The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot '60-'66 Trucks 1965 radio repair.

Hey ya'll..

I've got a run of the mill factory AM radio in my '65 C10. It's solid state, of course, with no station presets...just off & on..tone and tuning. It's a bit weak sounding and doesn't bring in the stations like it should. I'm not really an electronics repairman, but I know that the electrolytic caps will need to be replaced from just age/drying out and there's a good chance that that alone will probably get the radio in a much better shape. That's pretty easy to do...just replace with the same value and keeping the polarity right.
I am competent solderer. heh

After all that, my question is;

Other than replacing caps and checking resistor values, is there anything else I need to check or replace in this 45 year old radio? Is there some weirdness that I don't know about? heh..

By the way, I will put the tip on all existing solder joints to "refresh" them.

Thanks for reading,

"rr"

I have a 65 C10 with the original radio and I thought it was a vacuum tube type. I takes about 1 minute to warm up and doesn't play very loud. There are not too many technicians that will work on these...

I'd be interested in your outcome.

Good Luck!

Hey Pcolamike,

I've been goofin around with radios for years and the biggest problem with any old radio is usually the capacitors.

When you hear someone say something about a tube radio not working, you'll usually hear,"..probably needs a new tube". More often it's the capacitors.

However, we're talking about solid state (transistor) radios here. It's the same thing with old solid state radios. The early electrolytic capacitors ("caps" for short) were made from layers of paper dielectric wound around with layers of aluminum and filled with electrolyte and housed in a cardboard tube. Well, over time, the electrolyte dries out and the cap loses it value and in some cases, can actually short out and cause even more problems. When you turn on an old radio or amplifier and hear a hum..it's usually bad electrolytic caps. There are also "wax" caps too..these are just regular non electrolytic types. They are covered in wax, hence the name, and they deteriorate too and they should be replaced as well. Those old paper and wax caps are usually found in tube radios and very early solid state radios. There are other types of caps in there too..but most of the time they are ok, but should be checked.

I sure blabbed on about that stuff huh? heh

I haven't worked on a car radio in years and with the temperature extremes, I feel a little more attention needs to be had when looking over the components.

The good thing is that modern electrolytic caps and are in metal housings and are much more stable and have a longer life as do the regular caps.

On a cautionary note, for you that might want to tinker with some of this stuff. Capacitors store electrical energy and can for quite a long period of time and when shorted out, it will release all it's stored energy immediately! Some can knock your butt on the floor and the bigger ones can kill you. So, if you don't know what you're doing..better take it to someone else or take an electronics course at your local community college. At least read up on this before you start poking a screwdriver around in something.

With an old solid state 12 volt radio, you should be ok if you feel like goofin with it. Just take it out and let it sit for a day or two and then go for it.

Remember the polarity of electrolytic capacitors when you replace them..positive to positive and negative to negative and replace the caps or any other part with like values (ie.. replace a .047 cap with a .047 cap).. Take your time, replace them one at a time and a good idea is to get your digital camera out and take pictures before you start replacing things.

If any of you read this all the way through and made heads or tails out of my rambling....that's good..then tell me what I was talking about so I'll know.

heh just kidding..

Have fun..
"rr"

You know Radioripster I will probably never mess with the inards of a radio, but your write up was very interesting.

As they say, knowledge is guud

John

Radioripster:

Thanks for the information. I've kept my '65 as stock as possible (230 w/3 on the tree) and do not usually play the radio as I want to enjoy the ride and hear any noises that may indicate a problem. Without gauges in a 45 year old truck, you never know when you'll be on the side of the road (past experience!). Those dummy lights only tell you there is a problem after the problem has occured, not before. With regards to the radio...not my area to tamper with. I would probable short out something. I looked at many donor cars for parts and most have the radio removed or replaced with a newer model. How can you tell if its solid state of tube? I though the warming up part indicated tubes and the solid state units would turn on immediately...

Just curious...

thanks

Hey Mike..

I'm probably mistaken, but I think the 1960s trucks are all solid state. Maybe the '60 and '61 models still had tube radios. I'm sure somebody will come in and let us know.

