Antenna shaft check valve washer.

[Barry Wolk]

Does anyone know what the antenna shaft check valve washer is made of? I made one of vinyl and it curled. I took apart a Caddy antenna and found its washer distorted, also.


https://scontent-ord5-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/470140154_561526693268887_3420789592072244766_n.jp g?stp=cp6_dst-jpg_tt6&_nc_cat=101&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=aa7b47&_nc_ohc=k6Rn-8fdAMkQ7kNvgGwW-oP&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-ord5-1.xx&_nc_gid=APClALVMzEI0VR0MMhdQWhZ&oh=00_AYD1H932KsNy6ZHMx1A4dRdV5LBBbPFSnihWkNBC0ilE 6A&oe=6760BCAA

[tluke]

So now we know what happens when Barry asks a question that he doesn't know the answer to. 4 days and no one has responded. If your talking about the black washer in your picture, I don't know the answer either but there is a guy in Kirchheim, Germany that might know. He created a rebuild kit for the Caddy antenna. Maybe if you message him on eBay he'll respond. Those Cadillac guys are pretty good guys too.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/276708546400

[Egenolf]

Hello,

I took a look at my removed antenna.

It is a kind of plastic, flexible, you can bend it easily but it will probably break if you bend it completely and it is to stiff to curle.

[Barry Wolk]

So now we know what happens when Barry asks a question that he doesn't know the answer to. 4 days and no one has responded. If your talking about the black washer in your picture, I don't know the answer either but there is a guy in Kirchheim, Germany that might know. He created a rebuild kit for the Caddy antenna. Maybe if you message him on eBay he'll respond. Those Cadillac guys are pretty good guys too.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/276708546400

Thanks. When no-one responded I called one of my friends that happens to be a retired Ford materials guy. I told him what I needed to do and he sat me down with with a rubber selection guide from McMaster-Carr. Viton covered all the bases. At 1/32" it had enough mass to fall on its own in the check valve attached to the mast, and light enough to be sucked up to let air into the bottom of the antenna. It's actually quite clever. Also important is to get the punch sizes correct as the have to be free to rise and fall when needed.

I bought a 6 x 6 sheet for $27, delivered. It worked so well off of manifold vacuum that it slams up and down. Rick Payton sent me a junked Cadillac antenna that I was able to salvage some great parts off of.

I talked to the e-bay sellers through e-bay. They were not very helpful when I told him the shaft they provide is too long for for the Continental by 2". Likely due to Cadillac's higher belt line. When I asked him his opinion on the type of rubber, or could I just buy the rubber parts? I was met with him complaining that he has a huge investment in the kit and he can't sell parts. OK, fine.

If that's all anyone needs is the name of the material and the measurement, I'd be happy to provide them.

32606

[tluke]

So I guess we found out what happens when Barry asks a question that he doesn't know the answer to and nobody else does either:
He just digs in and finds the answer!

[Barry Wolk]

That was nice. Thank you.

[jcasilio]

Thanks. When no-one responded I called one of my friends that happens to be a retired Ford materials guy. I told him what I needed to do and he sat me down with with a rubber selection guide from McMaster-Carr. Viton covered all the bases. At 1/32" it had enough mass to fall on its own in the check valve attached to the mast, and light enough to be sucked up to let air into the bottom of the antenna. It's actually quite clever. Also important is to get the punch sizes correct as the have to be free to rise and fall when needed.

I bought a 6 x 6 sheet for $27, delivered. It worked so well off of manifold vacuum that it slams up and down. Rick Payton sent me a junked Cadillac antenna that I was able to salvage some great parts off of.

I talked to the e-bay sellers through e-bay. They were not very helpful when I told him the shaft they provide is too long for for the Continental by 2". Likely due to Cadillac's higher belt line. When I asked him his opinion on the type of rubber, or could I just buy the rubber parts? I was met with him complaining that he has a huge investment in the kit and he can't sell parts. OK, fine.

