I live in the Greenville SC. I can check it out for you.

I also cleaned and lubed the control switch.
Now I just need to fix the radio

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I was able to make a new leather seal using a leather check book cover I had laying around. Once I cut it to size, I needed it to wrap around the outside diameter of the piston. I accomplished this by soaking the flat seal in water then installed on piston and installed piston assembly into tube and let sit for a few days. The leather conformed nicely around piston. I applied some o-ring grease to piston and to inside of tube, reassembled and tested. The antenna extended fine, but needed help to retract. Turns out the antenna assembly has two bleed valve mechanisms to control speed of extension and retraction. Both are simple rubber discs. One is sandwiched between the piston halves ( see earlier posted photos)and the other is located on the bottom of the tube ( last photo). The disc used in the piston was brittle and would not lay flat and caused excessive leakage. I made a new disc using a bicycle inner tube. I retested and the antenna extended and retracted at a nice even pace.

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Mark, on my antenna once the antenna mast was unscrewed from the piston, the piston came apart into 2 halves which released the 2 seals.
Thanks Howard for the additional sources - I will check them out.

Stefan

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The tube ID for mine is 1.560. Have not found any seals for the front end yet.

Disassembled the antenna and was able to get a better understanding of how this thing works. The mast is attached to a piston which is made up of 2 pieces. Between the 2 halves are 2 leather seals with an L cross section. Need to find a piece of leather with the same thickness and form the L cross section. Or maybe replace the seals with an o-ring. Like the bicycle pump idea - need to look around.

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Does anyone have any information or rebuilt a vacuum antenna. Took mine apart and one of the seals is mangled. Looking for replacement seals. On my 49 Super 8.

Thanks

Been working on the 49 Super 8 and was finally able to get the oil pan off to clean. I was wondering since I had the oil pan off, what is involved to replace the real main oil seal? The oil collects in the flywheel cover and when I stop it all dumps out.

Yes - Please add some pictures. What type of sending unit did you use? That is the next item on my list to fix.

Thanks guys for the input. My main concern was that I would have to remove the whole dash. That would probably open up another can of worms. I will start doing some yoga and then attempt to remove the gage from underneath.