1964 Frigidaire Custom Deluxe washer

[abcomatic]

Before I start this diatribe of this washer, I want to thank Ben Swestka for
rebuilding this elegant washer for me. He is a great guy; if he hadn't agreed to do this monumental task, this washer would just sit in the basement. He spent countless hours at this huge project and without his knowledge and desire to do this, it would just sit there. Thanks so much again, Ben.
We brought it home yesterday, hooked it up and away it went. I have done two loads in it so far and hung everything out on the line. I have never used a Frigidaire before and a there is a slight learning curve as to regulating the amount of water, which is timed filled, for the correct amount of water needed to wash.
I shall send pictures of this later. Thanks again Ben, Gary

 

[repairguy]

Congrats Ben and Gary for saving another one! Enjoy!

 

[christfr]

yea bens a good guy thats for sure and always does amazing work.

 

[hobarthero]

Pictures?

Let us see this beautiful old machine! It’s always great to see one of these put back into action. I’m still on the hunt for a 60’s Frigidaire set.
-Shannon

 

[swestoyz]

This was a fun restoration, and Gary was quite patient with me as the '64 was here in Iowa for well over a year before it was ready to head back home to IL.

I'll slowly post the full details over the next several days, but until then...

Ben

 

[gizmo]

That is the closest yet I have seen on this site to the washer my parents had when I was a kid. Ours was Australian made, a Deluxe, mid-brown control panel, push buttons for water temps, same timer knob as in the photo but up on the dial, not below it. No window for the dial, just white painted markings on the brown background. The only thing on the lower panel was the reset button, towards the left.

I vaguely recall it had 2 drive belts so I reckon a MultiMatic, though it wasn't a fast spin. Blue jet-cone agitator, with "Lint-Away." (overflow rinsing?)

It must have been late 1960s or very early 1970s. I was born 1963 and I can clearly remember the Hoovermatic that came before the Frigidaire.

I suspect the Aussie versions were several years behind the US equivalents in what's under the hood.

 

[philcobendixduo]

I am glad this wasn't....

.....a diatribe (a forceful and bitter attack against someone or something).
Sounds like you have only GOOD things to say about the machine thus far.
Hope it continues on that way for you!

 

[lesto]

That's a beautie! I'm looking forward to seeing more pics. I know you are going to get a lot of enjoyment out if it.

 

[abcomatic]

  Diatribe also means a long discourse. 

 

[swestoyz]

Part One - So, what's good and what's bad?

I'm going to attempt to not go into too much detail on this overall post as the last thing I want to do is bore folks. So, here it goes -

Gary and a few of his friends dropped of his Frigidaire in early June 2020 and we chatted briefly about washers and such before the made the trek back to Illinois. Before Gary dropped off the Frigidaire I had mentioned that I was about to start working on a few things around the house and that I wouldn't actually get to the washer until the end of the year. Well, as things go those projects took way longer than expected and the open window came around mid March this past spring. Over the spring break week I brought the washer in the newly minted workshop and started taking it apart.

The washer was still wearing it's original 1963/1964 pulsator column and rings but was missing the cap. A fellow member lent me one while I worked on the washer just in case the machine ended up using it's original pulsator column. While there was some surface rust on the outer cabinet, the rest of the machine was in really nice shape, overall. The timer dial was not in sync with the timer itself, but otherwise it all was looking good outside of the lid switch and out of balance lever which were both as rusted as they could be.

 

[swestoyz]

Next it was time to pull the tub and inspect the outer tub. The outer tub on these is the Achille's heel of a 1961 - 1969 Frigidaire as they often have rusted out so badly that it the outer tub is not safe enough to use. Thankfully, this one was in GREAT shape, in fact I was even able to unscrew the mechanism support screws using a wrench and not a Dremel! There was a nice layer of detergent reside caked on the upper walls, and detergent mixed with rust and muck at the base. This actually preserved the porcelain finish/metal of the outer tub.

