How to Lubricate Ball Bearing Drawer Slides

Nothing is more annoying than a stuck drawer. It is however fortunate that when such problems are identified, these drawer slides can be fixed with the smallest effort. Sometimes a drawer can pop out of their grooves where they slide in, when this happens you will need to align them again to their tracks. Sometimes too, the drawer will be on its slides but will be difficult to move around them, in this case you will need to lubricate both the slides and the drawer.

Seizure of ball bearing drawer slides mostly is because of high humidity, summers especially is the most common time that these take place. As for wooden drawers, high humidity makes them to swell. But this article is going to major on how to solve this problem for ball bearing slides.

If you have a drawer with this kind of issue, not sliding properly and getting stuck along the way, the first step is to remove it and check for exactly what the problem is occurring. Try to pull out the drawer completely so that you can get a view of both the tracks and the drawer itself. Ball bearing drawer slides are not difficult to pull out, most of them just have a lever or a strap that you just pull to release the drawer.

Check out for obvious obstructions or maybe damage if non, you can then check for subtle ones like swelling or warping.

Lubricating metal and ball-bearing drawer slides

With this guide, you won’t need a technician or a special tutorial video for you to be able to lubricate a drawer slide. Below are the materials you will be needing:

• You cannot lubricate without a lubricant, so you are going to need one. When purchasing, you should go for the ones with lithium grease

• A damp clothing

Remove drawer: just as said earlier, the first thing to do id to remove the drawer, pull it straight out and then unclip. In some drawers you might need to raise it up a little bit before pulling out, in this case make sure you empty the drawer so as to make this step easier. If you don’t want to empty it, you may have to be extra careful of the weight for this process.

On the area where you are planning to lubricate, use a damp cloth and swipe clean. Up and down both runners and then make sure they are dried to avoid rust. You should make sure they are as clean as possible before you can proceed to the next.

Apply the lubricant, if it is in spray form, hold the spray as close as possible and make sure to use short burst for efficiency. Coat everything.

Clean up the excess lubricants and then you are good to go, your drawer should be running smoothly now.