When I started 12 years ago my old timer mentor made me grease the guide rails like clockwork every Friday. I mean I'd be in that pit with a brush and bucket of Mobilux 1 no matter what. Then about 4 years back I got a call at a building downtown where the car was jumping like crazy on the 6th floor. Turns out someone had been greasing so much it caked up and actually messed with the roller guides. Now I only hit the rails if I see or hear something off, maybe 3 times a year tops. The bearings last way longer and I don't breathe that greasy dust anymore. Anyone else cut way back on rail lube or is it still a must in your book?
I spent all last Tuesday replacing guide rails in a 15-story building downtown because the building manager skipped quarterly inspections for 18 months. The car was bouncing like a pinball, and we had to emergency shutdown with 6 people stuck for an hour. But then I remember weeks like that one in March where I did a full PM on a 20-year-old Otis and found nothing wrong, felt like I wasted a whole shift. Which side are you on - do you see PM as busywork or the only thing keeping us employed?
I was working a big freight door job in Seattle a few months back with a younger guy. He pulls out this laser guide to mark his rail brackets, and I laughed at him. Told him my eyeball and a level were good enough, been doing it since '08. Then I spent an extra hour re-drilling three holes because my marks were off by 1/8 inch. Next day I bought a Klein laser level off the truck. Has anyone else here switched to lasers after swearing them off for years?
I keep seeing guys at my shop dumping oil into governors until it drips out, but a MRL governor I worked on in Charlotte last month tripped at 95% overspeed because of that extra drag, and the manual said 4 ounces max, so has anyone else had over-oiling cause false trips?
Been doing this trade for 8 years up in Portland and always thought those hydraulic jack adjuster tools were a waste of money. I figured my big crescent wrench and a hammer was good enough. Last month I had to adjust a jack on an Otis in a 12 story building and it took me almost 4 hours fighting with it. Buddy let me borrow his legit adjuster tool and I got the same job done in 45 minutes flat. The tool locked onto the nut perfect without slipping once. Has anyone else had a tool they ignored for years that ended up saving them time? I'm thinking of grabbing one from Grainger next week.
I was working on a 1970s Otis in a building downtown and the door locks kept giving me a false open signal. After swapping relays, checking wiring, and finally pulling the whole door operator apart, I found a worn out roller that was off by maybe 1/16th of an inch. Has anyone else spent way too long chasing a simple mechanical issue that should have been a 20 minute fix?
Spent 5 years fighting tangled hoistway cables. Finally figured out you can use those cheap zip tie mounts with adhesive backing to route them clean. Anyone else waste hours on this before?
Last month I was doing a yearly safety check on a 12-stop Otis in a downtown office building. The building manager came out and said I was taking too long on each landing, that I was costing them money in lost elevator time. I got defensive at first, but then I realized he had a point. I was rechecking things I already checked twice, like the door locks and hoistway switches. So I timed myself and cut my door zone inspection from 8 minutes per floor to 5 minutes by trusting my first pass. I still catch everything, just faster now. Has anyone else had a client push you to speed up and you actually found a better rhythm because of it?
Spent 3 hours on a job last week scrubbing rails by hand until I rigged a paint roller with a microfiber cover and taped it to the shop vac hose. Cut the cleaning time down to 45 minutes for the same shaft. Anyone else got a hack for rail maintenance?
I was wrestling with a sticky brake on a 1994 Dover in a parking garage last March, and this retired mechanic named Pete walked up and said I was overthinking it, just tap the shoe alignment with a brass rod instead of cranking the spring. He showed me a trick with a feeler gauge and a half turn where I was doing full turns, and the car rode smooth after that. Have you ever had a random stranger come by and make you feel like you were doing the whole thing backwards?
Honestly, I had a conversation with an old-timer last week in a 14-story building downtown that got me thinking. He swore up and down that we over-grease elevator guide rails and that it just attracts dirt and causes more wear in the long run. I've always been on the side of greasing them every 3 months without fail, but he said he only does it twice a year and his cars run smoother. Ngl, I looked at his logs and he had way fewer callbacks than me last year. But then another guy in our shop says that's crazy and you need that slick coating to prevent the rollers from chattering. So which is it? Is there a middle ground here or are we all just guessing based on what our first mentor told us? Has anyone else run into this debate and found a solid answer from experience?
