No no no no no........

Nothing is frictionless. The anti friction ring on the thrust bearing is in an atmosphere of live steam, so Teflon will soften and be rendered useless in very short order. The material used is a grade of graphite that is cemented into placed with a proprietary cement. Neither the graphite or cement will be damaged in the steam filled environment.

This isn't the place to go cheap since you will have to tear everything down to get back in. We're fortunate that all the consumables are still supported at Backshop, so we don't have to find the wrong stuff to substitute for lack of the right stuff, giving ourselves an endless supply of problems as a result.

dave

I had to replace the governor anti-friction member that you ask about on the one I did a couple years back. Bernie Watts with Backshop Enterprises can supply these ready to go. Ours was completely trashed to the point that the brass holder was damaged. As I recall he said that if this part is not damaged he can deal with the renewal of your old one. Considering how long the original part lasts I doubt there is anything space age that can be done as an improvement.