Should have left it alone....
Well, I may have gone and broke it.
Not for good, but enough that I wont split this weekend.
At the end of last weekend, I noticed that the ram would make a strange noise when it was retracting. Looked closer, and it was the lock washers on one of the big bolts on the top. They had loosened up. I tightened up those two on the top, and also the six smaller ones that hold the ram to the little cart that rides on the beam. After that it felt different when it engaged, but I didnt think much of it, since it still worked just fine.
Fast forward to today. I ordered two more bearings for the little cart, since if two are good, four must be better, right? The model I have had the two bearings on the underside, and the springs connected to those bolts at the front of the ram. I moved those bolts and bearings to the back holes, and put two new bearings up in the front. Seems simple, right?
The problem is that now the cart doesnt want to move if I tighten up the six bolts that are along the sides of the ram. I think there are some clearance issues caused by years of wear. If I loosen the bolts up some, it will slide, but I also hear the rack gear hitting the pinion as it retracts. It sort of clunk-clunk-clunk-clunks as it retracts. Almost as if the back of the rack gear isnt elevated high enough to clear the pinion.
So have I gone and broken it? Should I just go with two bearings instead of the four and see if things work well again? Any thoughts from the longtime SS users here?