor runs smooth and quiet now.
-Nick

bike shops carry loose ball bearings in many sizes; you can get one for about 10 cents.

Good thoughts! Ball bearing is present, not worn, well oiled- and the bull gear shows no wear.

Check your governor leather contact on the friction disc and make sure none of it is riding on the outside edge, creating a ridge in the leather. That's what happened with me once.
Bob

Something else to check is to see if the governor springs are tired and fatigued. If so, you may want to get a set and rebuild the governor.
Harvey Kravitz

I don't have a specific solution to your problem. However, the simplicity of that Victor motor makes it easy to substitute in known good parts, one by one. The easiest is the governor assembly. After that, either the spindle and gear assembly, or the spring barrels assembly. If you don't have the parts to substitute in, a complete disassembly and thorough cleaning and lubrication before reassembly may cure the issue. Russie

startgroove wrote:However, the simplicity of that Victor motor makes it easy to substitute in known good parts, one by one.

Good point, because the motor design is so simple that only so much can go wrong. The only additional thing I would also consider looking for in general is excessive wear of the hole in the casting that the spindle passes through. That is rarely a problem and may not contribute to speed fluctuations, but I recall a Sonora that went downhill from working to seized within a week. Very long story short, the spindle hole was oval-shaped and replacing the motor casting cured the problem. Moral: expect the absurd!