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65/66 Power Antenna Motor Part (or HL Motor) Measurement
I'm assembling a antenna motor that came to me in pieces. It is missing the thrust washer(button) that sits in the endframe bushing housing.
Here is where it sits, down into the cavity past the bushing. The shaft is 0.310" diameter. I need to make a button on my lathe but need a thickness measurement.
The armature shaft end has a ball bearing that sits on the this button and properly spaces the commutator end to mate to the brushes.
Without this button, the commutator is not properly aligned to the brushes. It sits too low. I measured apx 0.120" difference. See below.
The armature needs to come upward apx that amount I measured.
I sold all of my headlight motors and parts, but I suspect headlight motors used the same thrust button. Maybe window or wiper motors also.
If you have one apart could you please check the button thickness and diameter for me.
A friend contacted me and had one to measure. He said it's plastic. I should be all set.
0.285" Diameter
apx 0.075" Thick
Glad you found your answer. A big thank you for this post and all your other excellent posts about all things Corvette (assuming you're Rich M from NCRS, if not, thank you anyway!). I started a deep dive into my Power Antenna because of your post about freeing up a stuck mast. Worked like a charm! The current picture of the ball in the end of the shaft solved another mystery of "what was that part that fell into the abyss", never to be found again. Luckily, I found a replacement. If you know a trick to remove the antenna tip so I can fix the broken cable, it would be very helpful. Keep those excellent post coming! Thanks again for sharing your knowledge and keeping these old cars more enjoyable to work on!
Regards, Chris
Glad you found your answer. A big thank you for this post and all your other excellent posts about all things Corvette (assuming you're Rich M from NCRS, if not, thank you anyway!). I started a deep dive into my Power Antenna because of your post about freeing up a stuck mast. Worked like a charm! The current picture of the ball in the end of the shaft solved another mystery of "what was that part that fell into the abyss", never to be found again. Luckily, I found a replacement. If you know a trick to remove the antenna tip so I can fix the broken cable, it would be very helpful. Keep those excellent post coming! Thanks again for sharing your knowledge and keeping these old cars more enjoyable to work on!
Regards, Chris
Thanks Chris, Yes that's me.
I made a thrust button from aluminum. 0.285" x 0.090" thick. I installed the motor to the housing and had ample thrust screw adjustment. I set it with motor running, until drag, the backed of a smidgen.
Then I put it together for a quick test. It works fine. I'll take it all apart, clean, lube, solder lead wire to the mast, then silver solder the brass ball to the cable, then do a final test.
With thrust button installed. Proper brush to commutator height now.
Note position of springs and brush leads.
Tie a string on the springs to keep from flying away during installation. These are not available.
Note the small brass ball on the old cable end(bottom right below). This gets soldered on the end of the cable after it's threaded into the gearbox. Then the cable can be wrapped inside the plastic spool and held with a screw. There's a capture area in the spool to grab the ball.
I did a video of the test and will post after a YouTube upload later.(uploaded in new post)
If it works without he cable/ball...why does it need It?
Good question....
The cable could tagle up it the spool when it retracts, and when it extends to the maximum, it holds the cable in the same position in the spool while the clutch function slips the gear assembly.
The motor steel worm gear drives a plastic ring gear, which is locked to the steel ring gear which drives the cable.
There are 4 steel *****, tensioned by springs, between the 2 gears. The ***** are lined up between flat rivets that hold the metal ring gear assembly "sandwhich".
Here's the spool, showing where the cable ball sits, in a capture slot.
Here are details of the ring gears.
They're held together with a C clip. I use C clamps to compress it to remove or install the C clip.
The cable gets threaded into the gearcase, then I silver solder it to the end after cleaning it.
I wrap tape around the cable end to keep grease away before soldering the ball.
The ball must be removed to get the cable in to or out of the gearcase cable guide ring.
Rust is the enemy of these antennas. The cable is raw steel wrapped in a spiral which is the worm gear attached to the top stainless steel whip. Water gets down into the mast joints and rust begins to seize the cable inside the 2nd brass mast section.
The only way to free it up is force, and in doing that, you have to cut the mast at the base and disassemble.
This old one is junk. The cable is broken inside the mast.
Cables are not available. If you're lucky, you can free up a cable with heat and fluids.
We were able to acquire a new mast & cable assembly to get this one functioning.
I took the old one apart for fun, to see if i can come up with a idea to make a cable. I'm thinking of visiting my machine shop to see if we can make a prototype from industrial plastic, like Delrin or better, using his CNC machine. Modern power windows use plastic cables.
Experimenting with the broken cable inside
7 1/2" of the mast. It's rusted pretty solidly in there. Overnight CRC Power Lube juice, then heat, no deal.
I tried moving it with a punch, no help.
So I'm going to soak it in a bottle full of rust remover for a while. Since rust inside the mast is expanded, I don't think it'll work. But I'll try.
Here's a diagram of my experiment and the mast in the rust remover juice.
The mark on the bottle is 7 1/2" from the mast tip. All of the rusted cable is now suspended in the liquid.
After a hour, I see no rust bubbles come out yet.
Here's a closeup of a good cable after cleaning...
Here is what I came up with to clean the cables. The whip end has a swivel where it attaches to the cable. Nice "feature". Set the end in a drill, run on locked low speed, and hold 2 wire brushes over the cable, walking side to side. A few cycles and its clean. New lube and good for a long time.
I'll check it every month or so to see if it frees up.
Experimenting with the broken cable inside
7 1/2" of the mast. It's rusted pretty solidly in there. Overnight CRC Power Lube juice, then heat, no deal.
I tried moving it with a punch, no help.
So I'm going to soak it in a bottle full of rust remover for a while.
Here's a diagram of my experiment and the mast in the rust remover juice.
The mark on the bottle is 7 1/2" from the mast tip. All of the rusted cable is now suspended in the liquid.
I'll check it every month or so to see if it frees up.
03-02-2024, 08:43 AM
65/66 Power Antenna Motor Part (or HL Motor) Measurement
....so don't do it...
