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Finally got it off today.. Just killed the power at the drop, and went at the socket. After a little prying it came off.. Nice socket to say the least. The netural lug was rusted away and sitting at the bottom of the meter socket. and of coarse all cloth aluminum. But here is the real kicker. Once I get the service moved over to the new location and get all the connections made. I tested the power at the meter pan itself and no netural. I went back checked my connections to see if I did not connect it good. (Which would of been real bad if I didn't) But it was good. So I decided to check the service drop. Sure enough about 5 feet away from the pole the netural was broken off. I have no idea how it happened but it has been like that for a long time. I find it amazing how for so many years that the service feeding the house was fully run on a aluminum ground rod.
But I showed the homeowners what was wrong and contacted the local utility company to come over as soon as they could to replace the wire.
The only benifit of this job was that now the homeowners respect and trust me fully now. So starting next week I am completely rewiring there home. Once that is done I will be able to sleep at night knowing that aluminum cloth wiring is gone!
Also, just wanted to say thanks for everyone that had replied. Its great to know there are still many electricians out there who care about the quality and safety of the job!

Thanks Again!

James

James,

If the House seemed to be running fine without a Neutral connection it was more likely because of a good connection to 'city water' than any ground rod.

Glad it turned out Ok for you.

Bill

That is the thing. There was no bond to the water pipe. I was the first to install it.

Hmm,

I've seen where the little (14ga ?) Cable support wire was carrying all the neutral current. It would sometimes smoke depending on what they turned on in the house (balance) but other times it would be Ok.

In your situation the waterpipe could still have been connected somewhat through the Furnace being grounded or something like that. There's also Cable and Telephone connections that may have helped. I say this because the earth alone is just not that conductive by itself. Unless loads were always nearly perfectly balanced they should've noticed something was up.

Bill