cowanrg

Is 251 the locknut ?

What is 250 & 247?
Does the outside dia of the 2 AC Bearings, both go against a shoulder in the quill housing ( 1 ) in the top ( 1 ) in the bottom, if so then all you need, to make to control a better preload, is a tube spacer for the ( 2 ) inside Bearing face's to be locked up, it will take you some time to set it up, but once made/setup you will have at least a good bottom end, the spacer will need to be made from steel, a slide fit on the spindle & the same OD as what the inside diameter of the Bearings are, there won't be much preload needed, should be around 4lb

If ( 1 ) of the washers ( 250 ) is a wavey washer you will make the spacer length so this wavey washer will be compressed by just over half it's compressed height, this will set the preload, this is still not ideal but is better than what is there now, you can then just lock the lock not tight, & your preload will stay the same all the time