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Works like a champ. Smooth and silky, and as intended.
Installation was pretty easy, with only minor disassembly required. You needn't remove any major components and if you are reasonably dexterous, you can figure it out easily. For posterity and while the memory is fresh, here is an outline:
1. Above the motorboard (radioboard?), remove the handle from the shaft, the gold "clockface" plate (4 screws), and the round plate under it (2 screws).
5. Carefully loosen/remove all accessible setscrews on the four beveled gears. Most will come loose very easily - pot metal threads!
6. Unbolt the keeper holding the shaft and gear extending from the top of the antenna assembly (two bolts). Antenna will be able to flop towards you now, so rotate it to a suitably safe position and rest it gently against the cabinet cross member. At this time you should also gently lift the loop up and out/off of its bottom bearing.
8. Assuming the two gears on it are loosened, pull the horizontal shaft in the gear frame to the left, and out of the frame. Make sure you record which end of that shaft is which, for correct reinstallation.
9. The remaining gear, on the vertical shaft extending upward, can't just come off by moving it downward. The gear frame prevents that, so the vertical shaft must be moved upward to free it. The top of that shaft is forked, and a phenolic tube connects it to the shaft that extends through the board by a cotter-pin thru the tube and resting in that fork. You can probably just move the top shaft upward and aside to free the lower shaft, but examine carefully first, to avoid breaking that tube. There is also a collar on the top shaft which may need to be loosened to do this. All of this is why you disassembled the upper deck stuff at the beginning.
11. Remember that all setscrews on the gears and collars have a little hole to go into on their shaft! Very important to find those before final tightening.
12. Once you have that first gear replacement in place, reassemble all the stuff above it. Set the knob pointer to the numeral "1" on the clockface plate at that time. This will help assure the dial reads properly for the antenna's eventual range of motion.
13. Assemble a new gear onto the right end of the horizontal shaft, slide it to mesh with its neighbor, then assemble a new gear onto the left end of the shaft.
14. Assemble the last new gear onto the antenna's top shaft. Check that the lever pointer up top is still pointing at 1, then gently rotate the antenna loop counter-clockwise (when viewing from above) so that the small limit pin on the antenna's top shaft points to the right.
15. Move the top of the antenna into place, meshing the two gears. Put the keeper back on and hand-tighten the two bolts. Test the freedom of movement and range of movement first by hand rotating the antenna loop, and then - if it's moving easily - from the lever above. If you are using your original pot metal lever, be super careful, and try gripping it not from the end but closer to the center to avoid breaking off the handle.
16. Check the pointer's dial readings for the range of motion. If they don't go from one to 12, go back down and remove the keeper, and shift the mesh of the gears one tooth at a time til it's right.
17. Tighten the keeper for good. Lubricate all shafts and gears.
18. Reassemble the phenolic board and the antenna leads.
20. Now it's time to tackle the electronics!
