Something happened to the backgear setup on my j-head. Work fine in direct drive. Should I pop her apart or does anyone have any ideas? I took the head off a very old round ram machine with a small table and mounted it on a 48" dovetail ram model from the mid seventies. The head is over 70 years old if I remember correctly. Should I just bring it to my freindly bridgeport mechanic?

Oops. More bad news. I just went to mill a couple slots and when I started the motor a couple drops of oil with metal particles flung off the outer part of the spindle. I guess its off to the head-metalhead.

Rebuilding a Bridgeport head was the most godawful project I have ever tackled in my shop! That thing has a bazzillion parts and they all seem to become airborn whenever a screw is loosened! None of it is really all that hard, just frustrating. Wholesale Tool lists replacement parts pretty cheap, and with a manual you should be able to get the thing running.