Van Norman 2L knee drive lubrication question

[JBSNC]

I recently picked up a Van Normal 2L horizontal mill. It was very filthy and grimy everywhere. I got the wiring so the motor would run, then put the belts on and saw there was no oil flow when spindle was engaged. Fixed oil pump and got flow. Feeds seem to work on the knee. It made a cut. That makes me think I should proceed cleaning it up and hopefully using it some.

After running it, I was getting a lot of oil running down the drive shaft that drives the knee. I figured the seal was bad and took apart the upper and lower bearing assemblies of the two part drive shaft in order to get shaft out and seal off without removing the knee. I have done that. I found another thread that mentioned a replacement seal of the same type was $600-700. There was an alternative of a conventional oil shaft seal (DICHTOMATIK36X63.5X9TC) and I have ordered that. The bronze on the old seal had worn a groove in to the nut it's supposed to ride against. At least that is what it looked like to me. I'd think I could fix the nut but I fear the springs inside the old nut and maybe the rubber the bronze is in is worn out.

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My question is, when I go to put this back together, how do I lubricate the bevel gears and bearings in the base of the machine? I asked this in an old thread and it was suggested to post it here where it's more likely to be seen. Referring to the diagram below:

I know that the 5852 and 10248 bearings are greased and can be greased via the zerk fitting in the housing. There is a seal on the shaft to contain the grease in the vicinity of those two bearings. It's not clear to me how the gears and bearings down in the base get lubricated. They were not packed with grease when I removed them. Is the idea that grease gets forced through bearing 10248 and in to the cavity where the bevel gears mesh and down through the 10207 bearings? That seems like a long shot to me, but maybe enough would get through to supplement what is packed in there when assembling? Maybe I fill that cavity they are in with oil before bolting cover back over it? Maybe I've ruined it and it can't be put back together at this point (I hope that's not the case).

Hopefully someone knows. Thanks very much for any info.

 

[Brandenberger]

As I said in the other thread I believe the grease zerk would eventually feed all the bearings and gears, but I greased them all anyway when reassembling.

Since the vertical splined shaft bearings have a cap at the bottom that is removable, if the bearings were oiled that would have been full of oil… mine wasn’t. It did have a bit of oil (likely separated from grease) and some metal presumably from wear of the gears and/or bearings falling through.

 

[JBSNC]

Thank you. I will grease them all up then.

When I took that bottom cover off I had a pan under it and no significant oil came out, just like yours. There was also no discernable grease in the bearings or on the gears (nor shavings luckily). This is why I didn't know what to think.