The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I’m working on my first motor rebuild with my Victrola the Fourteenth. Completely disassembled and cleaned, springs back in the barrels and greased, but one spring is slipping off its arbor. (The “bottom” spring on the drive gear side.)

Assuming I got everything back in the correct spot, are there ways to troubleshoot this? I’ve tried to bend the end of spring but I think I’m just making it worse.

Thanks all!
Mark

Are you very sure that you didn't re-insert the spring in the opposite way? If you didn't take pictures or notes while disassembling, it's very easy to get confused and re-insert it in the wrong direction.

I checked and the springs are correct: the one with the drive gear is clockwise inside and counterclockwise outside and the one with the ratchet gear is the opposite.

Here’s the current status:

Open up the spring barrel and show a picture of the inside. It will be the spring barrel adjacent to the winding gear.

Thanks. The springs were backwards. Not sure how I did that as my notes are correct!

I think the confusion comes from the fact that while the springs are loaded in each barrel in opposite ways, when the barrels are installed, the corresponding springs in each run the same way.

The two barrels are not interchangeable. Any of them can be installed in any way, they act symmetrically inside, but one is the first one and the other the second one. They are usually marked on the outside like 1 2, etc. The first spring to wind is the one the nearest to the winding crank, and it winds up by the central arbour counter clockwise as seen from the winding side. This barrel loads the second spring by the outside, and then the long arbour winds the farthest spring by its center, the same way, and that second barrel winds the fourth spring by the outside. This is the one attached to the bull gear, which rotates counterclockwise as seen from the winding crank.