The mount comes apart pretty easily.large knurled rings on the rear of the polar shaft and bottom of the dec shaft unscrew and the axes come out of the bearings with light taps. Bearings are ball, no tapered rollers here. There's a piece of white plastic that serves as a thrust bearing on the dec axis and the clutch behind the RA gear is a red plastic (phenolite?) disc with 30 steel balls set around the circumference. Tightening the knurled knob puts tension on the RA axis. The thumb screw tensions the dec axis.