Dammit!
 

How foolish of me, thinking I could rearrange my TV's to get more space without anything going horribly wrong. Old man Murphy just HAD to show up. One of my favorite radios, my Zenith Royal 2000 took a major hit, and it has left me extremely distressed. Luckily, I had BATTERIES in it, so it fell even HARDER. The handle took the blow, it busted the handle itself, and even cracked one of the metal supports. Hopefully, I'll find another someday, in even better shape, and use this one for parts. It still works, and the sound is just as good as ever. :tears: :dammit:

Sucks bro.

It's kinda hard to tell how badly cracked the metal is... if it's decent, you could just make - or have made - another plastic handle. Kinda looks like the handle is just a rectangular bar.

Try dropping a Zenith TransO 7000y. Ouch!

I'd rather not...

Wow im so sorry buddy :(

Zenith Quality: you can drop it from a plane and it will STILL work (just won't be as pretty).https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-teXC1mFKaQ

There was one of those sets at the last WARCI meet. I briefly thought about buying it, but decided to grab one of Zenith's few tube Stereo FM table sets (with matching speaker) instead. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Zen...kAAOSwNm5ZrVVz


There is one like yours for $32 as parts/repair. It looks like you could merge its cosmetics with the working guts of yours. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vtg-Zenith-...8AAOSwwadaID-4

JB weld that - great for castings

I thought for sure you would be posting a thread about that Zenith tube radio, pros & cons. Slight thread derailment!
BTW, I have one of those Zenith Royal 2000's. Mine has a bad switch on the back of the volume control. Someone put a push-push switch on the side of it.
I have to see if I have one to replace it with.
Another thought, did RCA make those fat transistors especially for ZRC?

Mine was restored by the previous owner . It works as well as I could hope for. All I wish it had is the correct balance knob. I restored a RCA 45rpm changer, and modified/upgraded it to stereo. I have that changer connected​ to the Zenith, and have been using it more as a phono amp lately...

:thmbsp: X2 , I've performed literal restoration miracles using the stuff ...

I lost an early 70s T-O to an avalanche a few years back. It's still sitting there-guess I'll sell it for parts. Upsets me every time I look at it :(

This is proof that the older Zenith radios with metal chassis, socketed transistors, etc. can take a lot more abuse than later sets (e. g. the Royal 7000 series); the latter have most, if not all, of the radio on a PC board that will crack as soon as the radio hits the ground. However, the warning regarding the use of the handle on any of the solid-state T-Os (which also houses the FM/SW Waverod telescoping antenna), which has been quoted here in VK at least once, should be heeded at all times, as the latch which holds the handle in place is not the best.

I suggest holding the radio on both sides when moving it, rather than carrying it by the handle. This is one of the few (very few) shortcomings, in my experience, of the solid-state T/Os; they are otherwise very good radios, built to last. I have three solid-state T/Os that worked well when I received them (they were eBay finds), and still have them to this day, although I only use one on any kind of regular basis.

That your T/O 2000 still works and sounds great, the only damage being to the handle when it fell, speaks well for the build quality of these radios. Zenith did not cut corners when they designed and built them, which is much more than I can say for today's plastic one-chip sets that will not take any kind of abuse. There was a commercial in the '60s for Zenith's first solid-state TV (in the Royal 1200 series, IIRC), which claimed the set could be dropped from hundreds of feet off the ground and would still work. The commercial, if I remember correctly, showed one of these TVs actually being deliberately dropped from an airplane; there was no damage to the set or even, amazingly, to the CRT when the television eventually hit the ground, and the set still worked. This amazes me no end, as I would have expected the CRT to have imploded at the very moment of impact.

Well, it was attached to a parachute, and hit the soft grassy ground rolling sideways instead of a straight drop, but it did survive that abuse. It certainly wouldn't free fall from hundreds of feet and survive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-teXC1mFKaQ

One for sale on eBay right now.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/292220460269

.

Sorry to hear this.

Never was a fan of Zenith products.

This is coming from a friend of a Zenith dealer and repair shop.

"The rats nest goes in before the name goes on". LOL....

I wonder how many sets were destroyed before they got a good take.

Nine out of ten times Zeniths will pass a drop test. Others fail.
Best example was a drunk tech the next town over. He pulled
a CC2 chassis for jig work. He put his caddy in his truck but
left the chassis behind it & backed over it. He re installed it &
left the lady a bill for $100 !
We got the job next. Took the chassis in & used a hammer to
put it in order. Fixed a few minor PCB cracks & the original
problem & was as good as new.
There is NO question hand wiring was the ultimate in ruggedness !

BTW I named him "Bobby the Butcher" & it caught on. Even the
lesser techs hated him. His work would make you puke:puke2:

73 Zeno:smoke:
LFOD !