u/Accomplished-Sell892

Hi all,

I’ve been having an issue with my SME Series III where the arm gets pulled forward toward me near the inner grooves of a record. After some investigation I’ve worked out it’s not a fluid viscosity issue and it’s not the anti-skate/bias mechanism. The vertical bearing pillar is physically making contact with the fluid damping trough housing as the arm swings inward toward the spindle.

I’ve gone through the manual carefully and can’t find any explanation for how this misalignment started or what would cause the trough to shift into the path of the bearing pillar. Nothing obvious has changed. No knocks, no recent adjustments. It just started happening.

The clearance between the pillar and the trough housing is clearly too tight on one side. I can see it visually. My assumption is the trough has rotated or shifted slightly from its correct position, narrowing that gap.

My question is whether anyone has experience reseating the trough on a Series III and what the correct procedure is. I’d also like to know if there are options short of removing the damping fluid entirely. I’d prefer to keep the damping in place if the geometry can be corrected.

Any advice from people who know this arm well would be appreciated.

Thanks