A 1958 GE, brought back to life!

[swestoyz]

Hello everyone! I wanted to share a recent restoration success story with the group, that does include a bit of drama (i.e. learning opportunities). This may take a few days to write up, and if so thank you for your patience. For archival purposes the more details the better, right? Thankfully the drama in this saga doesn't really begin until half way through.

In late winter/early spring of 2019, Jetaction and Gansky1 stopped by CF to pay a visit on an overnight stay, and like all good appliance collectors, the topic of our "wish lists" came up while doing some wash that evening. When the question came to me I immediately responded with a solid tub GE, a washer that had eluded me up until that point. A few other machines were rattled off, laughs and intrigue were exchanged, and we continued on with our conversation.

A few weeks later a fellow collector reached out to see if I was interested in a GE set they were looking to sell. After seeing the pictures immediately I said - yes, of course, tell me more! Were the washer Gods looking down on me with delight?

I asked for some additional photos in hopes to see that the outer tub boot was something that could be salvaged. Thankfully the boot had been replaced at some point with a later replacement "star boot" for these special 1956-1960 machines. Knowing it had a good boot, a deal was struck and a shipper was arranged to pick up the set so they could come live in Iowa.

Here's a sampling of photos that were shot my way ---[this post was last edited: 4/29/2020-22:29]

 

[swestoyz]

Upon arrival in Iowa, later that summer, I was happy to report that the machines arrived without major issue. A chip on the dryer top, but otherwise everything was intact, as expected.

 

[swestoyz]

Restoration efforts were held off until a few other machines could be finished during the summer/fall/early winter.

By the time New Years 2020 had passed the '58 GE was next in queue! First off a quick test was in order to see what condition the mechanicals were in.

The shreaded pump coupler was toast! It lasted maybe 10 minutes before finally giving out completely.

Also, take caution when removing the original spring style coupler clamps. These things can take an eye out!

 

[swestoyz]

With the intial tests looking promising it was time to dissemble the machine.

The three tub bolts came out with ease using an impact wrench. The pre-'61 machines use a steel flange that the three bolts thread into, rather than the threaded die-cast basket hub on the later perforated tubs. No fear of stripping out the basket hub on these.

And, yeah, the wires are a mess. You could take photos of each wire as you remove them, but the board is also labeled as well.

With the top removed (BE CAREFUL NOT TO KILL THE FILLER FLUME!!! Read the service manual carefully for this step), the sins of previous installers were exposed. The top seal was not seated properly along the outer tub top, near the fabric softener dispenser. I imagine it may have leaked during spin.

Overall, YUCK. Ancient fabric softener is gross.

We also get to see how the auxiliary hose runs for the fabric softener. It's pretty ingenious. The solenoid is activated during the fill for wash to hold back water flow, and not activated during rinse fill to allow water to reach the fabric softener trough.

And of course, everything that is rubber is as brittle as can be. The only items that were soft was the water inlet hose from the water valve and the Filter Flo outlet.[this post was last edited: 4/29/2020-22:32]

 

[swestoyz]

With the fabric softener dispenser and filler flume removed, the wash tub can be pulled.

And yes, the sock catcher did it's job!!

After cleaning things up I contemplated the idea of just using the machine as is. Would that have been a wise bet?

 

[swestoyz]

...and no, no it would not have been good bet. YIKES!

Years of water sitting between the tub boot and outer tub rotted away the flange that holds the large boot clamp from the outside. The rust was so bad it almost looked as if the boot was actually growing chips of rust.

What a mess.

 

[swestoyz]

With the outer tub pulled from the cabinet, rust repair was done over several days.

First, everything was cleaned up with some steel wool and a coat of POR-15 was applied along the flange to seal up all rust that would have been covered by the patch.

Next, hole repair was done both with plumbers epoxy and JB Weld. If I had to do it over again I probably would have just used the JB Weld, or had let the plumbers epoxy set longer than 24 hours before sanding to shape. It would ball up due to the heat from sanding reactivating the compound.

With the patch sanded and a test fit of the boot checked off, several coats of POR-15 were applied to both the patched area as well as spots within the outer tub that would see a lot of standing water. The top edge was also painted with a few coats for good measure.[this post was last edited: 4/29/2020-22:33]

 

[swestoyz]

In parallel to letting the paint dry for the outer tub, the wash basket was cleaned and also touched up with a few shots of POR-15. 1958 was the last year for the two piece tub; starting in '59 they went to the integrated balance ring version of the wash basket.

The plastisol coating on the balance ring had a few stains (from fabric softener?) but overall it still presents well.

 

[swestoyz]

Drama - first round

During the mechanical test the transmission sounded great in both agitate and spin, and probably could have been left well enough alone. But, if the whole washer was going to be disassembled the transmission could use some new seals.

