Clock Repair: Analog, 70-78 Z (Round)

[Maddos]

Yeah I'm a big fan of the blue, plan to have a respray before the end of the year same colour.

Can't remember the tranny I used, but was just a general purpose NPN from tricky ****y. I made sure BEC were configured right but still didn't want to work. That feedback from the coil had me confused on mine, it was hidden under some black goo and didn't know if was supposed to be hooked to pad or not when scraped off for a better look. Anyhow you've got me motivated to re-visit this job. i have a later model clock in my car at the moment out of my parts car but is different look to original and in the guts has a metal can with the workings in it seems reliable

[Sailor Bob]

Mine will only remain in motion if I give it a push every ten seconds. When power is introduced it makes a very lame attempt to swing and stops again.

I gave it the recommended gnats drop of sewing machine oil - no go.

[EScanlon]

Bob:

Take the mechanism out of the can again. Look at the pivot points for the pendulum gear (the one that rotates one way and then the other).

Those should be just shy of being "snug". This is where the "jewels" of the mechanism get used, they are the swivel points.

To loosen the pendulum, in order to have it swing freely that is, you might have to loosen one side or the other very carefully.

You're only going to loosen the screws ~maybe~ a "half-hour's" worth of turn and no more than that (otherwise the axle will fall out of the pivot points and it's not easy to put it back). By a "half-hour" I am referring to the DEGREE's of turn (i.e. 12 hours is one full turn at 360 degrees, one hour = 30 degrees, 1/2 hour = 15 °).

Do first one side, test it, then the other. It shouldn't take more than one or two of these to free up the pendulum.

The purpose of the pivot point adjustment is to both keep it aligned to the pickle fork (don't know the correct name) and to keep just enough pressure on the axle to maintain it in place.

This should free up the mechanism so that it will continue oscillating.

The only other point you might want to look at, is the pickle fork pivot points as well as that you DID get some oil on the motor shaft.

Oiling either the pendulum or the pickle forks shouldn't be necessary as that's what the famous "jewels" are for, but if all else fails, give it a go.

FWIW

E

[Arne]

I worked on mine for several hours before getting it to work reliably. (Still running, BTW.) Enrique's last post is accurate, and is part of what I did to finally get it going. The details of my repair:

• Oiling the motor - Look at the last picture I posted above. Notice the metal strap across the back of the motor. Slightly loosen the small screw under paint opposite the wires. The wire end of the strap can then be pivotted counter-clockwise to reveal the shaft bushing. Put a small drop of oil there, and immediately blot up any excess. Replace the strap and reapply some lock paint. (Nail polish works well.) Then remove the motor mounting screw (next to my fat thumb in the picture) and the mechanism mounting stud opposite the screw. The motor can then be gently pulled away from the clockworks. Connect 12 volt power and let hte motor spin free for a short while so that you know it works well. Replace the motor.
  
• Clockwork pivots - I did not loosen the screws that Enrique mentions, but I did oil (ever so sparingly) all the pivot points. Just like on the motor, apply the smallest drop you can, and immediately blot as much of it back up as you are able.
  

Doing those two things got mine working well, in fact it might be working too well, as it gains a 2 or 3 minutes per week now. Which is close enough for me.

[wfl_colorado]

Dang! I wish I had seen and/or thought about this a month or so ago when I had my dash apart. What a fantastic fix to an every present issue!

[Pir0San]

EScalon, you are my hero! My clock hasn't worked for as long as I can remember, and I decided to buy some sewing machine oil and try to fix my clock following your instructions. Your writeup was very in depth, but pictures would have been alot of help. I didn't quite understand every part of your writeup, but the parts that I did understand did help.

What I decided to do instead was to oil pretty much the whole clock assembly, and let the excess oil run off. I bought a bottle of Singer Machine Oil from JoAnn fabrics today, and used 6 drops out of the whole bottle. I hooked the clock up, while it was disassembled, to my battery charger and watched to see what it would do. I had removed the two screws that hold the motor down to verify that the motor itself was still working, and it spun just fine. I reinstalled the motor, plugged the charger in, and nothing happened. I let the oil soak in for a few more minutes, plugged the charger back in, and then helped spin the gear that the motor presses against. The pendulum started to spin after that, but would stop. I let it sit for a little while longer, went back outside, shook it, and plugged the charger back in. It now works!

Thanks EScalon!

PS: My motor looks a little different than Arne's.

[Pir0San]

spoke too soon, it died. I'm letting it soak in the oil right now.

[EScanlon]

Jeremy;

Try tweaking the pivot points. Sometimes all it takes is one tiny little tweak to release the pressure on that axle, and it will keep running.

E

[Pir0San]

Jeremy;

Try tweaking the pivot points. Sometimes all it takes is one tiny little tweak to release the pressure on that axle, and it will keep running.

E

Not to seem dense, but I'm kind of lost as what to loosen. I only see one screw, other than the adjustment to speed up/slow down the clock itself. It's running now, but I only let it sit for about 5 minutes. Here's some pics, if you could possibly point out the pivot points and whatnot. The clock ran inside the car for about 5 hours.

[mrcow]

a little lube fixed my clock perfectly. I dont know how long it will continue to run but it is working right now. great fix.

[EScanlon]

Just noticed Jeremy's post from last August and noticed that nobody had responded to it either.

The pictures you post are both from the FRONT side of the mechanism. They're also too blurry to be able to help you or anyone.

I'll try to describe the screw pivots I'm referring to again:

The Pendulum Gear, the one that runs back and forth, is held in place by two screws which hold the axle of the gear in place.

I've adjusted several of these clocks and it is typically those two screws that are just a little too tight. A very slight loosening is all that is necessary in order to allow that gear to rotate freely. The screw that you use to adjust typically tightens or loosens the spring that the pendulum gear flexes.

If you can post a better picture of both sides of the mechanism, I'll label the points for you.

E

[vercingetorix]

Tried this fix on a 71 clock and it started and ran immediately. BUT I was'nt paying attention when I removed the face to its relation to the mounting bracket and cant decide if its on right or 180 degrees out.

Anyone got a picture??:stupid: :stupid: :stupid: