I have a mid 80s vintage 2J. It¡¯s pretty noisy but it could be that my dry walled garage really amplifies the sound and I am usually machining things with the door closed.
I rebuilt the head and changed all of the variable speed system bearings and bushings. It didn¡¯t really get much quieter.?
The point is it¡¯s a maximum of 2 hours to pull the head apart and replace the grease. You should change the timing belt while your in there.
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On May 10, 2023, at 17:16, daniel_sinotte <daniel@...> wrote:
?I have a late 80's 2HP 2J mill in my home shop.? The mill is in excellent shape with signs of light use.? The head is pretty quiet, no need for a rebuild, but I've been getting this lil niggling that the bull gears should get a lil grease, and unfortunately this head is of a vintage where Bridgeport decided to skip the grease fitting on the back of the bull gear housing. I don't see an easy way to get grease into that housing.? I guess Bridgeport decided they were lubricated for life, and not in need of future lubrication, but I hear that all the grease gets thrown off after a short while, and the gears just run dry. So my question is, should i just be content to have those gears live out the decades running dry, and if not, is there a trick I haven't thought of to get some grease in there.? My best plan right now is to drill into the flat on the back of that bull gear housing (where the older heads' zerk fitting used to get installed) and thread a fitting in there...but to pull that off without any pesky chips getting deposited into the gears seems risky, especially since the head is running great right now.? Should i care if the bull gears wear a lil faster than if they were well lubricated? Has anyone seen these gears after lots of use to have an opinion about the effects of a life lived under lubricated.
Signed - High and Dry
