I dug through more of the boxes of small parts and did not find any nylon pullies that looked brand new. While all of the parts in the kit are technically new as in unused, they are also from the 1980s and so rather old. Time has taken its toll, and it looks like I will need to replace all of the pullies.
I saw some pullies at Orchard Supply Hardware (OSH, a west-coast hardware store chain) which looked like they would work well. In actuallity, they were screen door rollers. They are available in both steel and nylon. I was wondering about the steel ones as I suspect that new nylon pullies would just wear out again over time, and I would really prefer to not have my control system break on me in flight or require lots of extra parts replacement.
I sent Mike an e-mail asking him about replacement pullies and how much they would cost. Turns out that he suggested getting the same ones that I had seen here at OSH. So, that's what I will do.
The first picture shows an original nylon pully along side the new steel one. As you can see, the nylon pulley has deteriorated over time and cracked. It's also stiff and hard to turn. These are each 1 1/4" diameter.
The next picture is similar, but also shows one of the smaller nylon pullies of 1" diameter. Note also that the smaller pulley does not have a ball bearing. OSH has 1" steel pulleys that I will be using to replace the 1" nylon ones.
The third picture shows some more original nylon pullies with the deterioration very evident.
An original nylon pully along side a new steel one.
Smaller (1") original nylon pulley alongside an original 1 1/4" nylon pulley and new steel one.
Clear evidence of the effect of time on the original nylon pullies.