The evening started off innocently enough with pulling the agitator block and agitator shaft seal. A little bit of heat from the torch and a three arm puller and both popped off with ease. I figured, "heck with this success, why not try my luck with taking the basket hub off?"

Several years ago I had recalled reading Robert's post about disassembling an AW6 transmission and he detailed how he successfully removed the basket hub. I apparently did not heed his warnings. At all. His suggestion was to clamp the spin shaft in a heavy vice, heat the basket hub, and while using a pipe wrench start twisting the hub on the shaft, rather than hitting it up the shaft.

Yeah, in the haze of earlier success I totally biffed it. If you ever decide to take the hub off a GE transmission and you want to reuse said hub, NEVER attempt to use the agitator bearing mount as a point of impact. IT WILL BREAK. I also didn't have a vice available that night so I have no idea what I was thinking when attempting this. Usually I'm pretty methodical when approaching mechanical work. Not that night.

Please let my poor decision making sway you from doing the same. The WH17X41 basket hubs for the 1960 and earlier solid trub transmissions cannot be replaced with the later perforated tub version - WH17X51 or WH17X69. [this post was last edited: 4/29/2020-22:44]

Cracking open an early GE AW6 Drive Unit/Transmission

So after trying out the new washer I found last weekend I need to learn how to service the aw6 transmission. I have absolutely no service information on this tranmission, just a parts list and one chart that I found recently. GE produced this unit from 1947 thru 1950. What was most unusual...

www.automaticwasher.org

 

[swestoyz]

Drama - second round

After that night I swore to myself that I'd be more careful in the future. Slow down. Measure twice, cut once. Or in my case, read the manual and do as it says.

Yeah, that didn't last. A few days later it was time to inspect the original two speed clutch. While the principal behind the original 1957-1961 two speed clutch is the same as the later versions for the perforated tubs, what does make them different is the carrier plate. The earlier version of the carrier plate acts like the drum of an automobile brake drum and a solenoid activates a brake shoe that presses against the carrier plate to keep it stationary, when slow speed is called for. Amazingly all the parts for the clutch were in great shape - the linings were good, the drums looked great, but the bearings for the carrier plate and primary drum were shot.

I thought, oh that will be easy. Just drive them out and replace them with a new WH4X12 bearing.

Again, don't do what I did. Read the instructions that are clearly stated in the service manual. Both the primary drum and the carrier plate have a flange plate that hold the bearing in place via a retainer around the bearing. It is impossible to drive the bearing out without first drilling out the four rivets and then driving the bearing out from the opposite side that had the retainer fastened to either the drum or the plate.

No, I took the impossible to replace carrier plate and literally pounded the center of the die cast out of the plate in an attempt to drive it out. I'm too ashamed of this to show you the after picture.

DON'T DO THIS.

At this point I have an impossible task ahead of me - find a replacement basket hub and carrier plate, or try to improvise.

Did I find a way to repair the basket hub? Did a carrier plate fall from the sky via the washer Gods who trusted me to take care of this GE? Find out in tomorrow's installment.

Until next time!

 

[akronman]

Hey

Did I watch a video of this exact machine on YouTube last night? Excellent work!

 

[goatfarmer]

Nice work, Ben,

 

[pulltostart]

Ben,

Thanks for posting this story!  Those are awesomely-beautiful machines; some of GE's best-looking IMHO.  Can't wait for the next installment of "As The Filter Flows".

 

lawrence

 

[turquoisedude]

I tip my hat to you Ben!  What a great restoration - thank you for sharing the techniques and tools used, too.  One never knows when one may attempt another GE restoration... 

 

 

[bajaespuma]

I second that emotion

My thanks as well. What a great gift to wake up to this morning. I love Solid Tub Filter-Flo's with Rinse Agent dispensers (I will NEVER understand the strategy GE used when they went to the Perforated-Tub models, eliminated the really useful built-in Rinse Agent dispensers, replaced them with very complicated Bleach dispensers and then, after a couple of years, offered their customers lame and faulty Activator-mounted FS dispensers).

I have a 1960 Dream Machine that has a faulty 2-speed clutch so your post is timely and helpful.

 

[peteski50]

1958 GE

Ben this is a real awsome restoration
Best of Luck with this beautiful pair!

 

[toploader55]

Wonderful Ben.

I Love that Old Style Activator. The earliest machine I remember Mom having was a 54 (I think) with the Temp did on the left, Cycle Dial on the right and the Green Water Saver Bar in the middle with the Round GE Medallion on the from of the machine. Ours was a Non Filterflo but had the same Activator and only one speed.

 

[cycla-fabric]

Great Job and alot of work but it looks great. The youtube video was great by the way. Now if somebody could explain to me about the GE sudskill function I would like to know its purpose. Thanks

Doug

 

[northwesty]

Very

Great restoration can you go to a machine shop and fabricate or weld up the damaged piece?