We were doing a routine rope replacement on a 15 year old Otis. Someone left the buffer bolts loose on the last service 3 years ago. The car dropped maybe 2 feet before the safeties caught it. Lucky nobody was in the pit at the time. Anyone else seen this kind of thing from rushed maintenance?
I used to patch together replacement relays and timers on these old units because that's what I learned, but after a three day fix turned into a week of chasing bad contacts I finally bit the bullet and learned basic ladder logic. Now I can diagnose most issues from the controller with a laptop instead of crawling around with a meter, and it cut my callbacks in half. Has anyone else made that switch and found a good way to convince old school guys to give PLCs a try?
So I'm at this old building in Philly last Tuesday, no freight elevator and this thing has to go up to the 4th floor. I figured the dolly would save my back but I dropped it on the second landing and the machine cracked a marble tile, cost me $200 out of pocket lol. Has anyone else been stuck between using a lift tool or just manhandling it, and which worked out better for you?
Been doing elevator mods for about 8 years now and always just cranked those door hanger bolts down as hard as I could. Last week I had a job in a 12 story building where every single door was dragging on the sill. Took me three hours to realize the hangers were torqued so tight they bent the track just slightly. Backed them off, leveled each one with a 6 inch level, and the doors glided perfect. Any of you guys ever over-tighten something simple and create a bigger headache?
I was at a job in downtown Portland last month and a senior mechanic from Otis watched me mess with a leveling sensor for like 10 minutes before he finally spoke up. He said I was overcomplicating it and that most issues on Series 1 controllers come down to a simple 1/8 turn on the limit switch instead of touching the sensor itself. I tried his method and it fixed the problem in under 2 minutes, but now I'm wondering if I've been wasting time on the wrong adjustments all along. Has anyone else had a veteran call them out on a habit you thought was standard?
Last Tuesday on a job in downtown Austin I watched a guy with 30 years in the trade use a silicone-based lubricant on a hotel elevator door track instead and the thing slid smooth as butter, so now I'm throwing out my can and grabbing some Super Lube instead, anyone else swear by a specific brand for door tracks?
Everyone says to use lightweight oil to break free seized parts, but I put Mobil 1 on an Otis Gen2 governor rope sheave last Thursday and it gummed up the brake pads so bad the car wouldn't move for 45 minutes. Had to pull the whole assembly and scrub it down with brake cleaner. Has anyone else had that happen with synthetics on safety components?
He said he's been running the same car for 12 years without a drop of oil and I'm curious if anyone else out there skips the lube or if this guy is just lucky with his building conditions?
Last Tuesday, I got called to a building downtown where the car was shaking like crazy on every stop. Turns out someone had dropped a chunk of concrete down the shaft and it wedged the guide rail bracket on floor 14. Took me and my partner three full days to chip it out and realign the rail because the bolts were rusted solid. Anyone else ever deal with debris getting dumped in the hoistway by careless construction crews?
Got a call last Tuesday for a slow close issue on a Schindler 330a in a midtown office building. Turned out the door coupler was just a quarter turn loose, but I tore half the cab apart before I checked the simple stuff. Anybody else waste a whole morning on what turned out to be a one wrench fix?
I was swapping out a governor rope on a 1982 Otis in a downtown Atlanta building last Wednesday, and this retired mechanic happened to be there visiting his grandson who's the building manager. He saw me struggling with the splice and just said 'you're overthinking it, treat it like a shoelace not a knot.' Showed me this simple figure-eight loop that holds tension way better than anything I learned in school. Has anyone else picked up a weird trick from an older mechanic that you never see in the manuals?
Been doing elevator mods for about 4 years and always set the drum brake shoes by feel. Then last week my foreman watched me do a stop test on a 3-stop hydro in a parking garage and the car dropped a solid 6 inches before catching. He just looked at me and said "you been setting them too loose this whole time." Turns out I was using the wrong gap measurement, I should have been checking with a feeler gauge at 0.015 instead of just eyeballing it. Anyone else ever have a senior mechanic call out something you thought was fine for years?
Spent three hours troubleshooting an intermittent door reopening problem at a 12-story apartment building in Austin last Tuesday. Turns out a weak magnet on the car door limit switch was the culprit, not the controller. Has anyone else wasted a day chasing ghosts like this?