1942 Zenith 10S690 Radio/Phono Combo

[DavGoodlin]

There are a few models with phonos, post-war that included shortwave, it seemed after 1948 that FM became the only other band included with broadcast on the average radio-phono or TV combo. Very few, if any, TV-radio combos offered any SW bands. FM was standard on most TV-radio combinations

It seemed as if there was a consistent effort among manufacturers to include both FM bands until the FCC snubbed RCA's move to put TV channel one on 42-50 mc and use it for government ops instead, seemed to end on 1948 models

[vortalexfan]

So how do I go about getting the Radio Chassis out of the Cabinet?

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by vortalexfan

So how do I go about getting the Radio Chassis out of the Cabinet?

Most Zeniths of the era: get the knobs off, find the release buttons for the push button panels (the preset is usually just a cover, but the tone cover has switches wired to it and has to be unclipped from it's mounting then pushed diagonally through the hole back into the chassis compartment), make sure the preset mech is not bolted to the front of the cabinet, unplug cables to the chassis, pull around 4 chassis bolts and slide chassis back and out of the cabinet.
Some chassis have square rubber chassis suspension blocks....over the years they melt and resolidify gluing the chassis down...if that has happened slip a putty knife between the chassis and bottom board where the chassis bolts were to dislodge the rubber.
If the chassis still hangs up after all of that examine carefully to find what we both missed.

[bgadow]

Originally Posted by DavGoodlin

From the same seller included a Stromberg Carlson 1121 which is an early 1947 model with both FM bands, in the left pull-out it had a V-M 1200 series (one with levers, not knobs) sitting on a made-up plinth. I think a V-M 400 was original.

I had a very similar S-C, dual FM as I recall and power tuning. I let it go in a moment of weakness; kind of a shame that you couldn't see the "Acoustical Labyrinth" from the front!

[vortalexfan]

Well I got the chassis out of the cabinet, and I fortunately had some old VCR flat belts that will work on this radio, but unfortunately I can't get the band switch lever off so I can get the tuner knob loose so I can get the new belt onto the radio because the clip they used to hold the band switch lever on was a rounded c-clip rather than a traditional flat c-clip.

So I unfortunatly can't get that clip off without having a special tool of some sort, because a regular flat-blade screwdriver just slips and isn't able to get under the clip to dislodge it from the shaft.

Any ideas how to get that clip off the shaft?

Also checked the tubes and there was actually only 2 tubes in this radio that weren't original, the rectifier tube and the 6A8G tube which was replaced with a RCA 6A8 metal jacket tube which the 6A8G originally had a shield around it but since they got a metal jacketed 6A8 tube they pitched the original shield unfortunately.

The rectifier tube was a GE branded 5Y4G tube with a date code of 722 (22nd week of 1947 which if that's to be believed that means the original rectifier tube didn't last very long, only 5 years and the 6A8 tube had a date code of 222 (22nd week of 1942) which if that's to be believed that means that tube pretty much died a couple months after purchase because the front bezel of this radio had a date stamped in it of Jan. 3, 1942 on it...

[Electronic M]

If there is enough of a gap in the C clip to get the tip of needle nose pliers in or a pair of small screwdrivers into the cap of the C and pry it backwards off the shaft...it may take a good bit of coordination and strength to perform.

[vortalexfan]

Originally Posted by Electronic M

If there is enough of a gap in the C clip to get the tip of needle nose pliers in or a pair of small screwdrivers into the cap of the C and pry it backwards off the shaft...it may take a good bit of coordination and strength to perform.

Well I was finally able to get the shaft loose but it took tons of persuasion to get the c clip off, and then back on again once I got the belt on.

[DavGoodlin]

Many do not like some Zenith features like this. Truth is, these things make them worth more than other similar radios.

I hope you do not have a ton of rubber wire and your power trans is good. Zeniths were treasured for reception over most else but some things were not so robust.