If that's all anyone needs is the name of the material and the measurement, I'd be happy to provide them.

32606

Barry: My antenna is in need of that check valve. Please let me know the name and specifics on the material that you found.
Thank you, Jim

[Barry Wolk]

No problem. I'll likely make a tutorial about my experience in taking it apart. It wasn't easy, but not impossible.

[Don Henschel]

I took mine apart several decades ago because some hack at a body shop put a dent in the side of the aluminum pipe and the piston wouldn't slide past it. I found a socket or shaft that was a very snug fit of the original inside diameter and used slightly smaller progresivly bigger in steps and a body hammer and gradually worked it out and finished it off using the snug and you cannot even tell it was ever dented or repaired. The ball on the end is threaded and the damn thing loosened and threaded off in the highway😡. The total POS I got from Jack was a corroded green piece of garbage that looked like it spent 30 years under a chicken coupe! Since I found mine easy to disassemble including how the mast is mounted including replacing the chrome dome seal, since mine is the original mast it is slightly thicker so I had to use an oiled drill bit and progressively enlarged the ID so the mast would slide within but still keep moisture out.
Okay I ask for a replacement mast and talk about a TOTAL 💩show with these robbers expecting me to ship my otherwise functioning perfectly vacuum antenna off to "totally rebuild" it for the modest price of $700usd plus shipping both ways. That was years ago Barry so it's likely $5,000 now and all this for one STUPID 🍒. Yes my mast is original and if my memory serves is determined by being 3/8 whereas the newer replacements are 5/16 inches and the replacement seal is too tight for the larger original. There are a few small areas where the chrome or nickel is worn exposing a hint of brass but other than this, it is totally fine. If this turns into too much of a dog and pony 💩show I will get one off another mast and drill it and slide it on with epoxy😡.
It would cost me less to go to a Jewler and get a damn ball made out 24 karat gold instead of shipping it off!

[Don Henschel]

Is there an alternative check valve that could be placed in the vacuum hoses as a substitute?

[Barry Wolk]

Is there an alternative check valve that could be placed in the vacuum hoses as a substitute?

No, that’s not how it works. If you don’t have a check valve inside the shaft it cannot work.

[Don Henschel]

I think I stumbled upon your ebay seller with Cadillac mast and piston kits after looking at a used one from a Mark II.
The piston is simply a 3D reproduction out of plastic. The check valve? Since I worked with extensive types of hydraulics over the years, that piston isn't set in stone!
From what the individual i know who has a 3D printer told me, there is an extensive assortment of software he has at his disposal to copy pretty much anything including a replica battery box or overlays. Since I worked with many things under the sun related to hydraulics I also have seen many orings and seals and orings as in flat cut, square cut, round, you name it even with some having a thin Teflon gasket bonded to them to keep an oring from being cut when used on a large steel plug turned into the housing of a high pressure pump.
You used a flat rubber disk if I understand correctly and the piston can be slightly altered to use a flat square cut packing seal/oring as well. Instead of being as thin, it can be slightly thicker if need be to accommodate a slightly modified piston made on a 3D printer. All this is, is a double acting cylinder simply needing vacuum to extend or retract it instead of hydraulic fluid. A square cut packing being sucked off its seat or being pushed down to seal in the other direction by vacuum and of course we have an endless supply of vacuum as long as the under dash valve is being held and the engine is running. Slight leakage is acceptable as long as the vacuum force is sufficient enough to move the piston. The oring on the piston acts like a simple brake as well along with the chrome dome rubber seal around the mast to keep the antenna mast from falling down.
These check valves are nothing new and if you took a fuel pump apart there are two of them which are a simple flapper design. Some are also a tiny steel ball with a clip slightly above to allow the steel ball to lift off its seat and not fly out and then hydraulics or pressurized gas to push it into its seat for the other direction.
For the rip-off prices including having to pay an additional 41% to purchase south of the border, I think I can come up with a working substitute.