[R-390] Reverse Migratory Habits of RF Decks

[Joe Foley]

Yes,

One flew through the door Friday here in the Great
White North, NY, that is.  It had a tag on it saying
it was from one of the Barrys in Alabama, thanks,
Barry!

Anyway, it was a typical mess, someone had greased it
long, long ago,....... probably not Barry.  The grease
had turned to glue, the ten turn stops were all stuck
together, the split gears were stuck together, the
clutch was in pieces in a bag, two corners were bent,
the MC detent spring is missing,.......BARRY??

I stared at it for a few hours while doing other
things, then I did it!  I tore it apart!  I ignored
the little voices saying "Better make a drawing of
that!", "Better check the manual first!"  HAH!  not
me, I'm diving IN!!

I soaked half of the gears Friday night, the other
half Saturday night, got it put together Sunday night,
Monday morning I found out the manual isn't much help
anyway! 

There's a nice homey feel to having a bucket filled
with Kerosene and gears soaking  in the kitchen sink!

I had to put the four top, right gear groups together
three times before I figured out which ones went on
first, I got the Geneva drive plate upside down on the
first try, and I had the bandswitch gear and the
clutch drive gear swapped, but that wasn't too hard to
find.

The Geneva plate also had a bent pin that I
straightened, must have been rammed against the stop
too hard.  It works nicely now.

I did, however, manage to put the clutch together
right the first time,......... after I found all the
parts.

Adjusted the 10 turn stops, the band switch, the
counter (KC gear is missing, too), did a two tooth
preload on all gears, lubed with Hoppe's No. 9 gun
oil.

What a SCHMOOZY!!

Not much wear on the gears, cams, or slides, I wonder
if this deck ever got much use.  Its a 1956 Motorola
with two different serial numbers.

Deck corners straightened, MC gears straightened, no
damaged teeth, they run true, quiet, and free so I
won't change them.  MC and KC shafts straight and
true, too.

I found that none of the split gear sets would slide
past each other so I took Nolan's suggestion and honed
the burrs off each gear, especially No. 74 which
because of the grease and burrs wouldn't move at all! 
That has to be the most expensive single gear in the
whole set with its internal spring set in the hollowed
out halves.  I filed that one, it took a lot of work,
too.  The burrs were quite big, but that gear has a
lot of force on it and makes many revolutions as a
pinion against the big gears of the differential.

Fun puzzle!

Not nearly as bad as it looks.

Joe

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