It should not be worn, but then things often are not what they should be.??
Are you talking about sideways movement of the sawframe and pivot shaft through the ears in the base, not slop in the base's pivot bearing itself?
Normal assembly procedure is to use the supplied cylindrical spacer on the pivot shaft between the base ear and the sawframe on the RHS, then push the pivot arm onto pivot shaft, up hard against the base ear on LHS, and then tighten the set screw in the pivot arm eliminating any sideways movement.? This also sets the angle of the sawframe to make the blade back square to the vice table.
If you removed the pivot arm itself (which people often do to put the hydraulic downfeed cylinder horizontally on the LHS of the machine), then you may not have pushed it on the shaft far enough when bolting back together and that would allow axial movement of the pivot shaft (and also create a little off-angle in the blade back, making the saw cut away from the vice, if it was cutting square before you disassembled).?
If there is no axial movement of the pivot shaft, but the sawframe can still be moved sideways, then almost certain you have a worn bearing in one or both of the pivot ears on the base. Press your finger onto the pivot shaft and base ear together and move the head to create the movement you're calling slop, and it should be apparent where its coming from. RHS is normally worse than LHS.? Let us know the outcome?
The HF manual shows an oil seal on the outside next to the drive wheel.? I'd replace that first if its leaking oil
without changing the bearings as they can be troublesome to replace.The bearing next to the drive wheel is nearly always the one to fail as it doesn't get as much oil as the inner one. Unless you've been having problems with the blade tracking off the drive wheel, its probably ok.
No real experience in swapping?parts?between brands, but seals and bearings are all metric and pretty std with the exception of the guide-roller bearings which are all over the place between brands. You can get seals and bearings from any bearing supply place.? They're normally 6202 (35mmOD x 15mmID x 11mmW) with a 35x15x7mmW lip seal -??jv
