On Thursday 06 October 2016 22:20:36 Gregg Eshelman wrote:

> On the steering racks Ford used on the Pinto and Mustang II, the big
> ends of the bellows/boots had the ID off center with a vent hole for a
> metal pipe (around 1/4" ID) to push in so that air could flow back and
> forth as the rack moved. Whatever you do, it shouldn't require a
> really large vent to allow air to flow back and forth.

Having at one time owned a Pinto. I recall that, and wondered at the time 
how they ever expected to keep it clean internally in the face of 
everything that flew up off the tires in wet or dirty weather.

I have some satellite jack boots in a drawer in the shop building that 
have a vent/drain in one end of them.  You've got a motor with stripped 
and broken gears if such a jack is installed horizontally so it can't 
drain, because then it all runs into the motor and the 3rd good freeze 
breaks it completely, even busting the gearcase open once.  That same 
jack & motor is happy as a clam for decades with the same jack is used 
for elevation at a nominally 45 degree angle, motor down. I once, while 
at WDTV, and RCA had filed, which made the 3.9 meter AFC dish they gave 
us open for other uses, so I hit the iron pile and made a 1/2 sized 
version of the Scientific Atlanta 7 meter dish, putting the azimuth 
motor horizontal just like SA mounted the monster Roland jacks they 
used. Worked really well on that AFC dishbecause that dish was a genuine 
1 minute rifle barrel.  Until about march of the next spring and I got a 
frantic call from one of the studio techs saying it wasn't working.  By 
the time I got there it had warmed up so the ice was all melted, leaving 
perhaps a teaspoon in the gearbox which was full of busted nylon. No one 
in town had another jack motor, nor a jack that long as it was a 6 
footer.  Nothing else to do but get a check cut and point the stations 
pickup at Venture Mfg, in the industrial park NW of the Dayton, OH 
Airport. Long days drive and I put the new one on in the dark and 
recalibrated the controller before I pointed the truck south to Weston 
WV, something after midnight.

I bitched and belly ached until I had permission to order a spare because 
I knew I was going to need it. And of course I did, several more times 
before I retired.  By now its probably in its 2nd dozen 'spare' 
jacks. :)  Nothing seems to help for good, including a 3/8" drain hole 
in the bottom of the gearbox might make it last 2 winters. The dishes 
pivot joints are Chevy truck ball joints, greased at least annually, 2 
pounds on the lever which is more than 4 feet long moves the dish 
easily.  Wind load is not that much off-center as I've replaced that 
jack in a 40 mph breeze without any difficulty holding it steady enough 
to re-install the connector bolt.

Pinto made it work, somehow.  The exception to the good, cheap, runs 
forever rule I guess.

Cheers, Gene Heskett
-- 
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
 soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
Genes Web page <http://geneslinuxbox.net:6309/gene>

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