[black85vette]

You don't have to remove the cap on account of the gear. It is quite nicely accessible with just the dial off.
Unless you have to remove it anyway, than sure.

Yes, I was planning on removing it anyway since the rubber mounts are shot and need to be replaced. It was helpful to have it on the workbench and keep the balls from wandering off. I took them out and cleaned inside the shaft with a q-tip then cleaned the inside of the bell cap. It all makes sense now. The bell shaped cap is the race for the 3 balls that make up the friction drive / gear reduction and the bell is held on by a copper leaf spring which gives the tension for the drive. I had not seen a mechanism like this before so I added a bit of knowledge.

However I am finding at my age that my memory has saturated and for every new piece I get something else leaves. Sadly I don't get to pick what bit goes away. :-)

Thanks for the tips!

Rick