Fine feed part removal

I just bought a nice BP, but noticed a minor issue with the fine quill feed. The hand wheel has a pin on the back, which engages a hole in the collar (113 in the drawing), but mine has no hole. I'm thinking that someone put it on backwards, and the hole is in the back, or I have to drill a hole. Either way, I have to take it off, which is the problem. I've tried to remove it, but it's very stubborn (or I'm doing it wrong). Since this is new to me (replacing my Rockwell mill), I don't want to screw up anything. Can someone check yours and tell me how to remove it?
Thanks,
Ron

were you able to get the ball out?

I just had mine apart a while back and seems like i had to remove the plug then flush out the hole with parts cleaner then use compressed air to blow the little ball out that serves as the detent for the fwd/rev shaft.

I'm having trouble turning the screw. I guess penetrating oil & time will help that.
Once the screw & ball are out, and the setscrew loosened, does the collar slide off?

In over 40 years of running bridgeports and other machinery, I have NEVER used that fine feed wheel. Tried it once to see what it did and never found a use for it. Don't screw up your mill for a (nearly) useless feature.

Noted. (It just bothers me to look at it.)
I guess after I have the mill for a while I won't notice it any more. :-)

The ball will fall out when you least expect it. There is no magic. Ive seen lots of folks tearing down Bridgeport heads on youtube. you may be able to learn from their experience.

I'm a bit amused about the purchase of the hand wheel. I would much rather spend that $50 on tooling or furniture for the table. No disrespect to the OP however, these hand wheels are much like follower rests on lathes. They reason the used machines never have them with them is because they were never used and ended up in a bin or backroom and later cleaned out by some unknowing person. Not suggesting that follow rests are not useful however, I have never used a hand wheel on a bridgeport nor have I justified the need.

Hello Ronlyke,

The face of the collar does indeed have a recessed hole on it front. If its not there then it should be suspected that someone put the collar on backwards -- hard to believe. So what you must do then is to lock the forward-reverse knob inward and unscrew the slotted screw in the nose of the knob to remove the feed knob. Loosen both set screws on clutch collar and try to slide it off. If it does not come off its because there is a spring loaded ball sitting in a detent of the FR knob shaft. You must remove this ball and the key way that sits in the other set screw. If this is the case remove the set screws being careful to capture the key way, it should slip out. The spring should easily pull out. Peer down into the hole where the ball sits and make sure it is lined up with the hole. Then try blowing some lightly compressed air around the shaft of the FR knob and blowing free the ball. Besure to capture the ball as it gets blown out. This is cumbersome to do with your hand so try to klooge something.

Thanks for all the replies. I think I'll leave it the way it is. The hand wheel came with the mill, and I thought I'd see if I could make it work.
Maybe I'll donate the wheel to a museum of unused stuff.