Moisture in spindle

[Firstram]

My buddy hauled his J Head up to Atlanta from Miami, of course the bottom fell out along the way. It didn't seem that bad but after a week we started getting milkshake oil dripping out of the spindle. We pulled the spindle last night but the thought of fully disassembling it doesn't excite me.
Any suggestions on how to proceed?

 

[Lo-Fi]

There's nothing scary in there, the top end stuff is really simple. Will save a lot of heartache down the line, I'm sure.

HW machinery on YouTube has it all covered.

 

[fixit]

Drain it. Put a can of seafoam and fresh oil in it run it for a while (a couple of hours) unloaded. Then let it drain overnight and refill with fresh oil you will be good to go.

 

[Technical Ted]

Yes! Great resource!

Ted

H&W Machine Repair and Rebuilding

Since 1982 H&W Machine Repair & Rebuilding has been providing machinery sales, repairs, rebuilds and parts for the metalworking industry. On this page you wi...

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[Firstram]

Thanks for the links. I'll check out the video when I get to work. Fortunately MSC is around the corner, I assume they'll have the proper grease?

 

[Technical Ted]

Thanks for the links. I'll check out the video when I get to work. Fortunately MSC is around the corner, I assume they'll have the proper grease?

Not sure if your spindle is set up for grease or oil... does it have a oil cup on the right side of the head for oiling the spindle? If so, then I would suggest Mobil #10 spindle oil and MSC should have that. If it does take grease you would have to open things up and remove at least the top spindle bearing so you can work grease into the two bearings. Touchy operation but doable. There's a video on H&W on installing spindle bearings so you can see how it is done. Not sure if MSC has the proper grease for these or not...

If it uses oil I would most likely try flushing things out with a good cleaner and then applying some spindle oil after. If oil, then there should be a felt piece on top of the quill that should be cleaned as well.

Good luck,

Ted

 

[Technical Ted]

There's also a H&W video on dropping the quill. Not a big job.

Ted

 

[Lo-Fi]

I'd pull the motor, belt housing, bull gear housing and top section. Plenty of places water could hide in there. A few hours spannering at most.

 

[Firstram]

I don't see any grease in the bearings so I assume two gits cups means oil lubed spindle?

 

[Technical Ted]

View attachment 347528

I don't see any grease in the bearings so I assume two gits cups means oil lubed spindle?

The bottom cup is for the spindle. The top is for the bull gear and upper bearings. So yes oil. But even if it was grease there would be no zerts. You hand pack them.

Ted