[Johnson] Ranger II restoration completed

[kwylow zinjanthropus]

All:
 
Thought I'd give a plug for Mr. Dee Almquist and describe me recent Ranger redo.
 
I completed restoration of a Ranger II for a friend of mine. He has in his possession an clean (with original cabinet) SP-600 that was excessive to his needs. He had been lusting after another Ranger II I had obtained from W3TGG and wanted to obtain one for his own shack. So, after doing some wheeling and dealing (ebay), I eventually got a second unit specifically for the trade. 
 
However, when I received the Ranger II, the idiots (whom I cautioned to carefully pack the radio) didn't do as I asked. The result was some damage to the chassis and the cabinet. Luckily, a was able to hammer out some of the dents and the slightly depressed tranformer into the chassis was acceptable. No other damage had occurred. I soon sent off the cabinet to my powder coated to have the old crappy finish blasted off and a clean grey textured coat was applied. Concurrently, I used the extra panel and escutcheon I had lying around from a previous Ranger restoration and sent that off to Dee to have his magic touch executed. A few weeks later, the panel arrived looking exquisitely pristine.
 
I began the restoration on the chassis last week doing an operational and mechanical check. Two tubes were weak: the 6146 final and the 5763 multiplier. Initially, the power out was only 20 watts. The new tubes provided the correct power out at 40-50 watts out into a dummy load. Satisfied, I went onto the next phase: changing out the front panel. 
 
I started by stripping all the front panel components. I stripped off the meter and the escutcheon, cleaning and polishing the dial and the plastic lens of the meter using Brasso. I chucked a steel rod onto a drill and set screwed all the knobs (except the main tuning knob) onto the rod and spun them on a Brasso laced cloth. I followed up with a knob wipe using a soft terry cloth. The result were very glossy knobs buffed to a sheen. 
 
I had previously removed the tubes to give the chassis a thorough cleaning. Using some mineral spirits and a cloth, I wiped up some light gunk that was on the surface on the chassis. I also used a toothbrush to get at some of the hard-to-reach areas. After that was accomplished, I sprayed contact cleaner on all the controls and tube sockets. Now the panel reinstall.
 
I carefully placed the new panel onto the chassis and secured the panel controls using new washers and clean control nuts. I also put the cleaned and polished meter and dial scales back onto the panel and escutcheon, followed by the knob replacements. 
With that, I changed out the old 9 pin plug (which was cracked and slightly mauled) with a new item. I also a plug cover over the new connector. I had the unfortunate experience of reaching blindly on the back of another live Ranger and it's 9 pin plug wires were exposed. It didn't feel good doing the 400 volt jig so I covered this plug. 
 
Finally, I put the freshly powdercoated chassis with the newly paneled Ranger II and put my own tie bolts and new 10-32 screws back with nylon washers to prevent the hardware from scratching the finish. Needless to say, the results were extremely impressive. This is my third Ranger II restoration and it never ceases to amaze me how good these old rigs look when refinished and refurbished properly. BTW, I retained the 2 fused plug holder and cord. I'll let me buddy know the potential dangers of having this configuration of mains power on the Ranger and leave it up to him to change it should he so chooses. Whatever the case may be, I suspect I won't have any problems wresting that SP-600 from his hands. He's been wanting a pristine Ranger II for a long time and now he's on the verge of getting one. 

To those of you himming and hawing over getting one of Dee's panels, think no more. Get one or several and restore that Ranger or Valiant. You won't be disappointed! 

Cal, N6KYR. 


---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Hotjobs: Enter the "Signing Bonus" Sweepstakes

--- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts ---
multipart/alternative
  text/plain (text body -- kept)
  text/html
The reason this message is shown is because the post was in HTML
or had an attachment.  Attachments are not allowed.  To learn how
to post in Plain-Text go to: http://www.expita.com/nomime.html  ---