A long weekend well-spent OR Two out of three ain't bad...

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turquoisedude

turquoisedude

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It was a long weekend here in Quebec (the St-Jean-Baptiste Holiday weekend) so, guess who was busy messing around with vintage laundry equipment??

First up: the 63 GE V-12 washer. I finally got the leak on the filter-flo recirculation hose patched (a new one is on the way, but well, I an anxious to get this one into the Ogden Laundry!). However I ran into an issue with the water valve. Thanks to experience and the Repair-Master for GE Washers, I figured the problem might be due to a foreign object blocking the valve or a damaged diaphram.

Luckily, it was the former not the latter. After a good cleaning, the valve was working reliably once again.

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And a spin test! I bypassed the lid switch for future viewing pleasure - it shakes around a bit, but all will be well once installed in the Ogden Laundry!

 
Next up: The lastest Kenmore find. It turns out it is a 1951 model (found a date stamp of May 1951 on the transmission).

The leak I had found last week was indeed due to gasket deterioration on the suds return sump.

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I didn't have enough gasket material (D'OH!) so I used Permatex Liquid Gasket, which has saved me on many an occaision... It looked good when the sump was reinstalled.

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For the heck of it, I tried a suds-return test. Forgive my gushing, but this is the first working suds return that works!

 
And last but not least... The V-12 GE dryer... This is the not so good news from the weekend. Although I found a set of original drum rollers, they are not quite the right ones. I need to figure out how to mount the wider rollers - I think longer carriage bolts will do the trick and I hope that I can find them this week. To be continued....

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That is one great JOB Paul.
They both look and sounding great !
Love the bullet cap on the Kenmore, yaaa for the suds return system.
I am late on your GE Filter hat it's coming.
Have a great day.

Darren k
 
YAY PAUL!

That is the GE washer we had. It was assembled under a curse and did not live long. First a piece of porcelain blew off the right front corner of the top and left little needle-like bits of porcelain on the floor. Nobody was home when it happened, but my parents' first question to me on seeing it was, "Did you cause this?" Later the clutch went and after that was replaced the tranny opened up from the lower end one night and sent a destructive wave of oil across the playroom floor. Fortunately, we got the rug up before the oil reached it, but the oil destroyed the nice green paint on the concrete. I hope your machine runs forever. That was the end of the beautiful GE control panels, in my opinion.
 
Tom - funny but there are flakes of porcelain missing from both the washer and dryer in the V12 set - I suspect it was due to rough handling, though.  

About the water level in the 51 Kenmore - you are absolutely right - I 'cheated' and advanced the dial to the 'wash' section.  I haven't lifted the lid on this one yet (that's the plan for Sunday - I have to work tonight and tomorrow due to my 'promotion' at work) so I don't know what kind of water level cutoff there may in this one.   I suspect it will be a 'tube and plunger' as seen in the Whirlpool washer manual that popped up this week in the Daily Doctrine Dispenser (and I HAD to have...LOL). 

 

Darren - can't wait to get the filter-flo pan!! 

 

Lawrence - I hope to get that dryer put back together this weekend - however I will have to make some very tough choices as to where to put them.... EEP!

 

Ken - I am not sure that I would be able to pull off a 'formal' wash-in (unless I send hubby to Brazil... LOL) but if your journeys this summer bring you into New Hampshire or Vermont,  Ogden is pretty darn close...
 
another kinda long weekend....

While most folks had a long Canada Day weekend, I was, alas working Friday and Saturday (until Midnight - ugh!). I guess the new position at work has its responsibilies...
BUT by Sunday mid-morning, I was back down in Ogden and itching to keep going on the trio of appliances in the garage.
I wanted to get the new rollers into the GE DA920 dryer, but found that the rolllers I bought are not quite the exact ones for the 1963 model... I needed to get some longer bolts which seem fine, but there's a bit too much 'play' on the rollers which I fear will come back to bite me... I have a couple of ideas but I think I won't be trying to rely on this dryer as 'the daily driver'....

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So, I put my energy into the 1951 Kenmore washer. I wanted to pop the top to check it out, so I did!

Even I could figure out the major parts here... LOL It is amazing that the basic design of these WP/Kenmore machines remained unchanged for decades!

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But I had some suspicions about the power cord... and I was right! The insulation had flaked off and one good unbalanced road would have meant trouble (imagine what hubby would have to say if this washer was responsible for a house fire.. OY!)

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And my earlier pondering about the fill control was answered... very basic, but it works (and it gave me some ideas for what I can eventually do for the Youngstown dishwasher when I get around to that..)

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So my first job was to fix that power cord. I added a ground to meet our current electrical codes here in Quebec but I managed to preserve the original 'bullet' connectors.

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And look what a bit of cleaning did to the inner tub ring! This machine is worthy of being a museum piece.

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And for once, I learned my lesson... I figured that pulling the water valve for the Kemore would be a good idea. Let's face it, after timers, washer water solenoids are the most problematic component for me! I took the valve out, tested it, and found the cold water input was stuck. Well, with a careful cleaning, I got it working again!

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Now, I figured the cabinet was not going to need a paint job - here's the before version of the side that had been near the sink I guess. It was by far the worst side of the machine!

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I scrubbed down the rest of the cabinet - it is in amazing shape!
That's it for this weekend... This coming weekend, I'll be having a garage sale to clear some clutter but I'll not be able to play with machines, but the Kenmore is moving toward the basement and I am working on find ing the matching dryer! Stay tuned...

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The hubby and the housefire LOL

It looks so nice. With so low a water level, thought you selected the Suds mode. What did you scrub with?
 
Michael - I used some CLR on the tub rim and a general purpose cleaner and degreaser on the outside - I swear that I am going to wax this cabinet before the washer gets moved into the basement!

THAT may be a while off, though... This weeked was a busy one, spent holding a garage sale down in Ogden so I didn't get to fiddle with the machines all that much.

I started with the GE dryer and my attempts to fit the drum rollers that I recently bought (I found two, new in the box on eBay) but when I got them I had a devil of a time trying to get them installed. Well, I spat and cursed and after commiserating with Phil, he suggested that I try to fit a bushing in the roller shaft. I found some at a local industrial supply place on Friday night, but they were too big for the roller shaft. I was too tired to argue with them, so I put them aside. I saw in the 59 GE service manual (only downloaded it tonight) that the rollers I bought are, in fact, the drive wheels for the 1959 DA920... AARGH!!

So, opinions please - should I give up on the rollers I have and try and find the correct part OR should I keep going on adapting the 1959 rollers. My fear is that I going to totally ruin a part that someone else may really need some day...

And now the washer saga... I had a positively nutty day Saturday, the first day of the sale and after a tiring and frustrating one, I figured that a full cycle test on the newly-reassembled 1951 Kenmore washer. I was very pleased with myself for having unclogged the water inlet valve so I figured 'Well what else could possibly go wrong'... Fool...
The tub seemed to never really get full, but there was no sign of a leak anywhere from under the washer. Turns out the water was gushing out of the suds drain/return hose. My first thought was the suds return valve - I drained the washer and ran to the Whirlpool/Kenmore Repair-Master. I jumped to the conclusion that the suds return valve had some kind of obstruction that was keeping the suds port open. After getting back to town (and another discussion with Phil) I had a new possible cause - the fact that I had the drain hose on the garage floor (running to a sump pump drain hose) was causing a syphon and draining the tub...
Again, I defer to the owners of suds return machines - does this sound like a possible cause or is the suds valve the problem??

As always, all comments and suggestions (not hubby's) are welcome!
 

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