Been having an issue with my DTV winegard traveler.
It was moving a lot in the wind. Consensus by the first sat specialist based in Quartzite was that the turret was toast and a new one would be near $3k installed with travel charges from Phoenix/Yuma.
Decided to call another guy based in tucson (desertsat.com) He said that he can rebuild them. He even rewinds the motors and has a source for new IC chips.
He came to our coach today and found that the gear that is bolted to the elevation axle had become loose. And a simple hex wrench had it snug in no time.
He also found another common issue. The rounding of the holes where the LNB arm pivots which makes it wobble a bit. So he worked the metal with a hammer & dolly and the holes were once again round.
He put everything back together. And boom. It works like new and doesn't wobble any more.
He said that even though he is a winegard dealer. He doesn't like the fact that winegard 'always' says that the system can't be repaired and a new one is required.
Total fee for the fix was $150.
RESULT!!!!👍
I can't recommend Desert Satellite Systems highly enough.
Good for you Jerry! We had an issue with our Winegard Traveler dish as well a couple of years ago. Called and they said it was toast and we needed a new one. Cost was $2200 and I installed myself! Was not a happy camper and if I had known how good Star Link was, I would have gone that route and left the new dish off the expensive menu! Congrats on your find!
Based on what a new one costs, it might be way cheaper to send the unit to Desert Satellite Systems, have him fix it and send it back. He sounds like a real craftsman like we use to have instead of part changers..
Desert Satellite Systems (http://desertsat.com/)
Yep! He is right out of a Mike Rowe show. Saw a need and learned how to fill it.
He doesn't accept customer shipments nor ship out for one reason. The shipping is not only expensive but the overly busy shippers treat your big heavy package like the Samsonite Gorilla. He said he has had enough broken gears, he gave up dealing with UPS & FedEx.
The units are shipped from winegard strapped down on pallets. Which limits the abuse potential. A very robust crate on a pallet is the only way these should be shipped. And most customers wouldn't do or know how to do that with an LTL shipper.
I've found the " elev motor fail" issue to be rust on the elevation sector gear deep in the turret. I took it apart used a wire wheel on a drill to clean the only rusty part on the whole system and grease it up. Reset the control box and problem solved. You can't see the rusted sector gear till you pull the drive motors completely out, and than it's apparent what the problem is. It's one of the very few parts that aren't aluminum that can rust.