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The day I learned to stop greasing guide rails by feel
For 12 years, I always just greased elevator guide rails until they looked wet. Then last month in a 40-year-old Otis in Minneapolis, we had a call about a rough ride. I pulled the car into inspection and the guide shoes had caked-up grease so thick i could peel it off in chunks. An old-timer on the job showed me how to use a rail gauge to check the film thickness instead of eyeballing it. Turns out I was putting too much on for years, causing extra drag and wear on the shoes. Has anyone else measured their rail lube or do most guys still just go by feel?
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pat7811mo ago
Whoa easy there, rail gauges are for machinists not us lmao.
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kimfisher1mo ago
Yeah @pat781 I used to think the same until I overgreased a guide rail so bad the car started singing soprano on the 12th floor.
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