Well finally I managed to get back in the garage on this rainy night.
So I decided to take a look at the 55/56 Antenna that I got from Dan Yocum's place hoping to it would work for the '54 since I went 12 volt. The had removed the broken manual antenna from my fender when I started the body work.
So I hooked the antenna up to 12 volt battery I had and all it did was hum. I tried it on both wires keeping the case grounded. Hmm not good. So it was take it apart time. So first was figuring out how it came apart without breaking the plastic/fiberglass shaft. I finally figured out that you remove the screws in the top portion of the motor housing, and remove the tensioner screw, the top housing and shaft comes loose as one piece. Then you can just pull the entire fiberglass shaft out thought the motor housing. Then you have the gear assembly section in the middle portion. Remove the bottom motor housing screws and the lower motor portion comes loose from the middle gear portion.
So now with the just motor portion in hand I tested it again. Same hum. So removed the grounding screw wire, and loosen the large bolt in the bottom of the motor housing and the motor itself came free of the housing. Basically the motor had shifted in the housing and the motor spindle was grounding to the metal surround. So I took it all apart, re-centered the bushing in the bottom of the motor assembly and the top bushing in the gear portion. The bushings swivel in their seats and were almost frozen cockeyed. So I used a small dab of bearing grease to work them free so now they float and move like they are supposed to. I also cleaned up all the motor shaft and polished up the area where the brushes ride. The motor and gear sections were then reassembled and retested it. Success! So all I had to do was rethread the fiberglass shaft back through the motor housing and tighten everything down. I then gently held the entire thing in a vice and tested it. I played around with the tensioner to get it where the it didn't sound like it was slipping, and the didn't sound like the motor was loading to much.
After getting it all working I went to try to position it on the fender. I knew I was going to have to find the correct angled rubber grommet. But the problem I ran into was the diameter on this antenna is much bigger that the hole in my fender. So the question of the day is the 55/56 front antenna have a larger fender shaft then the '54s? or is this a rear antenna? Can I just make the fender hole bigger? Or will I not be able to find the correct rubber grommet I need? If this wont work, then I may just end up selling it as it now works.
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