Fixing a sticky shutter on a 1974 Canon FTb without a shop

I know everyone says to send seized shutters out for a CLA, but I had a Canon FTb from a garage sale in Portland that wouldn't fire past 1/60. Instead of paying the $180 repair quote, I pulled the bottom plate and found a dried grease blob on the timing gear, then used a tiny drop of naphtha on a jewelers screwdriver to break it free. It took about 40 minutes and the shutter speeds all check out on my tester now. Has anyone else had luck with solvent-only fixes on older mechanical bodies, or am I just asking for trouble down the road?

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fionanguyen9d ago

Did you check the speeds after a few days of sitting? My buddy tried the same trick on his Pentax Spotmatic, used lighter fluid on the slow speed escapement, and it worked perfect for about a week. Then the old grease resettled and it froze up again mid-roll, totally jammed at 1/1000. He ended up having to take the whole thing apart twice more before he just caved and sent it out. I hope yours holds, but solvent fixes can be like that, they clean the surface but dont always flush out the gunk deeper in the works.