pocket door lubrication

Re: pocket door lubrication

Dick Coers

I've never known grease to be bumpy.

Re: pocket door lubrication

JohnV

test the black stuff with mineral oil. If it is hardened grease it will start to dissolve. remove as much as you can, it may be tedious. only the bearings for the rollers shjould be lubricated. the track and roller surfaces should be clean and smooth.

Re: pocket door lubrication

Woodie49

Sounds like it Needs New Rollers!

bumpy ride

David Yoho

Depending on the size and weight of this door, given its age and how much it might have been used over the 70 years, it sounds like something is worn that's causing the bumpy ride. That black stuff might turn out to be worn away material from rollers or track with dust mixed in.

Lubricating might not be the answer to a fix. It couldn't hurt to clean the best you can and try something like paste wax as a lube.

Re: bumpy ride

Mike McNerney

I'll be looking at the rollers more closely today but I think they are ok. I haven't see a roller like that before and a quick search I didn't find it. If the roller/bearing need lube what do you suggest.

Re: bumpy ride

Keith Newton

Mike, you haven't given much information to go on, like what the wheels are made of, how many ect. I'm betting that the bumping is just a lot of dust and dog or cat hair that made it up there and got stuck in the grease. Plaster on wood lath?

Every time the door is opened or closed, creates a pressure change/ When the door is pulled out of the pocket, a negative pressure will pull air into the pocket, so whatever is on the floor gets sucked in. Then when the door is pushed back into the pocket, that air has to get out, so if one of the easiest paths is over the door, up it goes until finding the grease.

I'd be thinking about making some kind of tool that has a hooked end that would reach back into the pocket and scrape out the track race.

Re: pocket door lubrication

Dave Bair

The wheels may have flat spots from sliding (rather than rolling) on the rail.

Maybe

Mark Mandell - Gone Round In New Jersey

but they'll only be flat on the bottom . . .

Pictures

Gary Smyth

Seventy years is 1950. Nothin' for a pocket door.

How thick is the door? Mine in a earlier house were 2 1/2 thick. Each over 100 pounds. lt had tracks above and on the floor. The frame was Oak and not painted and had to be removed both horizontal and vertical for access. If yours has nylon rollers pull the frame and buy new rollers. If metal check to see that the track was not in sections and they have been misaligned or have a gap which will cause a "bump". My money is on the track or a shattered nylon roller. No matter what, the fix probably not cleaning. Work is involved which is why many older pocket doors were rolled back and sealed in with a thin trim piece.

Picture is very similar example but does not have flush inset bottom track as did mine.