Removing the shaft was quite difficult. It was essentially glued in place. A PO had punctured the bearing seals and forced grease into them. The grease I believe migrated to the bearing/headstock gap, broke down and hardened there.
After removing both the inner and outer retaining rings I could not get it to move either out or in.
I had to seek advice from the sage in Plant City. I did not have a piece of rebar, but a cut off grounding rod worked well. I was afraid that too much force would crack the headstock - he assured me he had never had one break. He uses a 4# sledge, I used a 2# ball peen hammer.
Thanks Bill!!!!
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- main shaft removal.jpg (162.64 KiB) Viewed 1410 times
Free at last! The 'push rod' fit into the quill shaft bore and the force of striking the rod essentially pulled the shaft/bearing rather than pushing the bearing as is typically done. I had NO intention of salvaging the old bearings.
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- main shaft remival 2.jpg (130.88 KiB) Viewed 1410 times
In this pix, a Mark 5/V shaft is on top, but in the following two pix the Mark VII shaft is on top. This shows the shaft disassembled and shows it is ALMOST the same as a Mark 5/V. All the parts are identical except the shaft itself which is longer on each end.
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- MAIN SHAFT PARTS.jpg (134.93 KiB) Viewed 1411 times
The rear shaft is about 1/4" longer.
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- MAIN SHAFT REAR.jpg (93.59 KiB) Viewed 1407 times
As is the quill end.
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- MAIN SHAFT QUILL.jpg (96.03 KiB) Viewed 1407 times
