Ward 2DS Bar chuck repairs?

I have been recently cleaning up an old Ward 2DS capstan lathe and am currently going over the collet chuck. There is a rotatable outer sleeve that actuates the balls that closes the collets and there is approx 1/16" of free play in this sleeve. When disassembled there is a ball thrust bearing on one end and a bronze ring on the other end. To me I would think that there shouldn't be any end play in this assembly but before I make a new bronze ring I thought I would see if anyone here is familiar with this unit.
On a secondary note I've taken almost everything apart on this lathe because whoever owned it before thought that all the oil nipples were grease nipples and everything is plugged up with old solidified grease. What a mess. Things sure do work smoother with the oil where it's supposed to be.

I just stripped and cleaned my air chuck on my Auto Ward 2DS last December
and found the same problem but was assured by what I call an expert on
these chucks, he assured me that it needed some slack. In mine the slack is
slightly more than yours but is otherwise in good condition, and it works fine.

I converted my machine to CNC and altered the chuck sleeve to take PB multisize collets and it works like a charm.

There is only one place grease is used on these machines and that is on the
input pulley on the head stock, there is a grease cup and it needs a turn once
in a while.

Hi guys, I used to work on the ball chucks a lot in the old days (1970's), I seem to remember we stuck the balls in with grease to stop the balls falling out during assembly. Regards Tyrone.