By the way, I apologize for posting electronics/ radio stuff in this forum. I hope ya'll don't mind. I also posted in the electrical forum and looked right over the radio forum! Glasses didn't help me there. heh. I do know better for next time.

Back to the radio stuff. Mike, the first thing that you'll probably notice is that up to 1966, the radios are pretty slim. I can't say about after 1966. Not a lot going in there to take up space (other than the IF cans..more radio jargon there)and if you peek underneath the dash and look up at the radio and through the vents, you'll probably see a pretty big heat sink with a nickel size (approximate) transistor in the middle of it. That's best way that I can think of right now to describe it. Now, if you have the stock radio in your '65, it is a solid sate or transistor radio. The "warming" up that your radio is experiencing is probably,once again, the capacitors charging up. That tells me that you have some "leaky" caps and so on, as in leaking voltage. It's kind of like pouring a little more water in a bucket that has a hole in it than what leaks out and then things kind of settle in..so in a way, things are warming up in your radio.

I know that sounds a little crazy..but that's the way it is with old electronics.

I'm a little surprised that there aren't more people that will work on those simple AM radios. Maybe I should start fixing them up and selling them! heh. Other than the old caps going bad, they are built like a tank and for good reason, as they get punished with heat and humidity and cold extremes and all the dirt that gets in them along with all the bumping around they get.

After I started writing all this stuff about these radios in the past few days, I decided to take mine out today and take a look around. There is a mix of old and newer style components in there. Some old style cardboard caps and metal case caps. I know that my radio has likely not been serviced as some of the old stuff still has Delco printed on them. It's always a crap shoot with that old stuff and it amazes me how well they still can work after 45 years.
Mine was playing a little weak and after I made a parts list for later on, I de-oxed (cleaned) the volume and tone pots (potentiometers..what the volume and tone knobs are connect to)cleaned the circuit board up some and lightly lubricated the tuning mechanism (variable capacitor that the tuning knob is attached to),I buttoned it back up and reinstalled it in the truck. It made a world of difference just cleaning the pots and working some of the screws around to make better contact (ie..the antenna chassis ground on the radio itself. Heck, I can hear more stations and everything is quite a but louder. No doubt that when I replace the old components, that old radio should be back to where it should be. It's been so many years, that most of us here don't know or remember how well those radios probably worked when they were new.

So, I believe I now have a mission to restore my radio to it's fully functional past glory. I'm looking forward to that now.

Boy, I need a schematic and some alignment info..anyone have a service manual for '60-'66 Delco radios for chevy trucks?

Ok..My gosh..I can rattle on sometimes. I get to typing and get in a zone.

heh...

Thanks for letting me indulge.

"rr"

If you are interested in having your factory radio rebuilt or converted to AM/FM stereo with outputs, try these guys:

www.bobsradio.com
www.antiqueautomobileradio.com

I have used both of them, with great results.

How do you guys know so much about these old radios?? Wow what a great source of info!

I never tried to convert a vehicle radio. I think getting the dial calibrated would be the hardest part, that is, if the original dial was to be used. I might have to explore that one of these days the next time I find and old junker radio.

Hey Matt, I'm just a shade tree electronics guy. heh. I've been fascinated with radio for most of my life. It started when I was a kid listening to the wonders of AM skip at night. That turned into shortwave, tube radios, getting my ham radio license and working in the broadcast radio business. It's like anything you have an interest in, you just pick up on things over time. Having an old Chevy truck with an old radio in it helps too. heh

Go to the radio section of the electrical forum and you'll find some folks there that are quite knowledgeable about this stuff.

By the way, I have a '65 C-10 myself. I was checking the photos
out on your old stepside. It's coming along in good fashion. I'd like to have a stocker stovebolt like that one day! I haven't driven a three on the tree is years. By the time my '65 got to me, a Saginaw non-granny 4 speed had been installed.

Keep up the good work!

Marc

more options... sites to check out.

http://www.radiosforoldcars.com/newradio0F.htm

http://www.turnswitch.com/radio1.htm

http://taymanelectrical.com/


-W