There was evidence that water had sat in the outer tub for an extended period of time, and the remains of the out of balance lever was found lodged in the drain outlet, both were probably related.

Sadly, the mechanism support bellow seal was just about shot.

 

[swestoyz]

With the top side now taken apart it was finally time to see what did this washer in. My initial thought was that it had a broken torque spring by the symptoms Gary had provided, so it was time to find out.

Taking the Multimatic transmission apart is pretty straight forward. The cross brace comes out of the machine, support the mechanism and remove the two bolts out of the support bracket towards the motor and loosen the other two to swing the bracket away from the trans. At this point the oil can be drained (any type of pan works, I like to use old ice cream pail/containers). Next, remove the four 5/16" 12 point bolts from the agitate pulley, then remove the final two shorter bolts with the agitate pulley off the mechanism.

At this point take a soft mallet and tap the bottom half and it should pop right off the upper half with the wobble plate shaft sliding out of the spherical bearing in the lower housing. Slide the shaft out of the bearing and the bottom half should now be free.

Next step is to remove the wobble plate. Flatten out the tab on the lock washer against the nut on the agitate shaft and remove the nut (I believe it was either 13/16" or 15/16"?) either using a box wrench or an adjustable wrench. Remove the lower hub from the shaft and at this point the wobble plate should come off the upper hub. I've found that it is wise to use a gear puller to remove the upper hub as it can hang up on the shaft. The first of two keys hold the upper hub in place, it is the shorter of the two keys inside the transmission.

Next, the large nut that holds the lower support against the drive shaft/lower mechanism support is 1-5/16". GM sold a Robinair wrench to remove this nut (12157) but I've found it is easier to initially remove it with an impact socket with an impact wrench. It just takes a quick pulse on the trigger to get it to pop off (of course, after flattening the tab on the lock washer). With the nut and washer removed the mechanism support should slide off the drive shaft, exposing the fate of what is to come.

 

[swestoyz]

And, kaboom

So, that didn't end up as anyone would want to see. After pulling the lower mechanism support and the de-accelerator shoes and cup, it was clear the brake had failed.

Bud has detailed on a few threads why this happens, and it is important to highlight this again. Moisture can find its way into the mechanism, even if water never gets past the bellows or the mechanism support bellows seal. When this does happen the cloth lining on the upper brake cup (both versions thru '64 and all commercial '65 thru '69) and cloth lining of 1959 through early 1962 lower brake plate can absorb moisture and then rust the cloth to the brake disc. Many of these washers, if found in the wild after having sat for several decades, can have this happen even if the washer ran great "when parked".

The first time someone plugs it in and turns it to agitate the washer will work just fine and the unsuspecting user will thing "Ok great, this thing is awesome!" Even the initial spin will again work just fine as the rotating mass of the mechanism is moving in sync with the tub/drive shaft/brake disc. But, once torque is removed from the rotating mechanism, that rusted brake disc is being asked politely to rotate between the now idle brake cup and lower brake plate of which the brake disc is rusted to. And thus, the brake assembly is destroyed.

Further catastrophic damage can happen if the unsuspecting operator decides to attempt to wash again and some of the brake cup fragments can get lodged in the large wobble plate bearing and tear that to shreds, as well.

This is the third Multimatic I've taken apart that has had this unfortunate damage, and the only fix is to find a replacement brake assembly and any other parts that may have gotten take out during destructive event. Thankfully the drive torque spring was not damaged.

So, what do we do when we find a Multimatic out in the wild that hasn't been used in decades? DRAIN THE OIL. Any signs of moisture in the oil will certainly point to an issue with the brake. Even if the oil is ok attempt to spin (by hand) the tub clockwise against the brake. If you can't get the tub to spin at all it means something is not good. If you can get the tub to spin the brake disc is more than likely moving in-between the cup and the lower plate (which is good). [this post was last edited: 8/15/2021-22:40]

 

[swestoyz]

At this point the rest of the machine needed to be torn down as I had a spare, albeit used, brake assembly that could be installed in this mechanism.

