Ron,
I can't remember if I "had" to take the fan off or not. My unit was pretty crusty with old congealed oil etc. and I wanted to wire brush every inch of the outside and degrease the entire inside so I took 'er down to the smallest part. No ball bearings in mine, just brass bushing type bearings. Here's a couple of pix of mine. Sorry they're not the best, it's dark and cold.
ML
