Bridgeport mill - float clutches in?

[Technical Ted]

I just got done going through the upper half of my new to me 2J Bridgeport. Did some cleaning and checking things over. New bushings on motor vari-speed, new/clean grease on bull gear, through cleaning, etc.

My question is the (3) castle nuts that have the cotter keys going through them... the manual says these are adjusted at the factory. I've read several things on the web and one item that popped up a couple times was "floating the clutches in" using these (3) nuts. Sounds like this is how you align the direct drive clutch.

What is the correct procedure for doing this? I've purchased the Ilion "A Guide to Renovating the Bridgeport 2J mill", but it does not cover this.

Thanks,
Ted

 

[derf]

Floating in the clutches requires a pony motor. To get the spindle hub to actually float, you need to eliminate the belt tension from the motor. To do this, the belts must slacked or removed and the spindle must be driven from the bottom with a separate motor.
The castle nuts need to be loosened slightly and when driven with the pony motor they "float" and seek center. Once things get quiet, tighten up the nuts.