Thorens TD 165 lubrication and test

A second look at this unit to lubricate and clean the main bearing.

[@unclejon7554]

I just discovered this video today. I was a lot of rumbling & low end noise on my TD166 Mk2. I followed this tutorial and it has made a world of difference! The only oil I had on hand was a small vile that came with electric hair clippers...it may not have been the correct choice but, it seems to have done the trick.

[@DizzzyKipper]

Nice, really enjoyed that.I still have my old turn table a Sony that my cousin brought back from Japan in the 70's.Still sounds good.

[@int53185]

First! Nice to see those old turntables still spinning along.

[@12voltvids]

Actually I just received a brand new unit today. A cheap one to do a review on, and it is loaded with features. I wasn't expecting much, and I was totally impressed.

[@ModScheherazade]

Great job! Also beautiful cat. Thanks for this informative video. :)

[@vaughanchapman2930]

This is really helpful. Thank you

[@arongooch]

Very nice unit.

[@williamchow1624]

I just can't believe you got it off the street for FREE. Way to go.

[@12voltvids]

And to think I had to give it away. I promised my 16 year old that if he got his drivers license he could have it. He passed his test today, and took it away to his room. The walls are a shaking right now!

[@Catstorm99]

This reminds me when I used to play Records. I could not do it without the lid on top. My 2 cats used to either pat at the arm or try to stop the turntable revolving .

[@markanderson350]

Much better, yesterday was bad, sorry. I might fall in love with it but I like direct drive. It looks so elegant though.

[@riverhuntingdon6659]

Nice, not sure what Ms Siamese made of it mind! But glad to hear its in use, hope it's not too noisy for you now your son's got it. Great to hear he's got his license. Now you need to take the rotor arm out of your car ...

[@12voltvids]

Won't be driving MY car. He will have to get his own.Did the same thing with my daughter, when she started driving she got her own car, and insurance in her name that she pays for. Crashed it, git a new one, and now she will be paying the price of increased insurance. Had it been my car I would have lost my insurance discount, and paid the price. Lesson learned, she is now MUCH more careful. Teach them responsibility.

[@SuperRecordman]

I have a Thoren TD-166mk2 turntable. I bought it in 2001. When I serviced the deck about 4 years ago, I used a couple of drops of engine oil in the bearing. If it's good enough for my car it'll be more than good enough for that! :)

[@12voltvids]

Engine oil has detergents in it to clear combustion by products. This is not necessary on a precision instrument like a turn table Sewing machine oil is best.

[@SuperRecordman]

This is true and using engine oil may be overkill. But there is much conjecture and debate about what oil to use and I've seen it all on HiFi websites. :)

[@taineasy]

How did you get the sub platter to pull out like that. Mine does not pull out. Almost like its got a clip or something holding it.

[@maincalandar7434]

Looking good! Nice Curb find. No Zep or Stones for your collection, you were in Elementary school then??, I thought we were the same age. I play music too, keyboard guitar, percussion. I like listen to and support artists and acts who are of a more purest mentality as well as popular acts. Shawn Phillips is a big favorite of mine. Heart, BTO, lots of 80's alternative, The Church. The Damned, Depeche Mode, as well as folkies,.. for instance Gordon Lightfoot and Bob Dylan, even Tom Rush,, even Leonard Cohen. I'm into all types of music, The Moody Blues, BB King, Roy Harper, Jethro Tull, Rush, on and on.. Currently the collection is up to almost 2000 CD's SACD's DVD/A's, and nearly twice that many Lp's, ..my wife says my musical collections are a combination of ADD and Bipolar mixed together !. Does your son still have the Thorens? Lets see,..hmmmnnn,..A high end audio shop who specializes in expensive repairs in BC, Canada with crazy used gear prices that wanted to charge you 90$ to put a belt on, they would RATHER NOT even sell you to begin with, .. Well, it has to be innovative Audio! I know about them, and live way over here Hanover, Pennsylvania, USA! I buy gear from all over, well used to anyway, These days other peoples gear is sent to me from all over. I A's prices are ridiculous, and vintage is a word only used to jack the selling prices up, a word IA loves to use over and over again, Lots of great bands come out of Canada, plus you all gave us William Shatner and Bryan Adams, LOL, kidding.

