I had a similar binding problem on my FT-221. It turned out the central shaft in the vernier drive was slightly bent. I convinced it back into straightness with a lathe, a maple dowel and a bit of patience.
I’ll have to peek under the hood of my ‘301 again, but what I recall from the 221?is a couple enjoyable evenings removing the front panel (great time to clean n shine), one to take it apart, a half hour on the lathe during lunch break and back together the next evening. I was working on a hotel room desk, took tons of snaps with my?cell phone and kept the screws organized and away from the carpet. Sounds like you are halfway there.
It works as smooth as silk now, straightened, clean and lubed.
Hope this helps a bit…key is patience, lots of notes and pics, and keep in mind how nice it will be when you’re done.
73s
Jon WB1AJJ
On Saturday, March 19, 2022, 9:46 PM, Joel Weder <jweder@...> wrote:
Well I decided to get brave and just try it. A step by step procedure to remove the VFO assembly from my FT-301:
- Unplug RCA connector on bottom of VFO
- Remove white tape from connector at back of VFO and disconnect
- Unsolder white/orange wire from red LED at the Channel switch. (note where it goes back later)
- Remove two screws on crossbar at bottom front of VFO?
- You'll probably need to remove the Filter and AM modules to gain access for the next step
- Remove screws holding crossbar at top back of VFO
- Entire VFO, gear drive & circular plastic kHz display should now wiggle out.
You might need to remove other items - I already had the small lamp bracket out and front panel off. Those may NOT be necessary.
Joel, VE6EI
