Thought someone with more experience would answer, but since nobody has:  my 4002 has virtually no side to side play that I noticed in the 20 or so times that I took out the platter while working on the deck.

Rich,

Thanks for your reply. After I wrote this post, I selected some brass shimstock (0.055mm) thick, rolled it into a tube and inserted it into the bearing well. I also changed the oil from synthetic fishing reel oil to Castrol Final Drive EPX 85W140 transmission oil.

Even with a relatively thick bearing 'liner', the platter spins very freely and there's hardly any sideplay now.

I showed a machinist friend the situation this afternoon and he suggested that the bearing well as it was, could hardly have been caused by wear - not even by 40 years of continuous running. 

When I first discovered this situation, the bearing had clean lubricant, the bearing bore was un-scored as was the platter shaft.

A real mystery how it got like this - unless B&O engineers specified it like found. In the absence of comment, I'm still unsure if I did the right thing by shimming the well.

andre/dauphine

The platter on these decks will almost always wobble a bit if pushed by hand.
It was always like that, even from new.
B&O's platter spindle bearings are generally of very good quality and it shouldn't
wobble when playing, obviously.

Martin

Hello Martin

It is real good to hear from you and clearing up this question.  There was no 'wobble' of the platter with the belt fitted and rotating, despite the sideplay observed when the subplatter was pushed by hand when stationary.

Although the platter still spins freely, I may as well remove the shim as the factory knows best🙂

Best regards

andre/dauphine