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..........Note: New Mast support with roller is ( HERE )
...................................................--- Roller Mast Support ---
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Our Mac came with what I suppose is the stock wood mast support (arrow). It seemed to work fine when we were stepping the mast and moving in rearwards in the "V" notch, but when you pulled the mast forward in the "V" slot to store it the "V" was working against you. I'd seen where others had added a roller to that area, so I decided to do the same. I look in our small town for a V-roller and didn't have any luck finding one and didn't want to order one, so I build one. Later I'll get a nicer V-roller and mount it on a stainless bar on the rear railing.
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I had about a 4 inch wheel from an engine lift I have that I'd taken off since the bearings in the swivel part were shot.
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I brought the wooden mast support into the shop and traced the "V" in it onto a piece of cereal box cardboard. Note you can see where the mast was/is wearing on it.
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I chucked the wheel in the lath and cleaned it up a little then proceeded to cut a "V" in it to match the mast support.
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I was limited as to how wide I could go with the "V" due to the narrowness of the wheel and the way it has a recess cut in it right inside of the tread.
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Next a piece of strap was cut and drilled. There is a cleat near the top of the support that is bolted on with two bolts. The distance between the holes in the strap match the bolt pattern of the cleat. So the cleat will be on one side of the mast and the roller wheel assembly on the other held by the same 2 bolts.
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Two more pieces of strap were cut and welded on the sides of the first piece.
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Then two wooden temporary arms were made to hook the wheel to the mounting bracket. I wanted the mast to slide slightly above the "V" in the mast support, but not two high since the wheel isn't that wide and I didn't want the mast to slide off the side of it and off of the mast support also.
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Once I had the right length for the arms I made two metal ones. The arrows mark locator holes that pin will go through to hold the roller in the right position.
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I also added a second set of locator holes in the bracket on the down side (top right of the bracket).
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Here the assembly is assembled with the roller in the up position where it would be to either slide the mast rearward or forward.
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You can see that the roller "V" is slightly above the mast support "V".
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When trailering once the mast is set and back on the mast support (not shown in this picture) the wheel is rotated down and the mast just sets in the "V" on the mast support and not on the roller. I have the parts getting powder coated now and will post a finished picture in a few days.Note: All of this has now been replaced with...........
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...........this and the construction of it is ( HERE ).
