Thank you, Marty, and warmest wishes of the season to you as well. Decadence is good, in moderation.
Lewm, thanks for your response. The arm feels good as it moves laterally (or in the horizontal plane), very smoothly, there is no sign of roughness, or other indicators of a bad bearing. The main arm can be moved a bit in the vertical, or up and down, if you hold the base of the arm, and gently lift up and down at the end of the main arm. I hope I have explained this well enough to clarify my meaning.
I think I will wait until the project table, a Garrard 401, is completed and see how the arm performs, before I do anything drastic.
Thanks to all, and Merry Christmas
Dan