Bridgeport 2J head bearing replacment

[99tantj]

Greetings, I have a new to me 1969 2J head that I believe needs some replacement bearings. The noise I'm hearing is a whine that's mostly present when engaged in high gear. I'm fairly certain it has to be the bearings in the bull gear area since it seems mostly quiet in neutral.

I'm looking for some suggestions on where to find these bearings. I've done a lot of searching and the prices seem to vary quite a bit. I don't want to replace these with 3rd party bearings that are junk.

Also, I'm looking for a socket to remove this nut.



Here's a youtube video demonstrating the noise I'm hearing. You can hear the difference between neutral and high gear at about 12 seconds and 33 seconds.

YouTube - Bridgeport variable speed head

YouTube - Bridgeport variable speed head

[machintek]

Pull out the hi/low lever and the bull gear with bearing sleeve will come out.
now you can hold the Bull gear in a vise.
Machine a piece of pipe to the correct OD and ID leaving 4 teeth to engage the bearing lock nut and unscrew. This is what I had to do. May have locktite on it. You can drill a hole through the pipe to put in a rod to assist turning it or use a pipe wrench.
I used to buy kits of bearings from C&M precision spindles in Oregon.

George

[99tantj]

Thanks George.

[mactec54]

Hi 99antj

I would find a bearing supplyer that will get what I need most will be able to get the good brand name bearings like SKF NSK Etc

If you can't do/make the wrench like George has said another way is to get a piece of round bar that will be the right size or turn it to suit about .375 thick drill for holes in the right place to match the nut put 4 pins/dowels in the holes weld a tube on it for a handle & unscrew your nut

For those bearings get 2RS these have rubber shields on them so no grease is needed for them

[99tantj]

Thanks

[rgrace44]

When I would get a whine like you have I would float the head in to align the clutches (splined gear hub and spindle pulley hub) IMO Also if that didn't solve the noise issue I would run the spindle up to 4K in high range and then shut the motor off and gently put the machine in neutral and apply brake. This lets the spindle free wheel and you can listen for spindle bearings and/or bull gear bearings.

Ray

[99tantj]

Thanks Ray. If I do that, the lower bull gear bearings will still be spinning with the spindle bearings, right? I don't think there's a way to isolate just the 3 spindle bearings, is there? The noise seems to be coming from fairly high up on the head and it's not there in neutral. That's why I think it's the bull gear bearings.

[rgrace44]

Putting it in neutral dis-engages the clutches so the noise goes away. This does not prove that the bull gear bearings are bad. Try pushing up on the high/neutral/low gear lever while in high range and notice any noise level change. If you get a noise level change this could point to mis-aligned clutches or a bad brake bearing. Or maybe the clutches are not fully engaged.