I'm in the middle of a 204R restoration right now. Can you provide the specs on the needle thrust bearing and washers you used?
Sorry about the delayed response. Unfortunately I have sold the vise recently which I now regret but I do have too many vises. I've been looking back and trying to find the receipt for the bearing and specs but as of now, no luck since I have since bought a whole bunch of thrust bearings in different sizes, can't remember which size went into the vise but its fairly easy to measure.
You will need to remove the inside existing washer and order (4) Thrust bearing washers and (2) needle thrust bearings that fit inside the cavity (OD) with a big enough ID so the main spindle screw can fit through the ID of the bearings and washers.
2 thrust washers and 1 thrust bearing will fit in the front of vise behind the threaded lock washer thats cracked in half (they come that way), you will no longer need the inside washer that came with the vise (keep it safe in case you want to revert), your replacing it with the 2 thrust washers and thrust bearing and then use the other set of 2 thrust washers and 1 thrust bearing that goes between the spring and vise. After that You will have to load the spring under pressure and then lock it in place with a setscrew shaft collar, I used a metal tube section just big enough for the spindle screw to fit inside it and loaded it with a long carpenter clamp compressing the spring and lock collar until you lock the collar in place. Once done thats it, you're finished. Nothing custom had to be made. All the parts came from Zoro.
The handle will feel too loose but that because the bearings help so much it feels that way but its fine, just tighten the threaded lock washer enough to eliminate backlash but you maybe stuck with either too much or too little when setting the locking screw in the side of the vise into one of the four indents on the threaded lock washer.
I apologize in advance if I missed something or incorrectly labeled the parts, its been over 2 years since I did it and just going off by memory which is not great but I hope this helps. Let us know how it works.
These are very similar to ones I purchased:
Ina Needle Thrust Bearing, Bore 1.125 In TC1828 | Zoro.com
Ina Thrust Washer, Inside Dia. 1.125 In TWA1828 | Zoro.com
It looks similar to this (different vise):
