Vintage Tool Box Drawer Slides Lubrication Suggestions

[Bobmanx]

Hello, this is my first post after lurking and reading as many posts as I could...
Now I have a question and I hope others here can help with the vast knowledge that is here. I was given a OLD Yorktown Bottom Box and a Yorktown Top Box that was due to betaken to the dump, and have been trying to make it usable again. It has over 4 coats of paint of various colors and was "modified" by the previous owner as things broke. I have been fixing things that have proved to be required to make it solid again and removing YEARS of dirt and crud and adaptations, some of which were your basic "WTH" was he thinking when he did blank. Now for my question, and thanks for any help or suggestions.... There are 4 sets of metal drawer slides on each drawer of the lower box, and after removing the drawers and the middle slider, cleaning and brass wire brushing all 3 parts of each slide and then carefully wiping everything down and using air pressure to blast out any remaining crud or dried grease dirt and more dirt. I have tried several types of lubricants to make the slides work better and survive more use, but all have been worse than without the form of lubrication. So What has anyone on this site found that works with just plain old tool box drawer slides, that have NO ball bearings to help them move with or without any tools in the drawers, and survive more years of usage? I tried light coats of wheel bearing grease, white lithium grease, and a silicone spray lubricant, and all were almost worse than without any type of lubrication. Thanks for any and all help and all of your previous helpful posts that I have been reading, but I must have missed the drawer slide posts...

 

[FJ 432]

Welcome

More than likely your slides are bent due to the years of holding/carrying loaded drawers. You may have to sort that out first and the larger drawers will usually be the worst because they were loaded up with more ****.

I have also found through experience that each drawer slide is bent uniquely and that by removing all of them I didn't keep them matched up to the respective drawer. So when I got them all cleaned up I had mismatched sets and the effort to open and close became worse.

 

[seber]

I have always used paraffin wax. It works well, is quiet, and does not attract dirt so it doesn't degrade fast in dirty environments. Same thing I use on the patio door and for the same reasons.

 

[RTM]

Paraffin wax is my choice, but I suspect they still aren’t straight enough. I think it’s cousin a craftsman is in my garage, as I try to replace som drawers that are too far gone to fix.

 

[Bobmanx]

FJ 432 and seber, Thanks for the info and I will check them again, and as a fyi, they slide freely when not lubricated and with the drawer empty, and I was hoping for a way to get that same ease when something helps the metal to metal contact, but not yet....

And seber, sorry, but how does one apply the parafin wax to the slides, just rubbing the wax on all mating surfaces, and any idea as to how long before it needs to be reapplied, or will it degrade and let me know? LOL

Thanks for the suggestions and help
Bob

 

[Bobmanx]

RTM, Thanks for the response, I will check all of them again for straight and also going to try and buff the mating surfaces to make sure they are smooth before trying the paraffin.

Back to work, the curse of being sort of retired, but like to eat....

Thanks for the info

Bob

RTM, I tried the "new" Craftsman tool boxes and they are flimsy at best, just a FYI....

 

[Lookin4'67Galaxieconv]

 

[ssdave]

I did a restoration last year, and removed the slides, wire wheeled them clean, and then used parrafin on them. They work great. What I did was put them in the oven, heated to about 180 degrees. Take them out one at a time, rub them with a block of parrafin which will melt and run on the hot steel. Thoroughly saturate them with the wax, and set them aside on a newspaper to cool. Re-assemble, and they will work for a long time, won't collect dirt, and will keep the steel from rusting.

 

[wtn1271]

I have had good success with a product called "Door Ease" which can usually be found at your local hardware store.

https://agscompany.com/product/door-ease-lubricant-stick-1-6-oz-card-hardware/




Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

 

[lilredex]

Paraffin is what Snap-on recommended from the early days.

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/album.php?albumid=5067&pictureid=60952

Door Ease is also an alternative choice that works well.

 

[Wamsutta]

LPS 1 Dry Film Lubricant.

 

[Bobmanx]

Thank you for all the responses, so far Paraffin Wax seems to be the winner, I will post some pics when I get a chancfe to sit down and figure out how to get them posted.

Thank you All!

Bob

 

[RTM]

I buy paraffin in blocks of 4 slabs, each slab is about 1/2” x 2 x 4. For slides I use the smallest side and just rub. You get a groove quickly, and then keep rubbing til it is deep enough to hit both level of wear surface,

 

[seber]

I just use an old candle. Same as RTM for application.

 

[Bobmanx]

Ok, cleaned, recleaned and then recleaned and straightened the slides, while I was at it, I noticed that the ends of all the intermediate slides had sharp cut edges on them at their ends, so removed all the cutting or grinding burrs and also rounded all of the slide ends where they contact the other two parts of the slides so the metal is not digging into or dragging on the other slide parts. I also filed and buffed all of the edges to make them smooth on the top and bottom where they contact the fixed slides on the drawers and on the tool box.
I had planned on trying the paraffin and a friend mentioned what he uses on his early Craftsman Slides Tool Boxes and I tried his box drawers and they slide very smooth and easy, so I tried his suggestion on my old Yorktown box, and was not expecting them to work like new..... Long story short they slide very smooth in and out (empty) where before they were a pull and push to get the open and closed. Only time and some weight in the drawers will tell if this is going to be the solution.
The product he uses and suggested that I try it is Tri-flow spray lubericant.
And we shall see....

And here is a pic as found, and it was headed to the dump if I didn't want it..