Date: Fri, 24 Jun 2011 12:51:24 -0700
Reply-To: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject: Re: best lube for sliding door
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reply-type=original
lol.
where do people think synthetic oil comes from ????
out of the sky ?
this question about what constitute synthetic oil or not ..
caused me to think about where all our products come from.
With rare exceptions almost everything we use ..
that is not grown, like food or lumber ..
comes out of the ground
a few things come from the oceans.
a few things come from the air I imagine ..
but most everything that is not grown.......
is mined out of the ground.
many synthetic oils start from petroleum.
all that matters is it's good stuff..
and..
here is the very funny thing to me ..
I am seeing SO MANY 'unlubed forever' spots on vanagons ..
if they even got spit on them it would be better than the nothing they got
the last 25 yrs..
so even if you're using cooking oil to lube things that move...
it's 5000 % better than the pure air they've been being not-lubed with all
this time.
so as long as you are using some product ....
3-in-1 oil..
whatever ...something is so Exponentially Better than the nothing they've
been gettting ..
that any half-good product is fine..
and ....in my world..
you'd be lubing the sliding door a few times a year anyway ..
any time it seems to need it.
I just got a slider open in an junkyard on an 84 ..
it was jamed shut because both inner and outer handles were missing ..
and even though I could put a wrench or vicegrip on the inside part that
turns..
it was so totally unlubed since the factory in germany ..
that it was totally jammed shut at the aft edge.
Never lubed once in it's entire life. What a waste.
I should make that list.
here's one to add, or notice..
the interior light swtches ..the overhead lights.
normally not a spot you'd lube ..
but I see some of those getting really sticky. I'd probably use WD-40 on
those .
I got really good resulsts on the driver's door lock on my for sale super
cherry 82 sunroof diesel vanagon ( brand new rebuilt engine too ) ..
the key was stiff to turn ..
I sprayed all around the door latch mechanism.
It's hard to spray around and into where the trigger is on the outside
handle...but I got some in there..
but the real trick on that one was getting lube to slide down from the lock
button.
not that lock unlocks and locks with the key like it is brand new right from
the factory.
same on the rear hatch buttons ..
those can get really hard to push. Especially the later kind that's flush ,
where the button doesn't stick out . Those get really dry and stiff.
on one I just kept shooting lube at it ...
part of the time with the hatch left open so the lube would work it's way
down in there ..
what a difference after doing that about 4 times.
a mechanism that moves smoothy is really nice.
and lubes can creep a long way too..
like capilarry action even.
I don't think there is a 'wrong stuff' hardly .
I don't think I've ever found a spary lube that wasn't pretty useful.
I try whatever ones that happen to catch my attention.
the best deal I've see is one made by PB Blaster ..the penetrating
oil..........but this is there lube.
Home Depot had it for $ 1.97 a can for a while..
they still might.
A can of really good stuff like say LPS that you'll find at a hardware store
....they can be 10 bucks ( but it lasts months so no big deal )
...........making the $ 1.97 can pretty attractive for the price .
I thought it's a bit perfumey ..
but sure is great compared to nothing.
it's like people worrying nutily over if they added the wrong oil to their
engine when they needed a qt ..
like a different brand or different weight .
especially on an engine that is not really new ..
it hardly matters at all ....just that it's 'engine oil' .
Same on the lubes 'which one' is not that important..
that it's applied strategically and fairly often ..
that's what's important.
and if you're paying 9 or 10 bucks a can, it better be pretty good stuff.
so many of our producs start as petroleum you wouldn't belive it .
all plastics.
even all high tech, high performance outdoor clothes ...'fleece' type
clothing ..
that all started as petroleum.
take nylon ... a great tent and clothing material..
likely is highly petroleum derived.
We are deeply heavily into the Age Of Oil...
heading into the Age of the Electron.
pretty interesting that electric motors don't need any service ever ..
some of them anyway. Brushless motors with only bearings or bushings that
have moving parts ..
they last nearly indefenitely.
we coinsume btw ..just read today ..
21 million barrels of oil a day in the US
and the world goes through about 88 million barrels of oil a day.
that means we here in the US are consuming about 1/4th of the worlds daily
diet of barrels of petroleum.
It's those stupd hyper-inappropiate monster pick-up trucks that are so
popular .
one factor for sure.
what fun !
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jonathan Edwards" <edwards151@gmail.com>
To: "Scott Daniel - Turbovans" <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Cc: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Thursday, June 23, 2011 7:33 PM
Subject: Re: best lube for sliding door
Scott, I just picked up a can of "deep creep" from my flaps. Got home and
read the can - "100% pure petroleum". Did I get the wrong stuff? Or how
important is it that this lube is synthetic? Feels like stupid question to
ask but I don't want to go spraying every squeaky part on my van with this
stuff to realize a month later that I used the wrong stuff!
While I've got ya, from the way you describe this 'juice', it's a modern
marvel. Anywhere I shouldn't use it? Or what about some of the most commonly
neglected places that need this stuff (you don't have to list all 300)
Thanks!
Jon
On Jun 7, 2011, at 2:13 PM, Scott Daniel - Turbovans
<scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM> wrote:
> I seldom use white lithium grease .
> just have never liked it.
