Older friction drawer slides maintenance questions

[crazy1]

What is the recommended grease for drawer slides for a vintage Matco toolbox with older style friction slides, no ball bearings here, do you clean them, what is the best grease to use? Would Matco be of help, this box is from about 1978 I would guess.....

thanks in advance

 

[theoldwizard1]

On friction slides just clean them real well. Grease/oil just collects dirt and makes them worse. Maybe silicon spray.

 

[yasha32]

I tried grease and regret it, cleaning seems like a good route with some dry graphite. Have no complaints with the graphite here.

 

[Larwyn]

I have an older Craftsman chest and cabinet with plain slides. I clean them and add a couple of drops of 3 in 1 oil about once ever 2 or 3 years. They still function well after over 20 years of home shop use.

 

[Chris Adams]

Ditto the guys who stay away from grease. I always used white grease.
And the drawers kept getting heavier.

When I started buying/selling tool boxes I found that cleaning the slides, all parts, super clean, then very lightly oiling with a decent synthetic oil worked the best.
I've used 'cam lube' skateboard lube, and silicon sprays with good luck.

Dirt gets trapped in anything heavy.
Better a single drop of clean motor oil than any grease.
Clean is most important.

 

[BigAl62]

I did the same thing with my Craftsman box (white grease) and I regret it. I need to take all the drawers out, clean and relube all the slides and I'm NOT looking forward to it!

 

[crewchief888]

i used to use a waxy type stuff that my SO guy used to sell.

some kinda stuff for wooden doors to keep them from sticking.

i dont think ive lubed my slides in at least 14 years, and they still work fine.

 

[Outlawmws]

Some options:

o Dry graphite
o Motorcycle or bicycle chain lube (dry)
o Bar soap (i.e. Ivory - This make a surprisingly good dry lube)

After cleaning the old gunk out of course.

 

[Steevo]

My 1970's vintage Snap-On is starting to feel like metal on metal when opening and closing some (heavy) drawers. I need to remove drawers and see what I need to do here.

 

[Outlawmws]

i used to use a waxy type stuff that my SO guy used to sell.

some kinda stuff for wooden doors to keep them from sticking.

i dont think ive lubed my slides in at least 14 years, and they still work fine.

I think you are talking about "Door Eze" which I believe is beeswax. That would also be a good candidate. Comes in a metal tube about 5" long an an inch in Diameter.

 

[plinker]

I recently picked up a 1980 Snap-on box and it had the instruction manual with it. It said to used parrifin wax or candle wax on the slides.

I used some Imperial sizing wax (reloading case lube) on it, but thinking about it later silicone spary lube would be better I think.

 

[crewchief888]

I think you are talking about "Door Eze" which I believe is beeswax. That would also be a good candidate. Comes in a metal tube about 5" long an an inch in Diameter.

yep thats the stuff !!!

 

[BigAl62]

I think you are talking about "Door Eze" which I believe is beeswax. That would also be a good candidate. Comes in a metal tube about 5" long an an inch in Diameter.

I forgot about that stuff! I have to see if I still have a tube, otherwise I need to find where to get it (again). Thanks for reminding me!

 

[Greatbear]

I have to give the Door-Eze stuff a shot. I made the mistake of using a light spray lube on some of mine. Turns out it was soy-based and after a few months it got sticky, practically gluing the drawers shut. I cleaned and reassembled with some 0W-20 wiped on the edges and grooves. Still is not all that great.

 

[crazy1]

Thanks for all the replies, now I need to clean all those dirty gobs of grease out of there.....great responses....thanks

 

[Tim.a.Muir]

Cleaning the guides and the tracks is absolutely the first thing to do. I started cleaning one of my older eleven drawer Matco top box yesterday, it took a good part of the day and required soap and water scrub followed by steel wool and paint thinner and some serious "elbow grease". I plan to paint everything today and once the paint is finished, I'm going to lube the tracks and slides with dry graphite.

 

[Vinko]

Ditto the guys who stay away from grease. I always used white grease.
And the drawers kept getting heavier.

When I started buying/selling tool boxes I found that cleaning the slides, all parts, super clean, then very lightly oiling with a decent synthetic oil worked the best.
I've used 'cam lube' skateboard lube, and silicon sprays with good luck.

Dirt gets trapped in anything heavy.
Better a single drop of clean motor oil than any grease.
Clean is most important.

Same here. On old Matco and SO slides, I've cleaned really well (soaking in parts cleaner), then brass brush, lightly, and then used a synthetic spray oil (I happened to use one from Wurth).

I've done several boxes this way.

 

[davidw]

Cleaning the guides and the tracks is absolutely the first thing to do. I started cleaning one of my older eleven drawer Matco top box yesterday, it took a good part of the day and required soap and water scrub followed by steel wool and paint thinner and some serious "elbow grease". I plan to paint everything today and once the paint is finished, I'm going to lube the tracks and slides with dry graphite.

According to another thread here somewhere, Snap-on has recommended using only paraffin wax on the friction slides. I cleaned up an old roll cab a few years ago which had really worn sliders. I got all the grease and dirt cleaned out, filed down the sharp edges and used Gulf Wax on them.

Smoooooth!

 

[larry_g]

According to another thread here somewhere, Snap-on has recommended using only paraffin wax on the friction slides. I cleaned up an old roll cab a few years ago which had really worn sliders. I got all the grease and dirt cleaned out, filed down the sharp edges and used Gulf Wax on them.

Smoooooth!

I was going to say stone the sharp and rough edges and any signs of galling that you may see. Clean and smooth are a must before lubing.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[Zeke]

I tried dissolving the heavy stuff with everything in the cabinet including WD 40 (a very good cleaner) to liquid teflon. They are still stiff and this is a relatively un-used chest. I think the guys are right, gotta get the old stuff off with whatever solvent works the best.

 

[Kielbasavw]

Vintage instructions from snap on say paraffin wax. Went to local hobby store and bought a lb. For like 8 bucks. Doing all these slides hardly put a dent in what I bought.
It really works well. And works even better when drawers are loaded.

 

[justme-]

I've got a 3 drawer side cabinet with these slides...tried each with something different.
1 got white with for a base reference (poor performance). Viper lube was useless, redid with super lube. Better but still lacking in friction reduction.

Fluid film worked awesome and continues to be holding up after a couple of months. I use the box professionally but don't open those drawers like I do the main box..some days couple times a day, some days not at all. Was going to break down and use bees wax from reading it in a thread on here, but I already had FF.