After replacing the bearings on the “knife unit”, I saw that the oil had turned to sludge over time and decided to give my meat slicer an oil change. It was so thick I had to scoop it out with a spoon. While removing the old oil, I noticed that the gear was sliding back and forth on the shaft it was mounted on. After removing as much of the sludgy oil as I could, I removed the motor shaft. I started by taking off the side cover. There were 2 flathead screws and then I used a tiny flat head to gently work the cover loose and this is what I ended up looking at:
I then removed the 4 nuts and toothed washers. I didn’t remove the 2 wires prior to taking the nuts/washers off. This was a mistake. If you are going to pull this apart, take the 2 wires off before you take the nuts off and start trying to pull the unit out. After you have the wires disconnected, you can remove the unit by gently giggling and pulling back on the unit. It will eventually come out. Be careful when you are pulling it out as it may let go abruptly and there will be oil/sludge that can drip onto the parts of the motor that stay in the unit.
After removing the center section of the motor, you should see something like this (one with flash, one without):
With the center section of the motor removed, I laid it out on the table to investigate how it was put together and see what was up with the motor gear at the end of the shaft.
Here is a close up of the gear where you can see what the problem is:
As you can see, there is space between the shaft and gear on the left hand side. There is also space between the gear/washer/nut on the right side. This is because both of the shock absorbing bushings have completely worn out and fallen off. The nut has also backed off due to vibration and being slammed into. I ordered a motor seal kit, replacement bushing kit and a new pair of motor bearings for good measure.
The bearing at the front is a press fit and should be easily removed with a press or a bearing puller. I haven’t figured out how to remove the rear bearing yet. Once the replacement parts get here, I will investigate further.