TIL the hard way about brass gear drag on old SLRs

Last month I had a Minolta SRT-101 on the bench, shutter was sticking at slow speeds. I pulled the top cover and found the brass advance gear had this fine gray sludge all over it, like powder mixed with grease. Turns out old brass gears wear down and that dust gets into the timing assembly, causing lag. I flushed it with lighter fluid, re-lubed with a tiny dab of watch oil, and it ran smooth as butter after. Three years ago I would have just replaced the whole wind mechanism and charged the customer $90 in parts. Now I know to check gear wear first, saved the guy $60. Has anyone else dealt with that brass dust issue on older Minoltas or Pentaxes?

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