How did you clean the spindle bearing before repacking it? The old grease in mine was almost crumbly, so I soaked it in Pine-Sol overnight and flushed it really well, repacked it with Mobil 1 wheel bearing grease, reassembled it with a 40" serpentine belt, and it's been working great.
Since I couldn't remove the bearing from the spindle shaft it was a process.. Wish I took more pics but my hands were filthy and going in my pocket for phone wasn't happening. Mine was about like you are describing, crumbly very thick and it was PACKED in there. When I say packed I mean from aluminum cover (inside) to bearing end cap (part with 3 screws) it was FULL, NO air space. The rear bearing was the same, FULL.
As for the cleaning, the Main bearing and spindle were soaked in a coffee can of fresh diesel. I would let it soak for an hour, take it out and blast the crud out with air chuck, then repeat. After doing this about 6 times it seemed pretty clean so I sprayed it down with brake cleaner and let it dry over night.
I then got extremely hung up on what grease to use, came to my senses and said screw it. According to some internet guru, any modern NLGI grade 2 is 10,000x better then the peanut butter I washed out of it. Had the wife stop at NAPA (auto parts not wine) and grab me a tub of Sta-Lube Wheel Grease.
Packing the main bearing is the part I'm nervous about. I smeared it in from both sides and did all I could to get it all the way through but its not very easy when still installed on the spindle. I then added a bunch of grease to the inside of the head-stock and installed the keyholed aluminum cover and tapped in the main. Grease evacuated the inside aluminum cover like a play-doh toy, I assume this means its full. I also put a fair amount of grease on the inside of the End Cap before screwing it down, which also oozed out. Followed by tapping on the grease seal.
I'm in the process of setting mine up with an electronic lead screw to easily do any kind of thread pitch and not have to mess with the change gears. I keep "refining" the code and putting off mounting up everything on the lathe, but other than feeding to a shoulder everything is implemented and I don't think I can put it off much longer. So watch this space if you think you would be interested in doing something similar to yours.
That sounds very interesting, threading is something I will want to do. Not looking forward to changing gears to do it though. I do wish it was a QCGB model but beggars cant be choosy, lol.. I wish it had a QCTP, just the lantern post for now.
First, welcome.
Second, fantastic score!
Third, (but I mean that in the nicest of ways--I spent a LOT more than that on mine)
Its OK, I'm sure I will make up the difference in parts I break due to stupidity or medical bills...
Update: I got the saddle and apron assembled so far, Had to run to Lowes for jam nuts. The cross-slide on this lathe had a mangled lead-screw (see pic). The new one I fleabayd didn't like the jam nut I had so rather then play with it I just bought new ones for $1.07. They didn't have stainless so I got zinc coated and they are the shiniest part on the lathe so far, lol.