'74 Maytag A107 full restore - hairline damper cracks ?

[nickl]

Hi folks, I am doing a full restoration on our daily-driver ‘74 Maytag A107 and have hit a snag.

After cleaning up the damper, I found some hairline cracks on its top side.

The cracks are quite narrow, and none extends through to the bottom where the damper contacts the damper pads, … but I am concerned.

It is die-cast aluminum, and aluminum does fatigue from cyclic loading.

I’d appreciate hearing from those who have experience with dampers failing ... or never failing ?

Weigh in please ... are 'hairline cracks in the damper' a nit or a showstopper ?

Pics below, showing bottom, top, and the three areas of hairline cracks.

Nick L

 

[qsd-dan]

Sort of a hard call. Other than the crack, it's in fantastic shape. There's 2 on Ebay at the moment. The cheaper one looks like it kissed the base, the other one is $180 which is just ludacris for a used part (a new one was $57). I would run it and keep an eye out for another one or a free machine on Craigslist/Facebook market place to tear down for parts.

 

[nickl]

Thanks qsd-dan. I really appreciate your perspective on this. I can see it lasting a long while if it has good spin-balance and new pads ... or the part cleaving in two during spin, gulp.

I haven't seen anything in donor washers in my area for a long time.
I am probably going to have to take my chances with the reasonably-priced ebay seller. He has four in the listing, so hopefully what ships will be usable.

Plan B will be asking a friend to tack my original damper in a few places with his TIG welder. I don't see that being a fix, but it would make it much easier to keep an eye on.

Another thing off the beaten path with this restoration is the outer tub's drain channel needing work. I'll post on the overall project soon.

Nick L

 

[qsd-dan]

I'd go with Plan B. Even the tiniest nick causes enough drag that makes tuning the suspension an impossible task. Been there, done that!

 

[combo52]

Damper cracks, Maytag, dependable care, washer, damper

I can’t tell without actually looking at the object, but those do not look like cracks to me.

Aluminum has funny little mold lines in it, which they don’t polish out because it doesn’t make any difference.

I will look at a couple of the aluminum dampers we have laying around at the shop I think they all have those little lines in them

In any case I’d go ahead and use it. It’s very unlikely to break.

John.

 

[nickl]

These may well be lines in the die-casting John. It is their being radial through the shaft area (and across one leg) that that make it look suspicious. Also, this washer had a pretty good shake for some time, so this damper may indeed have had a harder life.

But ... where the cracks go to an edge, they do NOT seem to extend around to the adjacent face. The two 'cracks' that go to the shaft area do not show inside the machined shaft hole. The same is true for the 'crack that goes to the outer edge. There doesn't seem to be the slightest hint of a crack on the lip of bottom after polishing it up.
That suggests that these 'cracks' are not deep (at least not at their edges) ... regardless of whether they are from casting, stress, or both.

I am interested in what you see on dampers you have around John. I would love to find out that I am making a mountain out of a molehill. ( It is just hard to shake the image of a broken damper and the mess of damage it would leave on the shaft, base, and outer tub. That would be really baaad.)

Thanks for pointing out suspension tuning and this having a fairly pristine face Dan. That wasn't even on my radar.

I also just realized that my friend with the TIG welder also has experience with diecasting. He designed outdoor 'strand-mounted' cable network gear some years ago.

Good thoughts. I'll post back what I learn soon.

Nick L

 

[nickl]

I got a consult on my die-cast damper cracks this weekend, and it was an education.
I was told "there was a crack for sure, but it may or may not be in the part ... let that marinate for a minute".

The cracks were in the die-mold and are the result of something called 'heat checking'. The damper is fine, and it may well go another 49 years.

If you want the back-story, here it is ...

We have all seen raised casting lines, swirls, or small voids in die-cast parts.
This damper casting is different. Its 'lines' are uneven compared to the surface. Some of it is lower and some of it is higher.
You can catch a fingernail in one direction but not the other, and the direction differs at different places along the crack.

Polishing and magnification showed that none of these 'cracks' extend down into holes or around an edge.

Die molds fatigue on their surfaces from the rapid, heating and cooling cycles of each casting. That process is apparently 'heat checking'.

My '74 part came from a mold that had a whopper of a crack and it must have been near the end of its life. IF that were the extent of it, the result would have been just a raised line in the casting.

However, there was probably some residual cooling fluid in the crack when my part was cast. The pressure of the fluid rapidly cooking-off prevents the molten aluminum from flowing into the die crack and forming a 'normal' raised area on the casting. The pressure coming out of the crack is quite directed, and it puts an impression into the casting ... one that ends up looking very much like the actual crack in the die.

LOL, I going to add this to a long list of things that I never really wanted to have to know. "Die cast trivia" was nowhere on my bingo-card for this restoration-rebuild.
Thanks for weighing in. You guys helped with what is probably on of the most well-after-the-fact quality checks ever.

Nick L

 

[combo52]

Reply number six

Interesting findings Nick thanks for all the information. I looked at two Maytag‘s that were in our shop. I forgot to take pictures. They all had similar mold lines in them, but I don’t think it’s anything to worry about as I said before.

In the 50 years I’ve been repairing washers. I’ve never seen a damper brake on a Maytag, so I don’t think there’s much risk, even if it did break, it would not cause catastrophic harm to other parts.

Maytag used a lot of aluminum since the beginning of the company they had a lot of experience with aluminum, however, aluminum was often not the best material to use in an automatic washers in many cases, a cast-iron transmission for example is much more durable.

A much better suspension system is something like the Frigidaire one to 18 where it was all welded together and porcelain enameled , you’ll never see bad damper pads in a Frigidaire one to 18 or in a speed, queen Toploader for that matter.

I have seen a number of Maytag where the bolts were loose from the damper and much more often they actually came loose and fell out of the outer tub. It was really not a good design, but they got away with it by using fairly good materials.

Thanks for the info. About casting lines.

John