air chief radio

[59 4 me]

hi,was just wondering if anyone had a fix on the radio tuner slide knob, it's not moving the needle very well and gets stuck between stations,any ideas would be much appreciated.cheers mike

[DJ]

Sounds just like mine - I suspect it has a fine cord around some wheels on either end, and tied off to the slider.  The cord stretches & slips with dust often adding to the problem. Probably nothing dramatic. It can be tightened a little & tied up again. Shouldn't be hard to find something suitable for a new cord if it's needed. I'll look inside mine one of these days & do the same, once I remove all the dust.

[mcl1959]

Sounds like it needs a pull down, clean, lubrication and reassembly. 50 years of dust clogs things up a bit. It is pretty common on these radios.
The cord that pulls the indicator goes on quite a circuit inside the radio and all the extra friction adds up.
I would recommend a trip to an old radio restoration company such as Nostalic Wireless.

Ken

[ardiesse]

Mike,

The cure depends on what model your Air-Chief radio is.

But I'll guess that it's a hybrid (or transistor) radio with permeability tuning.  These kinds of tuners are designed for push-button operation, and the manual-tune radios are the same design, but with all the push-button hardware deleted.

Inside the radio there is a crownwheel-and-pinion drive, with a clutch on the crownwheel.  The clutch is probably slipping.

Take the radio out of the car, take the top cover off.  Clean all the accumulated dust and crap out with compressed air or a fine-bristled brush.  Then lubricate all the pivots and sliding parts in the tuner with light machine oil (use a toothpick dipped in oil).  Run the tuning control over the full tuning range a few times while looking at the guts of the tuner.  If the internals stop moving while you're turning the knob (other than at the ends of the tuning range), the clutch is slipping.

The later Air-Chiefs (HK-T-G) have a coil spring inside the tuner to pre-load the clutch, and if it falls off, the radio doesn't tune.

If after lubrication, the clutch still slips, it's best to give say Nostalgic Wireless a call.

(Or you can pm me)

Rob

[julius]

Hi, I can highly recommend Nostalgic car radios as they restored Effie's for me years ago and I have had no problems.

Regards
Julius

[ardiesse]

Mike,

Clarification:

Only lubricate sliding mechanical parts.  Keep oil well away from the tuning coils and the sliding powdered iron slugs, and don't oil the clutch.

Rob