Reply To: Grandfather clock gets stuck in last 15min of hour

[Bob Tascione]

Hi Dan,
If you’ve tried what William and David suggested and still had no luck and the clock began having this problem all on it’s own without any changes being made to it then I would lean toward the possibility of dirt, gunked up or dry oil, and wear…here’s why. When I zoom in using the keys Ctrl and + I can see a badly worn hole on the strike side…right under the rack. Also may be an illusion or shadow but the pivot holes do look dirty. This along with dirt and bad or dried oil can certainly stop your clock when attempting to move into warn. I think you’re correct when you say

I’m assuming it gets out of beat because the force of the pendulum swinging is causing the crutch to bend a little when it gets stuck

I could be wrong but this does seem like a possibility.

If this is your first clock to disassemble then I would recommend starting out with an American time and strike movement to get the hang of how they work. If you do decide to go through this movement then try to take as many pics with a digital camera of each stage during dis-assembly. Also take a bunch of pics of the movement before pulling it apart for strike and chime timing/setup when finished. The more pics the better! Make any notes you feel might help too.

Enjoy,
Bob