Question from phly guy:

The tuning control on my 38-5 seems to be frozen in place. I’ve not put much force into it yet but thought there might be some tribal wisdom on what to use to get it un-stuck. The chassis is pretty clean so it’s not all gunked up with dust and crud. I’m not sure if it’s just congealed grease and oil or a rusted bearing……
So, what should I try, WD-40, some other penetrating lubricant? What works good on this? How much muscle should I put into trying to turn the tuning control?

Answer from Bill (exray):

Is that the typical 2-knob tuning drive thats typical on many of the same era Philcos?

If so, yes, its probably hardened grease inside the vernier shaft assembly. It probably needs a complete internal cleaning but for the moment lets get it loosened up. This type mounts on the front of the tuning cap with 2 screws. There’s probably a little metal cup shaped thing with the two screws. Remove it from the capacitor. Careful because I think there’s some ball-bearings (3) in there – although they are probably frozen into place.

You can soak it for a while in your favorite solvent (WD40 works) and get it loose. Then if it feels too rough then we can discuss fully disassembling it for cleaning. Oh, make sure the tuning cap itself is turning freely while you have the vernier shaft unmounted. None of these parts should require any muscle to turn them when they are in good glean condition.

Answer from Bob Andersen:

I had a similar problem with my 38-10. I took the whole thing apart and repacked the bearings with grease. It’s smooth as butter now.

There are a couple tricks to getting it apart (and back together). First, carefully pop the locking washer off the end. Then, apply some pressure to the end of the inner shaft while holding the steel bushing. This should free up the brass shafts and you can pull them out.

Don’t lose those bearings!

Now you can clean off that old grease and grime with WD40 as Bill suggested. Finally, I applied some automotive grease to the bearings and inner shaft.