Sumiko MMT tonearm ?

[tcss]

I looked at a table, unused for 15 years, last weekend with the mmt tonearm. Vertical movement was just ok, zero'd the weight and tapped the end down, only swing 3 times slowly. Horizontal movement by hand took to much force compared to my turntable. With the antiskate off, blowing on the arm it would not move.

Would damping fluid have seeped into something or would the cause of the resistance be something else? Thank you.

 

[fiddlefye]

The bearings on these have a tendency to come adrift sometime. Mine did. Check and see that everything is together properly and has the right tension.

 

[milanomike]

I had one for 30 years on an AR turntable, no issues whatsoever. No fluid damping either (at least on mine). Works, tracks and sounds great with a Signet cartridge.

 

[muovimies]

If you fill the damping well on these, even if you over-do it I don't think the fluid should find it's way to the bearings. At least not before noticing that gunk is everywhere. However if you fill it and then unmount the arm for shipping or something without cleaning the fluid, obviously anything can happen since it's not a sealed thing, it's basically a small cup on top of the pivot point. From the symptoms it certainly sounds like a possibility. The bearing for vertical movement you can easily over tighten if you try to adjust it, so it could be just that, but there's no way to get to the ball races for horizontal movement unless you take the arm apart and if anything they should loosen up, not tighten down with use and time. I would treat the arm as "for parts or not working"... I haven't taken one of these apart, but generally tonearm service is not for the faint hearted. If you're DIY inclined and not afraid of taking potentially hard to put back together things apart, it can be done, but cleaning the bearings (if that's all it takes) wouldn't fall into the category of "easy fix" IMO.