The radio that Russ is referring to above is the original radio for my 1974 FJ40. When I got the 40 3 years ago, the original radio was in place but not functioning. I removed it, opened the case and it was full of dust and dead spiders. I disassembled it, cleaned it, and recapped it. It would power on but would get quite hot to touch as Russ noted above. It also would tune to stations but sound was very low, even with full volume.
I tried everything I knew to try but couldn’t get it working as it should. I came across some posts by Russ and clearly could tell he was the Mudder to go to for my radio issues. I PM’d him and he had me mail it to him. He jumped right on it, found out the problem but then ran into another issue—NLA parts it needed. Instead of washing his hands of it, he found radios to serve as donors for the parts my radio needed. Additionally, he tracked down some transistors it needed.
He got the parts switched out. No more overheating. Reflowed some solder to get the sound normal again. He even changed out my lamp and repainted the needle.
Okay, so here is the part that blows me away. His invoice was only for parts and shipping. No labor charge. When I told him I wanted to pay him for his time and how much I was going to send him, he insisted it was too much. Incredible.
Needless to say, I wish I knew more people like Russ. There are dudes and then there are DUDES. Russ is a DUDE.
Rock on Russ!!