I looked at your pics again and I see some dried up oil on the needle bar. I'm wondering if dried up oil is what you are dealing with in the needle bar area above the needle and below the very top of the needle bar. Check and make sure you have dried up oil off. Pay attention to any friction points whether the machine turns there or rides through a sleeve. Then you will need to re-oil. Wilbur and I worked on an old Kenmore Monday. It was frozen up - the old oil was keeping it from moving. Once we got it moving we discovered rust in the zig zag lever control area - that won't be an easy fix. Usually we don't baptize anything but some times you just have to - it is a good idea to wipe it down later - oil will dry on there and be a pain in the neck later. Tri-flow will dry and powder off some oils dry and gum up. You may be dealing with gummy stuff. Can you shoot a pic of the needle bar behind the open nose plate?