Winegard for possible rescue

[gpflepsen]

From your pics, and comparing with all the old stuff I've acquired...

Are the LNB covers, support structure and anything hollow on a dish, the only place the wasps can make their mud nests? I guess I'm glad that "nature's engineer", the beaver, haven't resorted to felling all the BUD poles they can find.

Make some progress!

 

[fred555]

Jason,

Been stuck at home with the flu for a few days now but got bored and wanted an excuse to go out into the sunshine. Lucky for us the Winegard has just about zero ambiguity as far as how the parts go together.
Here are some pictures anyhow of the mount:

 

[bpalone]

Not trying to highjack the thread, but have a question.

Have seen it said to use a round object to roll out hail dents and fold creases in the mesh. Which direction is the preferred way to roll them out:

outside edge of dish towards the center of the dish

or

from edge of panel to other edge of panel (like you were going to roll around the dish back to point of beginning)?

Have a rehab project for summer and wanted some feed back on which was best. Not a metal man, more of a bits type.

Thanks.

 

[Jason S]

From your pics, and comparing with all the old stuff I've acquired...
Are the LNB covers, support structure and anything hollow on a dish, the only place the wasps can make their mud nests? I guess I'm glad that "nature's engineer", the beaver, haven't resorted to felling all the BUD poles they can find. Make some progress!

About the only place I've found the Mud Dauber and Paper Wasp nests is under the plastic feedhorn cover and under the polar mount. There's a paper wasp nest in the feedhorn throat too.

When I pulled the cover off after removal from the dish, I couldn't hardly see the feedhorn or LNBs due to all the mud and paper wasp nests and acorns that were in the cover. Hoping to make some progress soon - dangit if I didn't start running a fever with a boatload of projects to do and nice weather.

 

[Jason S]

Jason,

Been stuck at home with the flu for a few days now but got bored and wanted an excuse to go out into the sunshine. Lucky for us the Winegard has just about zero ambiguity as far as how the parts go together.Here are some pictures anyhow of the mount:

Thanks for the photos, Number 92 !

I don't think it's flu, but I came down with something this weekend that includes fever and am feeling wiped out.

 

[Jason S]

Not trying to highjack the thread, but have a question.
Have seen it said to use a round object to roll out hail dents and fold creases in the mesh. Which direction is the preferred way to roll them out:
outside edge of dish towards the center of the dish
or
from edge of panel to other edge of panel (like you were going to roll around the dish back to point of beginning)?
Have a rehab project for summer and wanted some feed back on which was best. Not a metal man, more of a bits type. Thanks.

On my 7.5' KTI/Echostar, it had a lot of panels that were in bent or out of the channel. I wound up removing each mesh panel individually from the frame, laid the panel on flat & smooth concrete and used a 2 7/8" piece of steel pipe to roll it out flat. For stubborn hail dents, a rubber mallet was used to pound out the dent to at least near flat.

Once the panel was straightened out, slipped the panel back into the frame and secured in place with the screws and clips. Once the panel was secured, I touched up some of the other hail dents by light passes with a propane torch to shrink the mesh a bit. I tried to be careful on applying heat since I figure that old thin aluminum is already brittle enough, but it helped with straightening small areas.

This took a little bit of time to do and tedious to reinstall panels, but I was very happy with how it turned out. There is a post with photos here about the KTI rebuild with before and after.

 

[bpalone]

From the looks of the mount, it looks like my first restoration is the same make. Panels in a bit better condition, but still need put back into tracks. No tears, but have some pretty good hail dents.

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Jason S]

Finally had some time to get some repairs going on the Winegard.

The panel I started with would've been on the east side of the dish, but since the actuator was kaput, the dish had settled over to the east side and water had collected in the bottom of the panel frame and froze. What would've normally been the bottom panel had drain holes, but they weren't at the bottom when the freeze(s) occurred.

Started working on the worst part first, shown below.


Using a flathead screwdriver to open the channel a bit, was finally able to free the bent panel and later the partial panel.

