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I recently tore down and cleaned the motor on my VV 4-3 and of course opened and thoroughly cleaned the barrel and regreased the springs two 17' springs/single barrel). When winding, it still makes a very slight bumping sound (sometimes more of a "whoosh") when winding. No bumps and thumps on unwinding, akin to the noise we're accustomed to with old petrified grease. My feeling is following a good cleaning and regreasing it should be completely silent. Would this be indicative of too light a grease or perhaps not enough? I pulled the motor again to examine it, and there is grease that has mushed out around the retaining ring on the barrel and some around the shaft gearing, but nothing excessive and what I would call normal. I used a synthetic wheel bearing grease, but did do something for the first time I'd not done before (on the advice of others), which was to put maybe ¼ to ½ tsp. of Marvel oil on each spring before reassembly. Thoughts/advice?

I'll assume then this is just a normal variant.

I apply Permatex Anti Seize to the springs first then a apply some 30 weight oil to loosen it a bit. Then you can add a layer of molybdenum grease. When I've done this I have never heard any noise.

CharliePhono wrote:I'll assume then this is just a normal variant.

Hard to say. Never used Synthetic grease mixed with Marvel Mystery Oil before. The only "mystery" about MMO is what it's actually good for. (This is from an antique car point of view mostly)

If all else fails, leave it soaking a bucket of kerosene. That will be sure to make it as clean as possible.

-Stephen

Thanks to all who responded. I'm thinking now that the grease I used was of too thin a composition, which was made even thinner with the addition of the minuscule amount of MMO. I will be removing the spring barrel and doing another soak in kero to ensure all grease (and perhaps residual) gunk is gone, followed by a good greasing with a heavier lubricant, this time sans the MMO. Thanks again.

Rather than kerosene, soak the barrel in Dextron automatic transmission fluid. The detecting agents dissolve old, hardened grease quite as well as does Coal Oil, but the Dextron itself is also an excellent lubricant on its own. It has a very advanced EP package.

Time quickest way to noiseless spring he is to clean with Dextron, and lubricate with gear oil. The heavy 600W which may be had from suppliers of Model To and Model A parts is ideal for this purpose, but even the 95W and 145W weight oils sold by most large auto supply houses will work reliably.

The lubricants available today are so far better than those used in 1910 that comparison is risible.

CharliePhono wrote:Thanks to all who responded. I'm thinking now that the grease I used was of too thin a composition, which was made even thinner with the addition of the minuscule amount of MMO. I will be removing the spring barrel and doing another soak in kero to ensure all grease (and perhaps residual) gunk is gone, followed by a good greasing with a heavier lubricant, this time sans the MMO. Thanks again.

Charlie,

I would just open up the barrels and pack in some more grease in the open spring centers. Put it back together and fully wind it a few times. The grease will distribute. Use some wheel bearing grease.

Uncle Vanya wrote:Rather than kerosene, soak the barrel in Dextron automatic transmission fluid. The detecting agents dissolve old, hardened grease quite as well as does Coal Oil, but the Dextron itself is also an excellent lubricant on its own. It has a very advanced EP package.

Time quickest way to noiseless spring he is to clean with Dextron, and lubricate with gear oil. The heavy 600W which may be had from suppliers of Model To and Model A parts is ideal for this purpose, but even the 95W and 145W weight oils sold by most large auto supply houses will work reliably.

The lubricants available today are so far better than those used in 1910 that comparison is risible.

Ah, never knew Dexron could be used as a cleaner! This is good. And yes, fully agree that lubricants today are superior to those of the past. To that end, I could not understand why collectors would continue to use flake graphite and Vaseline in their spring barrels.

JerryVan wrote:

CharliePhono wrote:Thanks to all who responded. I'm thinking now that the grease I used was of too thin a composition, which was made even thinner with the addition of the minuscule amount of MMO. I will be removing the spring barrel and doing another soak in kero to ensure all grease (and perhaps residual) gunk is gone, followed by a good greasing with a heavier lubricant, this time sans the MMO. Thanks again.

Charlie,

I would just open up the barrels and pack in some more grease in the open spring centers. Put it back together and fully wind it a few times. The grease will distribute. Use some wheel bearing grease.

This is what may end up happening, JerryV, depending on the amount of time I do/do not have to devote to working (yet again) on the motor. One of the things that occurred during reassembly of the spring barrel was that, upon reinsertion of the shaft into the barrel, a copious quantity of the fresh grease, the same length and caliber of the shaft came mushing out one end opposite of its insertion. I'm thinking I need to pay more attention to distributing the grease out of the path of said shaft, if possible.

Thank you!