[@House_Of_Cards_]

What protractor do you use with the T90 tonearm? I have a 320 mk 2 without cartridge and I cannot find any protractor online.

[@AirplaneJunkie82]

www.vinylengine.com/cartridge-alignment-protractors.shtml

[@timjackson5304]

Thornes? A brand new brand!

[@GTI1dasOriginal]

yep. Thornes, Marnatz, Pinoeer, Tenchis, you know.. -_-

[@12voltvids]

My son is still wetting his pants over that Thrones.

[@GTI1dasOriginal]

*sno. Not son. please stay consistent here...

[@amazoidal]

Made in Switzerland. My TD 160 is from 1974.

[@americolouro2822]

Olá tenho uma dúvida para me ajudares é o seguinte o meu THORENS TD 166 não consigo retirar o respectivo prato pequeno como esse que você tem aí no vídeo!!!eu puxo para cima, más não saí porquê!!!

[@swarfrat311]

What about removing the motor board and lubing the bottom motor bearing? Just asking. Thanks for the video!

[@12voltvids]

Some day I will probably do that. I was lucky to get it on the bench again, as the boy wanted it. I had it playing in the house, and he was drooling over it.

[@guilhermedealmeida2299]

Hi, interesting work. What kind of oil did you use? A Thorens special oil? A generic oil? A sewing machine oil? Regards...

[@ceejaydeesoozaa]

hi there. just got a used td165 last night 29 jan. its in ok condition just that the spindle has rust and its quite tough to load a record on the platter. gotta really push down on the record hard. do you have a suggestion to solve the rust issue? can i just use cape cod and buff the rust away? tq P.S. 8:36 you must be using a great camera. can even see the MASTERDISK stamping in the deadwax. masterdisk engineers are superb LP disc cutters

[@TechGorilla1987]

It was a Thorned turntable, then you fixed it! :D

[@zx8401ztv]

Smashing :-) It just needed a tiny bit of love lol. Belt lifters can rub if set wrong, but i havnt seen too many have that problem. Good, your son can listen to his crap music now lol :-D

[@fadhlematrook1248]

COOL CAT

[@nb2705]

Hi nice video man! I have a question: how often should i lubricate the things you showed? You said occasionally, but no idea how often that is. Meaby every an amount of playhours? Or every few weeks/months...? Thanks!

[@12voltvids]

nick bergmans Years. Think about it for a minute. An electric clock can run 60 70 years 24 hours a day no problem. These bearings require very little lubrication and too much oil is worse than nitrogen enough. There are other factors that come into play like how often it is used air quality in the environment where it is stored ect. But generally every 5 years minimum.

[@nb2705]

12voltvids Thanks man! Every 5 years minimum you said, meaby for being save i can do it every 3-4 years than?

[@guilhermedealmeida2299]

Hi, interesting work. What kind of oil did you use? A Thorens special oil? A generic oil? A sewing machine oil? Regards...

[@giampieroconi8450]

Ciao un bel video posso sapere che olio hai usato per lubrificare il mandrino e il foro del piatto ho pensato che può andar bene l'olio per la macchina da cucire cosa ne pensi forse troppo fino e che si asciugherebbe presto in attesa di una risposta continuo a seguirti nei video sono fantastici un saluto 🤝

[@12voltvids]

I used 20wt non detergent

[@haggy38]

Not true, you can fill half pit without any spilling, actually it's been described on Thorens manual, and some turntable forums.

[@hanbokkers7662]

i now BTO

[@54Dutch]

Can you give me some info on Vancouver company that have Thorens parts

[@12voltvids]

54Dutch I got the belt at main electronics however the owner has since died and the shop is closed as he son didn't want to continue the family business.

