I ripped into my SM420 about a week ago and started putting it back together last night. I took everything out of the case, drained the mud and muck out of it, hot tanked it at work, sandblasted the outside surfaces and rinsed all of the insides really good with Brake Kleen after sandblasting. I also ran solvent over all the gears, shafts, shift forks, etc. I'm replacing all of the bearings, except for the little roller bearing on the output shaft, as well as all of the gaskets. I have a few questions, though. In reassembling the unit, do the new bearings need to be dipped in gear oil or anything or will they get adequate lubrication once it starts being used. Obviously, the lower bearings will be immersed in gear oil but the uppers won't. Also, there's some surface rust on some of the gear teeth, as well as some "sticky buildup" of some kind. It looks like the gear oil just got hot and sticky and it's hard to get it all off. Will the rust and buildup cause any problems? Is there anything I need to be aware of in putting this thing back together? It's really a simple setup and it only goes back together one way. Thanks.
