Stickied a door rail from over oiling last Tuesday

I was greasing a door track on an Otis gen2 and got carried away with the lithium grease, ended up with the door sticking bad after 20 cycles. Customer complained it was dragging and I had to come back and wipe it all down with brake cleaner. Anyone else had a door rail get gummy from too much lube?

3 comments

3 Comments

abbyg141mo ago

Last time I had a gen2 with the same issue I was absolutely convinced more grease was better. I used to slather that white lithium on like it was going out of style. Learned the hard way too when it turned into glue after a week. Now I just do a thin wipe on the rail itself and call it good.

the_kevin1mo ago

The building I used to work at had a gen2 that I basically glued shut with white lithium back in 2019. I had to come in on a Saturday and scrape that stuff off with a plastic scraper and some mineral spirits because brake cleaner was just smearing it around. What finally worked for me was switching to a silicone based spray lube instead, just one quick pass on the rail every few months. That stuff doesn't get gummy or attract dirt like the white lithium does, and I haven't had a sticky door since.

patricia3171mo ago

Oh man, less is definitely more with that lithium stuff. Learned that lesson myself after a similar gummy mess on a gen2. A tiny wipe is all you need, anything extra just turns into a sticky nightmare.