> and for sure ..I would expect it to attract grit.
>
> what I do use a lot of is a good penetrating synthetic grease.
> Everyone one knows Seafoam fuel treatment, right ?
>
> I recently saw that they have a spray lube called Deep Creep.
> Really good synthetic spray penetrate ....I hesitate to call it 'grease'
> ............stuff really can work it's way into things nicely.
> I have lubed many a seal roller bearing ..
> the stuff goes right inside the bearing, right past the seals.
>
> I had a case where the rear hatch lock was just very hard to push in an 82
> diesel vanagon ..
> the lube really needs to 'get way in there' .
> Without taking anything apart ...and applying that stuff a few times ,
> like every day for a while, by golly that stuff DOES creep ........it can
> work it's way further to or into something that you can't easily reach.
>
> same van, same product - very sticking injection Advance Cable ..
> I spray lube both ends generously ..
> doesn't seem to help that much.
> so I spray lube the top end a lot, running the cable in and out a few
> inches
> ..
> spray , spray , spray.
> a day or two later ..the entire cable was moving nicely.
> By Golly ...............that stuff DOES creep and get in there !!
>
> white lithium to me is an 'external's grease ..it gets ON things ..
> but not INTO them so much , like a good spray penetrating spray grease
> will.
>
> the brand hard hardly matters.
> LPS..
> there's a great one from any good hardware store.
> about 10 bucks.
> I get my hands on an old 'new' vanagon and a can of that juice..
> and I am just going nutty on about 300 spots on the van.
>
> here's another on ..
> usually a spray can of good juice is around 10 bucks.
> Home Depot is selling some by BP Blaster ( another great product - their
> penetrating oil ) for only $ 2 ..
> I bought 10 can of that Home Depot BP Blaster spray penetrating lube ..
> works great ..
> bit of a lingering perfume smell..
> but for the price ...just great juice.
>
> you can debate this forever....
> whether to 'take it all apart or not' ..
> and Of Course ..those who say you must take it all apart down the rollers
> or bearings, clean them meticulously and reassemble with fresh high
> quality
> lube or grease are right ..
> they are totally right ..
> however...
> cleverly and externally applied products can do 80 or 90 % as well, at
> least.
> And if you apply lube considerably more often than what most mechanisms
> get
> ..
> which is 'never' or once every 15 years when you can see the thing is
> hurtin' ...
> if you do it often ..
> any mechanism will last as well as it possibly can.
> there really is no excuse for metal-to-metal wear,
> when there are so many fantastic spray penetrating synthetic greases that
> work and last so well. It's child's play to freshen up most mechanisms
> with it.
>
> door locks..
> good 'creepy' lube will work it's way down the door lock button to the
> lock
> further down into the door.
> the driver's door lock in my 29 year old pretty darn cherry sunroof Diesel
> Vanagon ..
> works like it's brand new ..
> just the smoothest lock/unlock with the key you've ever felt.
> Just from adding good spray lube with good creep properties a few times .
>
> Scott
> www.turbovans.com
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Frank Condelli" <RAlanen@AOL.COM>
> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
> Sent: Tuesday, June 07, 2011 2:37 AM
> Subject: Re: best lube for sliding door
>
>
> Grease where you put it is just attracting dust & dirt that will
> eventually get into the BALL BEARINGS of the rollers. It's the ball
> bearings that really need the lube. Yes, it requires taking everything
> apart to get in there but just putting grease between the roller and the
> metal track it rides on is not the best solution.
>
>
> On 2011-06-06, at 4:37 PM, Automatic digest processor wrote:
>
>> I just cleaned / lubed all the sliding door guides a few weeks ago. I
>> used
>> "White Lithium Grease" which is a good choice for this purpose.
>>
>> For example:
>> http://www.amazon.com/Panef-Corp-GS-20-White-Grease/dp/B000BXOFV6
>>
>> Your local home depot or equivalent should have it,not sure about the
>> local
>> FLAPS.
>>
>> I put it on the bottom slide / roller, and also inside upper track and
>> the
>> rear track. Previously there was a "metal on metal" sound coming from
>> these
>> areas, a bit of this grease quieted the whole thing down. I used very
>> sparingly, since I didn't want a whole bunch of extra grease hanging
>> around
>> collecting dirt, so a little already made a difference. I think using
>> even
>> more grease would provide even less noise. To grease the rear roller, I
>> didn't have to remove the cover, just put the grease in the right exact
>> place with the 2 finger feel method: one finger with grease on the tip,
>> the
>> other finger clean, as a guide to find the right places. The bottom
>> roller
>> is a regular once-a-year maintenance area for me, clean and replace a bit
>> of
>> grease.
>>
>> Reason for doing this? I installed FatMat inside the sliding door, and
>> wanted to quiet the rollers at the same time.
>
>
>
> Cheers,
>
> Frank Condelli
> Almonte, Ontario, Canada
> '87 Westy & Lionel Trains (Collection for sale)
> Frank Condelli & Associates - Vanagon/Vanagon Westfalia Service in the
> Ottawa Valley
> Vanagon Stainless Steel Exhaust Systems
> BusFusion a VW Camper camping event, Almonte, ON, June 09 ~ 12, 2011
