ooo, I like the idea of sprucing it up. though as long as he doesn't abuse the bedsides, that thing should still be around for future MJ use. heck, I'm sure someday I'll be traveling that far west and can come pick it up.
is the axle perfectly centered left to right? it appears that the drivers side disconnect could give a bit to the pass side by scooting the axle over towards the drivers side maybe an inch.
I think I might have found the issue with the contact. the JKS were not likely designed for that particular drop bracket. the factory ones are not straight down that outer edge and would likely clear the disconnects easily.
getting closer. it would appear that something is shorted out and pulling way too many amps out of the transformer. tomorrow's job is to start isolating things to see what it is.
can't properly diagnose the original problem until everything is working again. my money is on corrosion in the lockout box slowly heating up the connection until it cooked itself and the 50volts getting through killed the transformer (and more). so far I'm not out much money, so I'm still willing to plug along with repairs (as opposed to junking it all for a newer system) and see where it takes me.
well, I rewired everything and fixed the problem, but haven't yet fixed the furnace. still won't turn on. I'm done for today though. tomorrow I'll start diagnosing the blower motor to see if getting 50v fried it.
ok, so after some digging in the insulation I've found that I've got plenty of wire and I don't have to rerun the entire thing back to the breakers, just lop off the burnt stuff (plus a foot) and move the box to a different (and infinitely better) location. just need to buy new longer wire to run back into the heat pump assembly. plus a new lockout assembly of course. my big fear is that the 50volts I was detecting at the blower motor (which lead me back to the lockout box) has hurt something else in the system. we shall see. one step at a time...