Singer 404 -- Help needed
 

Best to treat it like any 'attic fresh' vintage machine; clean and oil completely. Then test, run, check timing.
The 'bounce' in the drive is normal. There is a spring on the drive gear. 404 is a solid machine, should work well with a little care.

The motor is internal, placed vertically, a bit different than the external motors of many other models like the Featherweight. Detect the meshing gears, there are two under an one on top, find a good grease for them, clean well before applying new. Every other joint, hinge, and gear is oiled. This is a type of machine which ofte goes from very noisy to rather quiet when cleaned and oiled.

Thanks so much for the help, SingerCLA and Mickey2!
Going to work on it today.
ila :)

One more bit of advice about these machines. They'll often have a noisy whine from the motor. This is caused by 60yr. old dried grease in the upper motor bearing. There are two fixes for this. One is to replace that bearing. The second fix, easier and costs less, is to put a drop of 30wt. motor oil into the top of the bearing and run the machine for a few minutes giving the oil time to soften the dried grease. I guarantee this works.

Cari

Hi Cari-in-Oly,
How will I know where the bearing is?
ila

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Look at where the green arrow is pointing, right below that gear is where the drop of 30wt. goes. Thanks to Joe for first posting this pic with the red arrows. I added the green arrow.

Cari

Hi again, everyone,
I have the 404 oiled and lubed and everything sounds much, much smoother, but it still sounds awfully loud to me. Sewing-machine oil wouldn't do any good for the bearing, would it? I don't have any of the 30 wt. oil and haven't had a chance to ask the neighbors.
I wish there were a way to know what this machine *should* sound like.
Ila

Running it in some more, actually using it, more oil where it needs it, and the drop of 30wt. will help with the noise. Who knows how long it sat in that sad condition, it can only get better. No, regular sewing machine oil probably won't help the bearing, but you can try one drop and see. I wouldn't use any more because it's so thin it might run through the bearing before it has a chance to mix with the hard grease. That's why the thicker 30wt. is recommended. I have a syringe of 30wt. because I run into this issue from time to time.

Cari

I agree with Cari, use the machine, and keep oiling and greasing. Sometimes using greases like Triflow can make a difference. If the gears seem to howl something awful I have added a single drop of oil with added teflon (Triflow or Finish Line Cermaic Wet Lube). As long as it doesn't seep any where else it doesn't do any damage. In this demonstration video it comes off as rather noisy though? Regardless I would still work to minimise it. The 401 isn't very noisy at all when cleaned, oiled and greased. Go over the oil points in the manual, oil the hook and race too, and don't forget the gears under the base. If your's is a 404 it's a straight stitch only, and doesn't have all the cam and swing needle parts. Here's another video, these are serviced machines too. I think it has to be 30 weight oil (lawn mower oil I think), SAE 30 oil should be easily found.

Remove the bobbin and bobbin case and put a couple drops of oil right in the middle of the place where the bobbin case sits - it looks like a sealed circle. Run the machine for a few minutes to allow some oil to work its way down into the metal parts. Wipe up the excess. Replace the bobbin case and bobbin.

How are you doing? From experience I have found it takes a while before an old machine is run in again. First stage is a lot of cleaning and oling, then as the machines actually gets to be used there's lots of test sewing and yet a few turns with oiling and cleaning. Then, a week or two later chance is the machine suddenly is a supersmooth new favorite. When I bought an old Elna Supermatic it took me a couple of months to get any good replacement parts, this too is a model where fancy oils make a difference. The fondness for this model gradually increased as it went through the stages of cleaning and fixing up. You get to know it quite well along the way :- )

There are some videos for different machines. just Google and if nothing else, it helps to learn how to maintain. I'm no expert but I looked it up for the 401. Love how my machine runs.

Hi everyone! Thanks so much for all the help. I truly appreciate it. I'll ferret out some oil this weekend to see if that helps. Having watched the videos, though, I don't think mine is much noisier than those. I'll give it more chances to win me over. :)

What kind of noises are you getting? Are they 'clanking' noises from the bobbin case, or whirring from the motor/gears, or something else?

Just curious on your 404: is the main motor drive gear a white plastic (like nylon) or is it a red/brown fiber gear?
I have a 404 here that has a white drive gear where all other 300,400,500,700 series machines I have seen have the red fiber gear.

Hi, SingerCLA,
Sorry for the delay in responding. Mine has the fiber gear. And I've finally gotten my hands on some 30-weight oil (thanks, Janey!) and will see if that helps. The noise I'm getting is a high whine, sort of like the motor is having to work too hard. Everything moves much more smoothly now, by hand, and I admit that after using Featherweights for the last six months, the 404 might sound louder to me. It's a more powerful machine, after all.
I'm going to put the oil onto the bearing, as several people suggested, and oil the bobbin area, too.
It needs a new foot pedal -- this one has to be almost completely down to get the machine going. But I am not sure what kind of pedal to buy. Most of them that I see have the three-pin plug in the machine, and mine has two separate plugs. One with just two pins is at the bottom, and another is higher up toward the hand wheel. I don't think the machine runs unless both are plugged in.
Ila

If you have the brown or beige bakelite pedal it's nice to have with the machine though. They can be serviced or given a DIY tuneup, and they are better than their reputation.

Ila,
it sounds like it's got the typical whine for these machines. The drop of 30wt. will help quiet that down. For the cords and controller, you can buy the separate cords for the plug and controller, or you can buy the single unit like your Featherweight uses. The 404 will run either way. When I want to use my 221, 201, 301, or 404 I grab whatever cord/controller set I see first. A lot of people buy the electronic controllers from Sew Classic to use with their vintage machines. Myself, I like the button controllers.

Cari