I was afraid I had a bent lead-screw too. Yes the bearings are supposed tp be lubricated for life, but, they are shielded bearings - not sealed. If they sit for several years without being used, the grease will dry out and harden. According to the part number they are standard precision bearings. Once upon a time in the west I used to repair machine tools for a living, so swapping spindle bearings is not outside my comfort zone. At least now the parts are a LOT lighter, and they're not covered in nasty smelling coolant.
I just got done modifying the first CVA half-shaft.
The modified half-shaft is just slipped into the brass tube for now, I'm just getting started on the working 3D model that will be used to print the parts. I've got bushings and shoulder bolts on order for the knuckle pivots, so I can accurately model things now. I model things in mm because that's how most 3D printers think. I really wonder sometimes when reverse engineering this stuff, some of the measurements make no sense. Like why is part of the half-shaft turned to 3.18mm, and why is the socket bored to 7.62mm. Earlier today it finally dawned on me, 3.18mm is 0.125", and that odd 7,62mm bore is 0.3". When I convert all the odd Metric measurements to Imperial units they come out nice and neat.