replacing tonearm question?

Hey best-groove ,
Good point there, but the FT-3 is twenty years old, is out of damping oil, and lacks the VTA adjustment. It's simply showing its age. I got the Jelco for a great price and it'll be a way for me to get some experience installing a new arm.

I run either a Hana SL or a Benz Ruby for a cartridge, depending on the record and my mood. 

@simao

20 years? Little thing, the arms are not changed for so little, everything can be repaired if you have a pinch of DIY.
See here if the lifter drops too quickly you can disassemble it and insert new silicone grease to put it back into operation.

I have tonearms of 40 years and over (Technics Epa 100/Epa 500, Denon 305/309, Sony PUA7, Acos Lustre, Victor UA 7045 and others .... but I would never dream of changing them for simple problems.
A good maintenance or a revision is sufficient and the tonearms return as new for another 40 years. LOL

@best-groove The Jelco 850 is a different design and is far better than the old Sumiko arm.

@simao Are you up and running yet? How goes it?

@noromance

The friction of the bearings, which is very important, in current Jelco has never dropped below 20/25 mg. indeed, to be precise, the tonearm 850 has even worse values than 30mg. (values equal to or similar to bearings from 30/40 years ago) while bearing technology has made great strides.

I think Jelco has lain too far and is resting on the fame it has deservedly built; the manufacturer is lazy and does not want to commit himself to making innovative arms but they always appear the same for many years identical to those built for other brands.
So why is the 850 better than the Sumiko FT3?