HLV-H worn dovetail, quick fix?

I just purchased a '69 HVL-H, I bought it at auction for what I felt was a good price. I wasn't able to put tools to it before purchase to check wear etc... The carriage gets tight back towards the tail stock. Loosening the gib allowed it to move all the way back. I do not have it under power yet so I did not get a chance to take a cut and check for taper.
My question is: is the something that can be done to the gib or anything else as some sort of "quick fix" to allow the carriage to work smoothly all the way back and still remain fairly tight up at the headstock work area with out getting into reginding the dovetail.
And, how much would I be looking at ($) to have the dovetail reground and exactly how much of a PITA is it to remove.

Any info would be quite helpful, Thanks!

This website has a good account of rebuilding
a Hardinge. Think he says $400 to regrind
http://www.csparks.com/

Bob

For future reference, when checking a small lathe like that all you have to do is pull up hard on the carriage when it's cranked near the headstock and if you feel any movement, crank it toward the tailstock and recheck. If no movement or it even seizes before it gets there, forget buying the lathe unless you want to rebuild and/or it sells dirt cheap and you just need a "better than nothing" lathe lying around for low tolerance or short length projects.

Having said that, you can actually buy a brand new bed from Hardinge...I did once...expensive but not devastingly so...at least not in 1985...dunno what they cost today. I never did get around to installing it though...sold the whole deal to someone else eventually.

Thank you for the replys,

To up date: Today I took out the gib and clean it and the entire area it fits into. I then went to reinstall it and it would stop about 3/8" from going in completely. This is exactly how it was when I removed it. I then noticed the carriage lock did not work so I removed the lock and cleaned out that area. I was able to get the gib in the whole way in. SHAZAM, I was able to crank the carriage from front all the way back without any binding. I reinstalled the lock and it works perfectly and was still able to get full travel.
I put an 8 inch precision ground test bar between centers and ran an indicator the length of the bar. starting at "zero" at the tailstock it waverd a tenth or two through the travel and was still at "zero" at the headstock end.
I think (hope) I jumped the gun thinking there was a problem with out taking the time to investigate it a little more.
I won't have it wired up for another two days, is there anything else I need to check out before making chips.

BTW, I can not lift the carriage at all, and when I had the indicator on the test bar I grabbed the carriage and tried to move it and the indicator needle moved about .0003
How does this sound to you guys?

thanks, pmach

If you have no more wear than that on a 69 machine, you should be in good shape. Those machines wear pretty well. I service 60's era Hardinge lathes at one of my customers and they still hold tight tolerances and have original headstock bearings. For precision parts, check headstock alignment(with a ground bar in headstock only) and excessive play in the crosslide and compound screws. This is all usually adjustable. Good luck!