On 3/16/2019 2:54 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
The standard procedure for replacing the arbor bearings (or the arbor itself)
on a 60's/70's vintage Craftsman table saw is to either flip the entire
saw upside down or fight gravity and wrestle the innards out through the
back after disconnecting the tilt and height shafts, the rear trunnion and
a bunch of other parts.

There's no way I can (or want) to flip the saw over. I'd have to remove the
fence rails, the router table extension, etc. Even then I couldn't flip it
over on my own, so I wanted to try something different.

I decided to see if I could get the arbor out by going in through the side.
To get the arbor out you need to remove the rear bearing retainer ring (3
screws) and a c-clip. (shown below) To get the entire arbor assembly out,
all you need to remove is 1 e-clip. Then you can R&R the arbor on the
workbench. The problem is, it's really hard to get to the screws or the
e-clip from the back or bottom of the TS housing. That's why people flip
it over and remove other parts.

So, I broke out the oscillating tool and made an access hole:

https://i.imgur.com/PezhREp.jpg

After removing the belt pulley, I had access to the back side of the arbor.
You can see the 3 screws for the bearing retainer ring. On the right you can
see the link plate and the bottom of the e-clip.

https://i.imgur.com/rWYBXZ6.jpg

I popped the e-clip off of the link, slowly tapped the arbor assembly off
of the link pivot rod and height adjustment shaft. Once it was free, I
lowered the assembly out through the bottom of the saw and then removed
the arbor.

https://i.imgur.com/RXKBg2A.jpg

Since I had a spare arbor that already had a new front bearing on it,
I decided to use that and just add a new rear bearing. Once the rust
was removed from all mating surfaces and pivot shafts, the arbor assembly
slid right back in. No tapping required.

The only alignment issue that I ran into is that the blade is about 1/32"
off from it's original position. You can see here where it cut into the
zero clearance insert.

https://i.imgur.com/CypdReF.jpg

The insert was getting sloppy anyway, probably from the bad bearing. I have
a few blanks, so it's not an issue. I will need to do something about my
sleds though. I'll probably just glue a strip into the slot and re-cut
it.

The only thing left is to patch the hole in the housing. A piece of plywood
to cover the side will give me a place to hang feather boards and other
accessories that are currently taking up shelf space.

The saw is purring once again.

Good job! I would suggest insuring that the blade is parallel to the
fence before cutting another zero clearance slot.