A born-again Magic Minute! 1959 Kelvinator

[swestoyz]

Hey there folks,

My, it has been a busy month already! I took a break this afternoon from tearing down plaster to piece the 1959 Kelvinator back together. For those not in the know, I found this machine on New Year Eve in 2005, just a little over a year ago. I've included a few before shots of what the machine looked like when I pulled it out of the basement of an old Maytag Appliance store. It was missing the upper boot, and it would not spin or agitate. A complete rebuild would be needed, and there was a broken foot that needed to be replaced as well. I tore the machine apart in Cory's basement last January, hauled the parts this summer to my folk's place, and finally, slowly but surely, I've been working on it when I get a free moment at the new house.

I completely refinished the frame this fall, with a nice sand blast job. I drilled out the old, seized feet, and drilled out the original nuts to retrofit some sturdy Maytag feet. When it was sandblasted, I had the metal shop weld some 1/2-13 nuts to the frame to complete the conversion. The outer tub needed a touch of POR-15, as well as the inner tub.

As soon as I had the frame completed, I bought my house, so the project was on the back burner once again. Slowly I've pieced it back together, and this afternoon ran a few tests. Hopefully it will be water ready soon!

Here are a few before shots:

Jan 2006

 

[swestoyz]

All the important pieces looked good - under that nasty frame!

Jan '06

 

[swestoyz]

This past fall - working on that horrible frame. Uggg...

 

[swestoyz]

Feet - there is no comparison.

Maytag on the Left, AMC on the right.

 

[swestoyz]

Water testing the outer tub - looks good!

Sept. 2006

 

[swestoyz]

Inner Tub - it really needed the POR-15.

Sept. 2006

 

[swestoyz]

Fast Forward to this afternoon...

The last few weeks I've let the seals cure with a good coat of RTV, but I've been busy with some major demo on the house.

Today I got a wild hair up my ass to start putting it back together, since I was getting tired of breathing plaster dust. First step.... get the key installed with the bearing, while trying to hold onto the greased spin shaft. It was interesting.

 

[swestoyz]

Upper torque spring assembly in place. It functions such that when the shaft spins clock wise, it will lock the spin shaft in place, allowing the agitate shaft to continue to spin. ingenious design.

 

[swestoyz]

Next is the lower torque spring assembly. The bearing is actually pressed into the spin pulley, so the spring assembly is assembled as one unit. It is held in place by two snap rings and a key'd washer.

 

[swestoyz]

Final piece - the agitate pulley. It is fastened to the agitate pulley via a drift pin. Easy to put in, horrible to take out. Let's cross our fingers that doesn't need to happen!

 

[swestoyz]

Final assembly from the bottom. Notice the bottom of the agitate shaft has a couped hole. A large ball rests there, and the shaft spins in a bearing assembly on the bottom cross member.

 

[swestoyz]

Cross member in place, with motor and pump recently installed. Notice those beautiful Maytag feet - and that pesky clutch.

I didn't completely install all the suspension pieces, as I wanted to do a few tests to make sure everything works smoothly. So, for those who are familiar with the bottom side of an ABC/Kelvinator, you can rest easy tonight - I'll get everything put back in it's place soon.

 

[swestoyz]

The First sign of life!!

Let the Kelvinating begin!

 

[swestoyz]

Another Magic Minute, back in action.

 

[swestoyz]

The test continues... the upper assembly in place, ready for a test.

 

[swestoyz]

Let'er rip!

 

[swestoyz]

Almost ready for the Shampooing action

 

[neptunebob]

Swestoy, you ought to be a male model! Does the Magic Minute work like the Catalyst action on Kenmore top loaders?

 

[swestoyz]

Yeah! Sucess!

Overall, I am excited that the machine has reached this point. I ran the machine, doing several tests, for about an hour. Early on, the motor would need a little push of the agitate pulley to get things going, but after a while, it would run a complete cycle on its own. I felt confident enough to put the tub in for yet another test run. Well, it again needed a nudge, and it got up to about half speed before blowing the fuse. I think the clutch is not slipping enough and causing the motor to over heat. I've included a movie on YouTube showing the mechanicals in motion. There are two noises - one is a high pitched squeak. The other is a lower pitched thud. I have the lower pitched noise figured out (running sans tub), but the little squeak is driving me nuts. I made sure everything was well lubricated during installation - so I'm pointing again to the motor. I'm sure the bearings need attention as well. Let me know what you guys think - is it something besides the motor?

I just wanted to take a second and thank Jimmy, Robert, and Greg for all the knowledge and wonderful resources that all three of you provided me to help with this machine. Without you guys, I know I would not have gotten this far - at all. And also, Mark - thanks for taking the time to produce those new boots - this machine will be so ever-thankful of your dedication to this wonderful hobby.

Thanks so much.

Ben