'65 Vent Crank Replacement Parts

[vintagepatch]

Newbie here with a '65 Tradewind.
When we brought her home, the vent covers were missing, so we ordered new Solardome covers as our first order of business to get her all closed up from the elements. In the meantime, hubby has been trying to unstick the Hehr vent lifters to no avail. He removed them from the vent frames and they have been sprayed, soaked (for 2 weeks), heated and he still can't get them to budge. These are the manual cranks, two per vent so it could be lifted straight up, if that helps describe them.
We've read all the advice on here on how to unstick them but now we just have 3 stuck and one broken. Oops
I'm now regretting buying the covers because maybe we should have just bought entire new vents for the prices I'm seeing. A couple weeks back I found replacement lifters online for something crazy like $85 each. We need four.
Looking for some direction on where to purchase replacement lifters for less than $85 a pop or whether we should suck it up and get new vent units and chalk up our premature purchasing of the covers to a rookie mistake. What would you all do? We hate to replace anything that can be saved but not sure in this case.
Thanks in advance!

[HowieE]

Not sure we are in the same boat but here goes. My trailer had crank lift mechanism, one per vent. The cranks would turn but the vent would not lift. Turns out the soft metal gear in the mechanism was stripped. I opened the gear case and found they only used 120 degrees of the gear so I just rotated the gear 120 degrees and was back in business.

I had sent a picture of the crank mechanism to Jackson and their position was they never used them even though every Airstream I ever saw with the vertical lift vent had them.

[Cochese]

I have 2 that I will sell!

[vintagepatch]

Originally Posted by Cochese

I have 2 that I will sell!

Sounds great! They open and close, right? LOL.
Send me a private message with price, including shipping to 33460 and provide your paypal email address, or mailing address if you prefer a check. Cool!

Edited to include: And send a pic too, just to be sure we are on the same page.

[vintagepatch]

Originally Posted by HowieE

Not sure we are in the same boat but here goes. My trailer had crank lift mechanism, one per vent. The cranks would turn but the vent would not lift. Turns out the soft metal gear in the mechanism was stripped. I opened the gear case and found they only used 120 degrees of the gear so I just rotated the gear 120 degrees and was back in business.

I had sent a picture of the crank mechanism to Jackson and their position was they never used them even though every Airstream I ever saw with the vertical lift vent had them.

Thanks for the advice, but we are talking about two different types of lifters here. From what I can tell, the Hehr lifters we have were only used until 1965 and are two per vent so that the whole lid lifts straight up.

I appreciate you trying to help. Happy Trails!

[Spidermans]

I have a 66 Tradewind with seized vent lifters as well. I'm going to try soaking the lifters in white vinegar. It's my understanding that the acidic nature of the vinegar will break the corrosion bond between aluminum surfaces.

I'll post my results soon..

[Cochese]

Sent from my iPhone using Airstream Forums

[Harley Kathy]

Do you still have the Hehr actuators?

[PSP]

Anybody know where to get one of those triangle hinges that the actuators insert into. I broke one.

[srrobertsiii]

If you can purchase the vent lifters used, you're in good shape. But the new/replacement part is a larger diameter than the original, and, thus, does not fit into the (upper) bracket in the old vent housing like it should. I only needed one lifter for my '65 Caravel. Bit the bullet, bought the replacement, and had it installed in Jackson Center. It will only work partially, as the second stage of the rotating lift mechanism bumps the housing on its way up and out of the "case."

[PSP]

Hi Cochese ; do you still have those lifters. I am interested in buying them.

[Shacksman]

I have a few of those lifters I would sell. PM me

[PSP]

Hi shacks man
since I am a new poster the site won't let me PM you . My email is pospisilpaul@gmail.com
send me an email
thanks

[srrobertsiii]

Am interested in purchasing one of your Hehr roof vent lifters if possible. If you still have one available, please let me know. (I've also considered just changing out my vent with a Fantastic Fan upgrade, but slipping a lifter in that works would be a much easier fix.)

[ALANSD]

Has anyone sourced the bracket with hinge that goes onto the dome to hold it down?
I finally got around to this and took off the old messed up dome. It is bolted through the
hinged bracket and the bolts are frozen with rust and sealant. Tried cutting them, heating them, no progress. Now I have an open roof no solardome on it...and of course its been raining here like crazy

[ALANSD]

WELL- Never mind..
I used a reciprocating saw with a smaller metal cutting blade and a vise. Got the bolts cleanly out.
Got to seal around the vent hole frame, put the lifter hinge in the vent and done!
Been on a list this week.