[NCC] How not to install a rotor

[John's Travel and Cruises]

Well it took 7 trips up the tower but I finally got the
rebuilt TX2 rotor installed. On the first trip up the tower 
I discovered that the new terminal strip was Philips heads
so I had to make a second climb with the correct
screwdriver.  When I hooked it up, the meter pegged on
the left and it didn't rotate.  I made a third trip to look at
the terminal strip and all appeared to be normal.  After
dark I measured the resistances and determined that I
had a grounded wire at the terminal strip on the rotor.

Today I climbed up and moved the wires around on
the screws so they didn't short to the rotor plate.  That
took care of the meter problem but I still had trouble
getting the rotor to rotate.  I climbed again because I
wanted to jack up the mast an inch so all the weight
was on the thrust bearing and not the rotor.  I managed
to drop the jack so had to go down and retrieve it.  On
the sixth climb I raised the mast and replaced the rusted
hardware on the thrust bearing.  I then managed to drop
the can of spray paint so had to make a seventh climb
to paint the new hardware and touch up the scratch
marks on the rotor.  So over 500 vertical feet later
(that's a lot for this old man), it's done.  It would have
been easier with an assistant and a rope!

I'm happy with the final result.  The rotor rotates just
like it should, there is no weight on the rotor, and the
hardware is all painted to prevent rust.  I'm beginning
to think that a lot of my original "hard to start the
rotation" problem was because the thrust bearing was
not doing it's job.

I had the work done by FX Rotor Works.
www.fxrotorworks.com
Brad did an excellent job at a very fair price.  If
you want a rebuild, check him out.


John Getz, AD8J