Gently, opened the bent panel up and then used a rubber mallet and a piece of 2 3/8" pipe to roll the panel out and then massaged out hail dings by hand. Once the panel was good, set about using the straightened as a template for creating a new panel for the missing mesh. I used perforated aluminum that was leftover from repairing the 7.5' KTI.


The perforated aluminum on hand was a bit short, so I cut a short piece to fill the gap.

After opening the T-channel that the mesh slides into using a 1 1/2" putty knife, finally got the re-flattened mesh panel back into the channel. The swelling in the rim is visible in this photo.

Another photo showing the swelling. This panel will likely end up at the bottom of the dish with many drain holes drilled to prevent further issues.


Trial fit of what remained on this panel.


Inserted filler piece into end of panel.


Trial fit with remainder of perforated aluminum slipped into location.


Largest portion of perforated aluminum, after trimming, slipped into place. After this, I replaced screws, used aluminum wire to secure mesh to perforated and used a ball peen hammer to tap channel slots back into place.



View of panel, not fully completed but large portion of repairs are done.

 

[FTA4PA]

Very nice!

 

[Jason S]

So I only thought the large portions of repair were done. When I looked at the new perforated and straightened mesh compared to the remainder of the dish, I couldn't leave it alone.

I wound up removing all the panels for straightening and to try to remove hail dents. Used a piece of pipe to roll out the mesh and a rubber mallet to further flatten the hail dings.

Replaced the mesh with the original topside down, then massaged out the dings further. After that, some time was spent with a small propane torch to help tighten up areas and do a little more straightening. A bit more massaging and I called it good.

Once I was more satisfied with the straightening job, added a couple of coats of primer and paint to the segment face. Trying to closely match the original Winegard gray color, Krylon 'Rust Tough Enamel' Primer RTA-9205 is a very close flat and then for topcoat, Duplicolor Machinery Gray (DA-1612).

Here's a photo of the segment that had the majority of repairs performed (before paint):
Photos below resized to under 200 kb


And another panel (after paint):


Looking down a 'typical' panel (after paint):


It's not perfect, but better than when I started.

As the panels are about done, I assessed the hardware from the dish. Most of the hardware was usable but rusty. Stainless hardware is not readily available, without driving 30+ miles one way plus time involved. I wanted to try something different than sandblasting or wire wheel. With as much rust removal as I've done over the years, I have never tried electrolysis and decided that it would be a neat thing (esp. for the kiddos to see).

Put together a bucket and began the rust removal from the fasteners:


After brewing for a while, an example of the cleanup (it's not quite there yet):

Cleaned off residue and wound up letting the parts soak in the electrolysis bucket longer until it was all black. Once the process was complete, primed and painted the hardware.

All in all, after years of trying other methods for rust removal (e.g., naval jelly, sandblasting, wire wheel, etc.), I'm pretty happy with the electrolysis method.

 

[FTA4PA]

Nice work!

 

[Jason S]

This Winegard project is moving slow.

Over the weekend, had to move the polar mount and noticed there was a lot of slop in the mount. Today, with nothing better going on, decided to investigate.

Removed the upper and lower castle nuts from the pivot.


Removed declination adjustment bracket.


Then removed mount ring from pivot and found the source of the slop. Both upper and lower bushings were in bad shape.


Pulled the bushings off the pivot and started off to the auto parts store. No luck on anything readily usable. Went to the hardware store and found some parts that would be suitable.

In the photo below are the original bushings/bearings along with the 1 1/8" bronze sleeve bearings (part no. 64294-M) that will fit the 1/2" pivot on the Winegard.


Cut the new sleeve bearings to length with a hacksaw and then filed to final length.


Since the new bushings did not have the lip as on the original bushing, I used 3/4" x 18 gauge machine repair bushings. These look like washers, but fit the bushing snuggly. Wound up using three on the inside portion of the upper and lower pivot and three below each castle nut for a total of 12 repair bushings.


