1966? Zenith Color Tube TV

[zeno]

Most old Zeniths FBT's I changed were turning brown at the doughnut.
These were always bad from shorted windings.
The fiber board is mostly for focus & H centering parts. If it has a
stick rectifier they went bad & often took resistors along for the ride.
Arcing can be stopped by cleaning up the area & being sure everything
is A OK. ( an NOS FBT from Zenith has everything used & also the HV rec socket & wiring ).
Your biggest hurtle is finding a hoz out cheap. Most go to hams & the
prices are high

73 Zeno
LFOD !

[Lain94]

So Zenith flybacks usually went bad? I know RCA flybacks had a BAD reputations for failing quickly due to overheating. Is there any way to test a flyback to see if it has a short or other issue. I would hate to recap, clean the tv and get so far only to have a bad flyback take out an expensive tube with it.

And yeah lol I know what you mean about the horizontal output tubes for old tvs. The prices are quite high compared to the other tubes in the tv. The Ford Philco Hybrid tv I was working on had a bad horizontal tube and had to be replaced, seems to coincidentally be a tube that is more likely to go bad first as opposed to others.

I am actually a ham radio operator extra class (Call Sign is KC9IFV) and it is indeed true that high power HF band amplifiers are known to use horizontal tubes (sometimes with some modifications or adapters) as a cheaper alternative to other amp tubes that have become VERY rare like hundreds of bucks. When it comes to high power amplifiers for amateur radio operators, it is often cheaper to buy a tube amp then the solid state ones, if anything beyond 500 watts is desired.

I don't mind coughing up some cash to acquire any tubes as necessary, like with the other old tube color tvs I am working on currently, my main goal is to get them performance to their best potential, and I am ok with parts not being all original.

One other quick question regarding the zenith chassis....is it possible to remove the chassis without removing the tuner assembly? I see some wires from the tuner going into the metal chassis. Not sure if they are hard soldered on or if they are able to be disconnected somehow. I want to take the chassis out to clean it and begin replacing the wax paper caps.