I happened to notice a couple of days ago that one of my lower guide bearings was seized up on my G0513X2 after it spun off the saw. They appear to be semi-sealed bearings, but with enough of a gap to let a tiny bit of sawdust in. I found that the same bearing on the other side was nearly seized as well and all the others were somewhere between noisy and gritty. I've only used this saw maybe a few hours total in the few months I've had it, but it is either a 2006 or 2009 model and before I got it was used gently, but frequently. Is that about normal life for these bearings? Is there a fix to keep this from happening again?
Anyway, not wanting to buy all new bearings I turned a vented pressure fitting and gooped it full of high-temp axle grease and used my air compressor to blow clean grease into the bearings. The two worst bearings had a lot of junk forced out, but they are running pretty smooth now and the others are quiet again. Not sure if anyone else has tried to repack their guide bearings, but hopefully this will inspire someone else to try. It's messy, but much less expensive than replacing them. I've actually seen bearing cups that screw onto the bearing and work with a grease gun, but everything was closed last night and I was in the mood to turn something