Thorens TD124 Bearing

[Ammonite Audio]

I picked up my Thorens TD124 today, and am pleased to see that it's in fine condition, careworn but genuine. I removed the platter (with the bearing shaft attached) to transport it, and it went back on just fine. The bearing feel is lovely and smooth, and the platter spins for ever. So far so good; however I pulled the platter off again to show a colleague, and now it won't go all the way down - it stops about 1cm above where it should be. There is something hard stopping the bearing shaft from going all the way into its sleeve. It's definitely something hard, not springy, and there appears to be a lower part of the sleeve with a distinct step, which may be the problem. Not knowing much about TD124s yet, can anyone help me out - is this something obvious and straightforward to fix?

Many thanks,

[DSJR]

Remove the platter, invert the deck and remove the bottom of the main bearing, if not the whole assembly first before dismantling. You should then get a clear view of the bearing innards to see what's going on.

Thank heavens spares are now available again.

[Ammonite Audio]

Remove the platter, invert the deck and remove the bottom of the main bearing, if not the whole assembly first before dismantling. You should then get a clear view of the bearing innards to see what's going on.

Thank heavens spares are now available again.

Thanks - I was going to do that anyway, since I want to see the internal construction of the "Martin Bastin design" birch ply plinth, which looks nice and solid.

[DSJR]

As long as the bearing hasn't been modified..

From memory, the bearing shaft has a captive ball acting on the steel(?) thrust plate.

Schopper - http://www.schopper.ch/static/services/z_top_audio/Neutrik/TD_3002_EN.html

Good luck..

[SPS]

mine takes about 10 minutes to sink through the oil..
it is very firm on the oil... sign of a nice bearing..

probably not that ...

cheers
steve

[DSJR]

Actually, the bearing does have close tolerances and if there's an oil bath in there, the platter will take ages to sink into position - referred by Roy Gandy (Rega) as a "Hydraulic Lock." My TD125mk1 is exactly the same.. Linn put little vents in the LP12 top bushings to help with this.

Hope that's all it is ;)

[Ammonite Audio]

The 'problem' is solved. The TD124 bearing has two sintered bronze sleeves: one at the top and one at the bottom of the bearing housing. All that had happened was a slight misalignment when inserting the bearing shaft, so the bottom of the shaft was hitting the upper lip of the lower bronze sleeve.

[DSJR]

:)