Don't use this to lube your VPI Classic bearing

I just did my classic 3 with Super Lube, first I cleaned out the old Lithium grease using q-tips and also a little alcohol. The hardest to clean were the top of the bearing and where it mates to the middle of the flat teflon "race". Since the teflon race is flat and the bearing is round there is a small contact surface which you want to ensure you get the now "black" colored lithium grease off. The inverted ball bearing is on the shaft which mates with a flat teflon surface on the top of the platter. From previous correspondence from Mike at VPI, he had mentioned to me that the VPI CLASSIC 3 Tolerance on the inverted bearing to platter is .0005". I added Super Lube on the shaft, top of bearing, inside the platter, and on the teflon race. I inserted the platter, and guess what, the air tight seal would only allow the platter to go about half way down. If you pushed it down, it would compress, bounce and come back up. The tolerances are so tight, that they don't allow the bearing grease to squeeze out the sides of the shaft, it just forms an air tight seal. I then put the belt on and let the platter rotate for about 10 minutes with the center weight and peripheral weight, still no luck. Finally, I figured I had too much grease. I took off the platter and removed some of the grease, and tried again. Each time it went further down the shaft. After about 3 times of removing grease, I finally arrived at the following. Put a dab of Super Lube on top of the bearing. Coat the shaft with a thin coat. Coat the platter with a very thin coat, then just a dab on the teflon surface. This will get the platter down to 70%. Put the belt on and let the turntable run for at least an hour. If you see some progress after and hour, then you are in good shape. Mine seated fully after about an hour of play. I haven't listened to it yet, to see if there is any difference. I will say, that Super Lube is night and day difference from White Lithium grease that it comes with. After just 6 mos, that Lithium grease doesn't seem to hold up very well, there is hardly any of it left also. Not much to clean out.

Ahoy Captain,

The manual states that you need to put only a little bit of grease on top of the bearing. This makes sense to me as the tight (pun intended :) specs for the bearing make anything more simply excessive, which your experience seems to confirm.

As you lower the platter onto the shaft, you will invariably spread some of the grease down the shaft. The first spin will do the rest. So greasing the shaft in addition to the bearing seems rather unnecessary and redundant. Both times I lubricated the bearing, in addition to the original factory job, the excess would simply make its way down the shaft with gravity.

Really, all you need to do is to put a small amount of grease on top of the bearing and carefully lower the platter. The grease has nowhere else to go but to the right places. I'd think one should avoid removing and reinstalling the platter back and forth due to a simple grease job, which really should just be a quick maintenance job once a year.

But it sounds like the VPI grease is the way to go. Duh, one might say. But $26? Really?

I have to agree with Actusreus....I put just a bit on top of the ball of my Classic platter (on a Scoutmast/rim drive) and it's fine.

But it sounds like the VPI grease is the way to go. Duh, one might say. But $26? Really?

Actually I did the $6 Super Lube Grease from Amazon as well.

If you want an excellent lubricant for all things turntable and tape machine, Dextron style automatic transmission fluid is an excellent choice. A few drops is good in any TT main platter bearing, and if you have to lubricate a motor it works well there also. The only caveat is it does not cost much.