[TowerTalk] Hygain Rotator Checkup and Rebuilding

[Mike Gilmer - N2MG]

I am currently in the throes of checking out three 
fairly old (20 years?) Hygain Tailtwister rotators 
prior to installation.  Also one HamIV.

Of course, I marked the relative position of the 
housing pieces before I started, and opened them 
inside a clean Rubbermaid container to catch any 
bearings that escape - I learned this YEARS ago ;-) 
Also, before I send them up the tower I will verify 
they are all pointing North!

Anyway, I am replacing the (slightly corroded) 
terminal strips with the Rotor Doc's quick connects.  
I have also replaced one (so far) direction-indicating 
wirewound potentiometer - it had a noisy/dead spot 
which was a visibly "flattened" area in the windings 
that resulted in the control box's meter swingy wildly 
when the rotator turned through that direction.  I 
don't know what caused the flat area; it wasn't 
discolored.

I am also cleaning the limit switch contacts with some 
brown paper bag strips soaked in contact cleaner slid 
between the closed contacts.  This paper removed a 
surprising amount of gunk!

I have looked over the bearings and their "races" for 
damage/rust/flat spots but have found none.  I don't 
know if I will change the grease - it looks OK, but it 
is 20 years old at this point so I'm wondering... 
maybe some low-temp stuff from the snowmobile shop?

Any common failures to look for in the brake hardware, 
etc.?  Any other trouble spots I should look for?

I will definitely summarize any hints for posterity.  
Maybe have some photos, too, if anyone's interested.

Mike N2MG

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