Just purchased the Gandy Dancer as a Christmas present for my grandson. I did a test run before wrapping and it seems to have a problem. In one direction it runs smoothly but when changing direction it runs in a jerky motion and is a bit noisy. Could the gears need a need a little lube? Any help will be appreciated.
Bob,
Yes. I had one of these little guys in the past. They are very small and seem to have bit of gunk from wherever they are manufactured. I used a few small drops of "Conductalube", applied to that gear on the bottom... and to the axles. This should release the gunk. It should run much better after you run it for a couple minutes.
Do not use household oils like 3-in-1 oil or the like. Neither use vegetable oil or any other crazy stuff. Very light oil by labelle, conductalube, or even the Bachmann brand of light oil will be fine.
Just going on my past experience with these dancers. Don't try to disassemble. You'll never get it back together... Just sayin
Regards,
Jonathan
Modern sewing machine oil, which is plastic safe, can also be used if you have some on hand.
Len