It looked like there was so much rust in the area I circled that it was almost welded. There was quite a bit of rust and other gunk also in the slide part you referred to and in the tuning fork thingy. The paragon isn't stuck but she is a bit grungy. The treadle cabinet also needs to be completely reworked.

(Stepping up on soapbox)

Ok, I call false.... The machining done "in the day" was exceptional. I wonder if you have ever seen a "low mileage" older machine. I have, and ALL of the matting surfaces that are under movement are polished. There is a reason that parts that were made 140 years ago are interchangeable between machines made up to decades apart. There is a reason that even with a half century or more of rust and neglect that they still work when cleaned properly. Their tolerances were in the 4 digit range. MORE than enough for moving iron and steel parts.

As to caged needle bearings, show me ANY that have a MTBF of more than 10 years. I'll stick with well machined cone bearings. 126 your old singer industrial treadle, ONE press of the pedal yields 26+ revolutions of the drive wheel. EVERY TIME.

(stepping down)

I totally agree with taking them all the way down being a great learning experience BTW, but it is REALLY not for everyone....

Thank you for both your help. While getting all the insides clean and polished may be best, I believe its beyond my capability at this time. I'll be happy with it making a good stitch even if I have to oil at every use for a while. Eventually all the ick will come out. In my opinion I've accomplished a lot considering this was the first time I removed any screws, not to mention a major one that controls the entire machine. She moves so I'm happy at this point. If she moves after I get the big screw back in I'll even be happier. When she makes the first stitch in who knows how long, I'll be ecstatic.

I love it way to go.

Here's big pat on the back. Don't thank me, all I did was BS ya, confuse you, so you'd get pissed and give that suck a big ol crank.

when you put it back together all those tiny screws on the sides of the rods are the adjustment for that joint . it's all done by feel . make it turn free and not feel or sound clunky

where is it raining, I'm not ready for that. my tomatoes are in full production right now,Bell pepper are just turning red. I'm 35 miles off the pacific ocean ( oregon) which means it could rain any hour of the day LOL..

OK, its going back together really well and things turn smoothly like they should. I do have a couple questions on the front end of things though;
1) Does the pressure foot bar come apart? Its kinda stiff to adjust due to some rust/corrosion on the upper part of the shaft. I figured I'd clean it really well before I put it back in.

2) Is there a timing mark on the needle bar shaft to get it close when I put it back in? It slides smoothly but I'd like to try and get it somewhat close before I get it all back together.

Got the first figured out but still workin on the 2nd.

finally I got in here, on this end the page wouldn't load, so a day late you have the presser bar fixed.as for the timing / needle bar some say there's have the mark. In 46 years ( off n on) I have found one singer that did and it was way off, never seen one on a old black machine. I haven't seen all the machines. long bobbin are a piece of cake to time all plate removed, needle in place. shuttle tip at the groove , just slide the bar down. I'm sure you have read up on where to put the eye of the needle be sure the groove is clean on the shuttle go ahead and remove the spring and clean under it