So didn't get a photo of the test fit, applied grease to help hold lower bushing and repair bushing in place and got some on my hands.

In any event, the test fit was great. The ring moved smoothly with no slop felt. Went ahead and removed ring and thoroughly greased the new bronze bushing and repair bushings. Reassembled everything and put on new cotter pins.


The repair cost was about $10 and should last for a while. At least there is one less item to do before I can put this Winegard back into service.

 

[armadillo_115]

Looking good!

One of my dishes had the threads cutting into the bushings. I assume that was from a bad repair job rather than OEM. I didn't find new bushings,but I replaced the bolts with a slightly larger metric bolt that was NOT threaded in the bushing area. Tightened it up nicely...had to drive them on with a few taps.

Good for another 100,000 miles. lol

 

[Chewie]

Hello Jason
I will be bringing home a dish just like yours and disassembling the dish, I want to use my truck to transport the dish, I have a FORD F150, the length of the bed is 6.6' and 5 feet wide, I figure the length of the panels are about 5 feet, is the width of the panel about 5 feet?.
Please let me know.
Thanks in advance.
Tunder

 

[Jason S]

Hello Jason
I will be bringing home a dish just like yours and disassembling the dish, I want to use my truck to transport the dish, I have a FORD F150, the length of the bed is 6.6' and 5 feet wide, I figure the length of the panels are about 5 feet, is the width of the panel about 5 feet?.
Please let me know.
Thanks in advance.
Tunder

Hey Tunder,
I measure it at 85" x 74"

The 85" is measured from corner to corner of outer rim on face side of dish. The panels should fit fine in your truck bed with careful positioning and having a portion resting on a bedside.

I broke down the dish and hauled mine in a 56" wide utility trailer with many ratchet straps and tie downs to keep it secure.

Post photos of your Winegard rescue!

 

[Chewie]

Thanks for this information Jeson, this will help me plan better, I will take lots of pictures.
Did you put your dish up already?
Regards.
Tunder

 

[Jason S]

No, haven't got mine up yet. Hopefully soon I can get back to working on dish projects. The good thing, I think everything is about ready to be put back together.

 

[Chewie]

Hello Jason
Have a few more questions I f you don't mind, do you know approximately the weight of this this dish?
I also want to know the sequence of steps you follow to take the dish apart, I don't want to damage this dish at all, out here in California, these 10 foot dishes are very rare, I know I have to take the lnb arms off first.
Please let me know.
Thanks in advance.
Tunder

 

[Jason S]

Hey Tunder,

I just weighed one of the dish panels and it's about 20 pounds, so the dish itself will be 80+ pounds with the arms and LNB assembly. The dish as a whole isn't overly heavy, but because of the size it can be a bit unwieldy. Extra hands are certainly helpful.

For the retrieval, I was fortunate enough to have the owner and his father helping with my recovery. We removed the dish (with arms and LNB/feedhorn) from the polar mount. Then placed the dish on the ground. From the ground, disassembled the arms and LNB/feedhorn from the dish and then removed the bolts holding the dish panels together.

After the dish was off the polar mount, we removed the polar mount from the pole. The polar mount itself is pretty hefty.

Dish hardware was standard (i.e., not metric). Had spray lubricant (e.g., PB Blaster), various size crescent wrenches, ratchet wrenches with standard sockets, standard wrenches and some pliers and wire cutters. All in all, hardware on my dish came apart easily. A few bolts twisted off, but the majority came apart just fine.

Hope this helps.

(Edit: Noticed this makes post number 500...)

 

[Lone Gunman]

Speaking of transporting a dish? Here's how I've moved the last two I got. I originally built this mount to move my Winegard dish from the old house, which was 20 miles West of where I am now. So that's three 10ft dishes that have been moved this way. And BTW, my Raydx 10.5 footer is STILL mounted on this trailer and I use it every day.

From this thread.

http://www.satelliteguys.us/xen/threads/how-to-move-a-bud.311946/#post-3176538