On keeping the wet out, I have found that the more you try to water proof anything outdoors, the more it will keep moisture in once it gets in and it WILL find a way in.
I agree with this. I once had a source of long skinny plastic bags, and thought that they would keep out the moisture, but the actuator never gets a chance to dry out, even when it gets hot, which would usually evaporate any moisture, but inside the bag, it just turns the contraption into a steam bath.
Most of mine I have just kept stock and made sure the little hole in the back of the VonWeise is pointing down (motor up) so that any water that does get in can drain right back out. Again, trying to seal the moisture out will only trap any moisture which will inevitably get in and cause you more grief.
Again, I agree. Back in the old days, lots of people recommended installing a grease fitting in that little hole. People would pump grease into the bottom, which would mean that any water that got in couldn't drain. I never had a Von Weise, but with the HT actuators I used, I found it better to take the actuator apart and grease the screw by hand rather than try to push a bunch of grease in blocking the drainage.
Oh and it is highly unlikely that there is any way to match up the counts so you'll be re-programming everything.
I usually bring the dish to the position where the jack is as far in as you can go then loosen the bolt on the mount and gently bring the dish down to rest. Then I take out the bolt which joins the arm to the dish. If you take out the bolt on the end of the jack first you run the risk of putting the end of the jack right through your dish!
Re-install in reverse. Someone there to steady the dish would definitely help although I have done it alone.
I used to have 2 actuators, one in use, and one a spare that I'd quickly switch in when the one I was using started to give me problems. I would use one of those light duty chains, with dog clips one each end. Hook the ends to where the actuator attached, so that when I'd disconnect the actuator (from whichever end), the chain would support the dish. Actually, I got so quick at lubricating the actuators, that I'd do this, take off the actuator, take it inside, take it apart, smear on grease, take it outside and re-install it, do a quick re-sync, and I was back in business in about an hour or so. The only problem was that once I forgot to take the chain off after re-installing the actuator. And yes, with different actuators, and even identical actuators connected differently (via different positions of the clamp around the cyllinder), it's unlikely that you'd get the counts to match up. Easier to just start over.
