Tube Socket Problems Mag & Syl sets

In many Magnavox and Sylvania TV sets you may find that the IF tubes, and others are intermittent.

 This was a VERY common problem, due to the poor quality materials used in the sockets.  

 With age and heat the clear/opaque plastic wafer holding the pin sockets on the tube socket crumbled.

I found this dozens of times until they finally replaced the sockets with better quality ones in newer models.

It was a real "cash cow" for a while, as I would have to generally replace all of the sockets used in the IF strip.

 These sockets were PC board mounted and other than the hassle removing the chassis and trying to find better quality sockets that had a shield or a shield grounding tab on them, were fairly easy to replace. A good soldering gun of 125-250 watts and a solder sucker made quick work of this job. 

Worst case, one had to solder ground braid to the chassis ground in the IF area, and solder the other end of the braid to a slip on shield. That was a real hassle.