The handy impeller holder makes getting the impeller bolt off so much easier but heat from the torch was required to get the impeller off the motor shaft. This is an area where you MUST be careful to not damage the impeller as the backside of the impeller is actually about an inch long past the back side of the impeller. Some heat and gentle tugging from behind should get it to pop off the motor shaft. The mechanical seal was completely shot on this pump and showed signs of water getting past it.

A gear puller is used to remove the two pulleys from the motor shaft, and from there with the last of the two bolts removed from the support bracket, the motor bracket can be slid off the drive housing flange.

 

[swestoyz]

With everything from the lower end disassembled, the balance of the mechanism support was removed from the machine. A small to medium sized oil filter wrench (see link below) from a local auto parts store can be used to remove the mechanism support nut (first pop the tab from the lock washer flat) by carefully supporting the support and rapping the wrench with a soft blow hammer. If you have the Robinair tool used to remove this support nut, guard it with your life

The the support nut and seal removed the spin shaft bushing can be removed as well as the mechanism support. A retainer clip holds the upper bearing in the housing and once removed the drive shaft can be slid out of the housing. The whole mechanism has now been disassembled.

Look at that nasty supper spin bearing! Water most certainly got in here and just enough got past to soak up in the brake cup cloth lining. [this post was last edited: 8/15/2021-23:03]

Advance Auto Parts - Down for Maintenance

 

[jetaction]

Wow!!

Ben, You are amazing, thank you for all you do.

 

[swestoyz]

By the middle of April the machine was completely disassembled and parts were being procured and/or accumulated.

This is the phase of restoration I absolutely love when restoring a washer - the mechanical cleaning phase. Everything transmission or drive related gets cleaned in mineral spirits, sometimes twice depending on the item. Oil chambers are blown out. All bolt heads and threads are cleaned on wire wheel, as well as other parts or pulleys that may have corrosion or rust that needs to be removed. Everything needs to be cleaned and free of any old oil, sludge, gasket material, etc. Photo posted below is the midpoint of cleaning with several steps to go after this shot.

The next installment will be posted in a few days... will the washer work on the first try or will I have left a socket in the transmission? Will the belts magically fall into place the first time with perfect tension? Will anything leak when water first touches it?

Stay tuned!

Ben

 

[Unimatic1140]

Wow amazing restoration as always Ben, you do such amazing work!!! I totally understand what you mean about turning the tub against the brake to see if it is free before powering the machine up, that's a very good tip for everyone. And that just doesn't go for Frigidaire Multimatics that really could be for any vintage washer.

I shocked to hear that this has been the third Multimatic you found with a seized brake. I guess I've been lucky over the years, I have found 5 machines of this design over the years: 3 Multimatics (1959 and 1960 Custom Imperials and 1962 Deluxe), a 1967 Super-Duty Multimatic and a '57 Pulsamatic, non of them had stuck brakes thankfully. Even this one the Super-Duty the Multimatic with 1010rpm spin didn't have a stuck brake, you'd think if anyone would would be stuck it would have been this one lol...

 

[sfh074]

Nice job Ben ....

I have rebuilt 5 multimatics so far and 3 had rusted brakes. All 3 brakes had grenaded with the brake plate still firmly bonded to the brake cup with rust. Water infiltration each time came from the unusual clear stiff vinyl water seal that GM chose to put in between the top of the pulsator and the pulsator nut. As the pulsator degrades, the neoprene shrinks allowing water to get past the vinyl seal and down between the agitator shaft and water bellow. The cotton brake lining is crazy hydroscopic and seems to concentrate any water that makes its way into the transmission oil. With the new pulsators I've been making, I've been telling people to omit the clear vinyl seal and simply use a quality RTV silicone sealer. This way the nut gets bonded to the top of the pulsator and should have a better chance of keeping water out of this weak point.

Bud - Atlanta