[@Washout1970]

@@12voltvids I got an original Thorens belt from a Rutherford Audio in Richmond B.C. ( I'm in Maple Ridge) for my TD-160

[@12voltvids]

@@Washout1970 I got an original thorens at inovative audio in slurrey

[@borgymon]

that warped record is hurting my head, and probably your cantilever.

[@Watcher3223]

Well, I guess you could say that this Thorens had a very thorny issue...

[@myvinyljourney7908]

what is the oil you are using sir

[@12voltvids]

Sae 20w. Non detergent.

[@singermarksinger]

@@12voltvids can you name the brand? It looked like 3-in-1 blue but I am concerned that may have additives.

[@12voltvids]

@@singermarksinger 3 in 1 electric motor oil. No additives.

[@VintageElectronicsGeek]

Sounds better! Your cat is like, dude! If your gonna play music, play some Zep! :)

[@12voltvids]

I don't have no Zep. My music collection is more of the lines of Miles, Herbie, George, Duke, Goodman, Miller. I have some 80's "Hair" music, and then I discovered a guy by the name of Chick Corea and his band return to forever.. Being a musician, I was always fascinated with the great players, and how they were able to get that sound. Not saying that I don't have any rock in my collection, but the Stones, and Zeplin just didn't do anything for me when I was a teenager. I always found the music to be too simplistic. I was more into serious music, even classical was, and still is great to listen to.

[@Mentorcase]

So you were just faking it with the BTO?

[@12voltvids]

Faking it? No I like BTO, and I like Zep now. I listen to many types of music, with a few exceptions. I don't listen to rap, hip hop, or anything that is sampled. If it is played by real musicians, on real electric or acoustic instruments, I will listen to it.I do have a fair bit of hard rock in my collection, I just never bought a LedZeplin or Rolling Stones album. I did buy some on CD. Back when those bands were big I was in elementary school, and had no money to buy records. I didn't start collecting until I was in high school with a job, and that would have been late 70's and I stopped buying vinyl and went CD in 1983 when I got my first CD player, so most of my stuff is on CD. I have over 1000 CDs Back in the 80's I was more into the hair bands of the day. Influenced by friends ect. I was always into the Jazz scene. I remember my dad taking me to a George Benson concert in 76, and that was the coolest music I ever heard. I spent many years trying to play my guitar like the master.

[@TieDyedShawn]

One like for kitty! LOL

[@careystuart]

That just what you want to make a demo video...a completely warped and smudged dirty record.

[@12voltvids]

That's how all my records are. Warped, scratched, dirty. I gave away all my good vinyl in the 80s when I made the change to cd.

[@haggy38]

Hi, you should used synthetic oil, and not a couple of drops!! At least half of the hole, the bearing wouldn't last with that oil.

[@12voltvids]

Ever heard the term too much oil is worse than not enough?

[@ElectoneGuy]

Bullshit. The spindle is a precision piece with tight tolerances. It doesn't take more than a few drops before it starts spilling out of the bearing pit. And synthetic is not a specification that is necessary for Thorens.

[@Notfakingit]

I don't get it. Do you recommend filling half of the hole with oil?? Then you say it spills over with just a few drops??

[@haggy38]

Hi, yeah, just clean the spill and re install the inner platter, theres tons of information about it in different forums......

[@haggy38]

Not bullshit dude, there you go: "The bearing is comprised of two bronze bushings pressed into the steel housing. The flat thrust plate at the very bottom takes the entire vertical load of the platter system. This assembled weight is concentrated at the point of contact between the spherical tip on the shaft and the flat plate of the bearing. Prior to being put back into service, the interior of this bearing housing was cleaned spotless using a Q-tip saturated in alcohol. Oil filled the well half way up prior to assembling the shaft. When the bearing shaft is installed and finally floats down to the thrust plate, there is some small over-flow of oil out the top of the housing. This lets us know we have oil all the way up. As wanted. Personally, I like Phil Woods Tenacious oil for lubing this bearing. This oil can be found in better bicycle shops around the USA. The bushings are of the sintered bronze variety. Avoid oils with high ash or high sulfur content as these are abrasive and will wear the bushings prematurely." www.theanalogdept.com/things_to_check.htm