Zenith System 3 CRT help

[rtsherrod81]

Hello All,

I recently acquired a Zenith System 3 console TV manufactured December 1980 (1 month older than me). Paid $75 for it as the cabinet is in good shape and still had the ultrasonic Space Command remote. It had a bright raster when I "auditioned" it so I paid the guy and took it home.

When I first tried it out with a VCR connected, I got a bright image, but with poor contrast. Tonight I connected my new (to me) CR70 tester to the factory installed Zenith 25VFCP22 and put it to the test. It passed H-K and G1 shorts tests with good to excellent emissions on all three guns with great color tracking. This issue at hand is poor cutoff. The red gun is just off the low side of the cutoff box, while the blue and green are pegged at bad with the bias at -52V and the cutoff set fully clockwise. In the extended cutoff test with the bias set to -36V, the meter reads in the upper half to one-third of the meter.

Is there any chance of improving the cutoff using some method to restore this CRT? Should I try the Auto Restore function?

I'm open to trying anything no matter the end result as this will not be a daily driver, only used occasionally for retro gaming or watching old movies. If the CRT gives up the ghost, I will just part it out selling what I can and scrapping the rest.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Regards,

Bobby