Disc mower leak

Howdy, new to the forum, but a long time lurker.

 

Need some advice, I'm working on a Sitrex DM7 disc mower that I picked up at an auction last fall. I did my homework and it is identical to the Rhino DM7 and New Holland HM236 type of mowers with a gear bed design. Seemed like good backup to my troublesome sickle swather at a great price. 

 

I tore into the machine today. Right off the bat, I could NOT turn the turtles by hand. Not that surprised as it had sat for a few years prior. After removing the retraining nuts from the turtle caps and some convincing with a hammer, I finally freed them up. They all turned and so did the PTO shaft, but still rather stiff. As a few of the turtles needed some welds anyway, I decided to remove them and inspect.

 

After removing the turtles, I scraped out all of the old twine, hay and dirt that had built up underneath them. Then, I noticed a problem...oil had started seeping out from around the shaft on the last turtle at the lowest point of the cutter bar. 

 

Now, my first instinct is to replace the seal referenced in the manual, which means destroying a good bearing. As this is my first time working on one of these, is this something I should even worry about? Or will bolting down the turtle act as a seal regardless? See the schematic. Any advice is appreciated!

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Disc mower leak