Old Craftsman recip saw leaking oil?

[diplo_mount]

My neighbor gave me his old Craftsman Dual Speed Reciprocating Saw from 1983. It's been in his shed for decades along with a bunch of other hand tools he doesn't use anymore. When I opened the case, the saw was slick with oil but there's no oil container and no mention of lubrication in the manual. It runs fine but I'm not sure if it's safe to use if something internal leaked.

Is this one of those sealed units with internal oil? If so, how do you even replace it without a fill port?

 

[Sosa.xx]

I think your saw might have a sealed gearbox that's prelubricated for life, which would explain the oil inside the case with no fill port. I feel like it's probably fine since there are no leaks, maybe just keep an eye out for any unusual noises or overheating. These units are usually meant to be low maintenance.

 

[diplo_mount]

Thanks for confirming the gearbox is sealed. The lifetime lubrication clarifies why the manual has no maintenance section for it. After I cleaned up all the oil from the case and the saw's housing, I haven't seen any new weeping from the seams. With these older sealed units, do you know if the lubricant inside is typically a heavy oil or more of a packed grease? I plan to run it on some scrap wood this weekend to see if it runs smoothly and quietly before I put it to any real work.

 

[Sosa.xx]

It’s usually more of a heavy oil than grease in those sealed boxes, maybe test run it on scrap first

 

[diplo_mount]

Sorry for the slow follow up on this. I ran the saw on some scrap back in August as planned and it seemed to work fine without any strange noises. It got me wondering, though, have you ever tried to top off the oil in one of these sealed units by going through the gasket seam or is it better to just leave it alone?

 

[Sosa.xx]

I feel like if you mess with the gasket seam on that old craftsman you'll just create more leak points. '83 recips were over greased from the factory anyway, so what leaked out probably needed to come out and you already said it ran clean in August with no grinding or weird noises, just keep running it as is okay?