To remove your spindle:

1) Remove the split nut at the far left end of the spindle and the 
fiber washer. Remember to toss the fiber washer out the door! Look 
at the left end of the spindle. If you don't see a bronze bearing 
liner in there, then you definitely have a cast-iron bearing 
headstock. It's almost a certainty anyway, this is just a final 
check.

2) Take a small drill bit or other pointy object and fit it into 
the hole just above each oiler cup. Reach in until you feel some 
resistance as the point penetrates the felt wick and then lever to 
push the wick "down" and away from the spindle journal. Keep the 
wicks "down" while you're going through the rest of the spindle 
removal process. (You'll reverse this procedure when reinstalling 
the spindle).

3) Make sure you've removed chucks, faceplates, etc. from the 
threaded spindle nose. Put a wooden board over the ways. Ideal 
would be a heavy board on the ways with a piece screwed at 90 
degrees to the board that projects up to a height slightly greater 
than the spindle centerline. You're going to have to use some force 
to remove the spindle and if it "pops" loose, you don't want it 
shooting out across the room.

4) Remove the pinch bolt in each journal.

5) Using a bar of the appropriate diameter and length, insert it 
into the hole from where you removed the pinch bolt. Only insert to 
slightly above the bearing split line so you don't damage the shim 
pack. Pry back gently to spread the split line slightly and remove 
the shim pack. Immediately, put the shim pack in a ziplock bag and 
mark which bearing it came from. Do the same with the other 
bearing. Note, the shims are laminated together. You peel off 
layers to adjust bearing clearance.

6) Put your wood board on the ways and then take a dead-blow hammer 
and a piece of wood and start tapping on the left hand end of the 
spindle. The bull gear on its Woodruff key is kinda tight on the 
spindle when new and clean. After years assembled, it only gets 
tighter. The width of the bull gear mounting surface on the spindle 
is the same width as the bull gear. Once the bull gear is off its 
mounting surface, everythings loose. So, you're going to test how 
much force is needed to move the bull gear. Keep tapping and upping 
the force until you see the spindle start to move. Once you get the 
spindle almost out of the bull gear, go gently. You don't want the 
spindle with the key to drop onto the cast iron headstock journal. 
So, make sure you make good use of your third hand as you tap, 
support the spindle, and remove the thrust bearing, cone pulley and 
bull gear as you pull the spindle out to the right.

7) Look in each oil return oil at each headstock bearing. If you 
see a little bent wire thingy at the hole's entrance, carefully 
remove them and put them in a Ziplock bag. They are there to reduce 
surface tension to encourage the oil to return down the hole to the 
reservoir instead of being slung into your face. Unscrew the oiler 
cups, clean them and flush the oil reservoirs in the headstock - 
kerosene is good for this. Clean the oil return grooves and run a 
fiber pipecleaner down through the oil return holes. 

8) Reassembly is the reverse. Put in new wicks. Let me say this 
again. Even if your wicks look OK, put in new wicks. You can buy 
raw material cheap from McMaster-Carr in SAE F-1 felt material. 
Make sure the wick's spring is about 1/8"-3/16" away from the 
working face of the wick. Lightly loosen the new wick's fibers at 
the reservoir end. Theoretically, this assists the wick in picking 
up oil. Soak the wicks in spindle oil before reassembly.

9) The cone pulley rotates on the spindle so make sure this surface 
is lubricated before you reassemble. Many users, myself included, 
are using the Teflon-based food-grade grease for this. Again, 
available from McMaster-Carr. Or, you can just oil it per SB 
guidelines.

So, let us know how it works out.

Ed in Florida