Originally Posted by
Stitchnripper
Thanks everyone!
Update - it was dry as a bone. I cleaned up some dried oil or grease near the top gears, but, other than that, gave it a Tri-FLow drink and put some motor lube in the motor well. It isn't whisper quiet I think a few more sessions on it will give the Tri-Flow a better chance to do it's job.
Alyce,
The motor in in this machine has a sealed upper bearing that was factory packed with grease. They tend to get loud and whiney after all these years because the grease is now hardened. There's two options for quieting them down. One is to remove the motor and replace that upper bearing. Not expensive and not hard to do, but an easier fix is to give that upper bearing a couple drops of 30wt. motor oil and run the machine for 5-10 minutes to allow it to soften that grease up. It only takes a minute or two before you'll start hearing the difference. The reason for the 30wt. instead of regular sewing machine oil or Tri Flow is that it's thicker and won't run out the bottom of the bearing before it gets a chance to do it's job.
Cari