awesome! I'm going to do it this weekend. Thanks!

I agree. Thank you for this.

I don't know why they ran wires through a fitting that can't accommodate a connector??? Great instructional for servicing this feature. Thanks

What grease did you use?

I have 2 beers, come to Cleveland....thanks for the tip.

Very appreciated.

Bill

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000XBH9HI seems to be it. Thanks

Great post, I've been waiting until I had some time to crack open that gearbox to make sure the gears were alright. Will bookmark this thread and follow your advice when the time comes.

Thanks.

Disassembled my trunk and opened up the gearbox tonight. I've been noticing that the motor/gears are making more noise than usual so was concerned. Everything actually looks alright, decent amount of grease still in there and everything turns alright.

How dirty or dry were your gears when you cracked the case open?

Great post,great fix.Scott

I still have it cracked open, planning to head off to the store today and buy new grease. It's definitely a lot louder now than it was last year, I was hoping to see more evidence but I'm sure the noise will lessen when I clean the gears and apply new grease.

Wish I'd seen this a month ago. Spent a small fortune on a new gearbox and motor which I fitted over the weekend.
Oh well, at least I now know how to take the old one apartand clean it if I need a spare.
A faster turning trunk combined with the pinbits auto-eddy makes the whole game so much better.

Well, I can attest. Even when you crack open the gearbox and everything looks alright, you can drastically reduce the amount of noise by cleaning everything up an applying new grease. Underneath some of the gears I found the old grease gumming up against the wall of the gearbox, used alcohol and qtips but I imagine carb cleaner would have been quicker.

Now I can't even hear the motor and gear box during gameplay.

I used Lubriplate 105, same brand that is sold by Marco so I figured I was alright.

Lupriplate.jpg

Quick question. Where do you apply the grease? On the rods before slipping the gears back on? On the gear teeth?

I always grease any 2 metal surfaces that touch.. teeth of gears, where axles pass through gears, gears come close to cases, etc

Thank you. I need to do this. My trunk intermittently errors out and the motor is loud. Have already replaced the optos, trunk motor
board, and eddy. This is the last component.

How much grease do you apply?
Just rub it I with your finger? I assume a very light coat?

But coated on what? The gear teeth? The rods? Both?

Everything. It will have turned from lube to nearly varnish consistency.

Here's a MB Drac Gearbox tutorial - from 98. Check out the dried out grease:

http://iobium.com/rebuilding_the_monster_bash_drac.htm

And an I500 gearbox:

http://gallery.myhomegameroom.com/gallery/i500_racetrack_gearbox

Really good. Thank you.

Thanks for this excellent thread, took my ToM gear box apart last night, going to buy some proper cleaner&grease today!

Inside of Trunk Motor assembly.

DSC_4017.JPG DSC_4018.JPG

did the same, used a spray white lithium grease. the box does turn a little bit faster, and is a bit quieter, but not a huge difference. regardless, i sleep better at night knowing that gunk isn't slowly killing the motor.

Any comments on how easy it is for a newb to screw this up (at any point from beginning to end)?

Its pretty easy, gears go back together without much thinking, this is a must do project if it has not been done the past few years.

I haven't psyched myself enough to do this, but for those who are allergic to wiring and Molex pins (me), this pre-made harness can save a bit of time and pain:
http://www.pinbits.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=13_33&products_id=480&zenid=cjnfqorsu54qsfr75e1763n7b6

tomtrunk.jpg

I cleaned out my ToM trunk a while back. It wasn't broken and wasn't acting up, but I had the whole machine apart, so it made sense. You can see it was in the same condition as the other one pictures here.

And yes, the pinbits harness definitely is a nice thing to have. I had to tear everything out one more time, and I used this. Was really a time saver and nice to have something new, especially for the price.

2013-02-16_09.49.24.jpg

where did you find the superlube? I have been looking for it for years. I know I can order it online. Maybe that is the only option?

Try here: http://www.pinrestore.com/Supplies.html

Thanks for this timesaver.

Childs play compared to this-

th-3.jpeg th-4.jpeg

Good to know, I will just order online then.

Thanks!

Here is the lube on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Synthetic-Grease-Syncolon-Purpose-Lubricant/dp/B000XBH9HI/ref=sr_1_1

I get the best looks when I go to a store and ask if they have super lube. They always say "what is the application" and I said you can use it on pretty much anything since it is teflon. They ask me to describe the bottle and I said that it has kind of a rainbow on it. Best looks ever!

Thanks for the info on how to fix a sluggish and noisy trunk. I will be pulling my gearbox apart and cleaning it and lubing it back up with Superlube gel this weekend. Today I noticed that while doing the switch test and cycling the trunk after installing the new opto board, little wisps of smoke were coming out of the motor after a few cycles. Looks like I will be having to replace it as well... Good thing I know someone local who has those motors and a small gear puller... Anytime a ball taps the trunk while it is moving, it errors out and stops as well...

-- Shawn

Sorry for the revival, but I NEEDED to say that this is an incredible must-do!

I was having issues with my trunk 'shifting' out of position when hit by the ball, and came across this thread. I took its advice and found that my gearbox had some really nasty buildup.

This task was fairly easy to do and made such an improvement in the way my ToM's trunk works, smoother, quieter and my issue was fixed.

I just wanted to say a huge thank you to cal50 for suggesting this, and throw my recommendation behind doing this to any ToM that hasn't had it done yet.

Here's my gunk:

unnamed.jpg

unnamed2.jpg

I recall reading this thread a couple years ago, but thinking my trunk was fine, no issues. Then I played someone else's TOM and noticed how quick the trunk moved... Seeing this again tells me I have yet another thing to add to the never ending list of crap to do...

Good bump.

Did you need to add grease to the gears when you were done or did you just clean and reassemble? I am having the same problem with mine.

If you used grease, what kind?