Annoying squeak stopped on SQ AWN series

[washman]

There was another thread on the off and on noise a SQ makes when washing heavy loads and using hot wash. A poster advised putting some WD40 or lube on the washers that are right above the pulley on the main trans shaft. Well I tried that today and it helped a tad but I was able to isolate the noise with the front off and running a load.

Come to find out, it is the idler assembly that has a little piece sticking up that moves through an arc shaped hole in the motor mount bracket. What happens is, as the belt starts to wear and stretch, the idler spring will pull on the belt to maintain tension on it. When it gets close to the stop, the little metal piece that sticks up will "bounce" against the stop in the motor mount bracket. See pages 18 items 5 (motor bracket) and item 8 (idler lever). There's your noise.

What I did was put some hi temp wheel bearing grease on that little nib that sticks up on the idler lever, preventing for now, metal to metal contact. I notice this mostly with full, heavy loads. Makes sense, there is a lot of weight to move on a full load and thus a lot more stress on the belt.

I attached some pix. They are not the best but hopefully should anyone else have this annoyance, they will give you the confidence and conviction to correct it.

PS not too keen about the made in Mexico Goodyear belt on there! Argh......!

 

[nmassman44]

It's not just the belt that is made in Mexico...the motor is as well....

 

[washer111]

Nice Fix

Great thing about the SQ is the mechanical simplicity allows simple and easy repair, as was demonstrated here. This should help plenty of people with this problem.

If you're concerned about the belt, my 'Smarty-Pants' suggestion of the day would be to get a good belt from the likes of Continental (Such as the ContiTech). Made in Germany
(Okay, not America, but surely better quality than Mexico).

Guess if the tensioner is working hard, this belt probably won't be too far from needing replacement. So I'd order a belt sooner, rather than later to be on the safe side - especially given your report of the issue being most noticeable on the bigger loads.

 

[washman]

I don't know of anyone making fractional HP appliance motors in the USA. BTW this used to be Emerson's Electric motor divsion.

 

[danmantn]

Only assembled in USA...which is about as good as we can get these days.

 

[rp2813]

New SQs still haunted by Raytheon's belt eating issue

Any guesses or explanations for why the belt appears to be wearing on the outside too?

 

[washman]

Yes

The idler pulley presses against the back of the belt to maintain tension. I suspect this belt will be short lived but then again, ya never know!

 

[rp2813]

We were on our third belt when we dumped our Raytheon Amana at nine years old.  For most of the time we had that machine it was just the two of us generating on average a few loads per week.

 

If you hear a chuggada-chuggada-chuggada sound, that's the belt going.  If it changes to a chick-chick-chick sound, it's getting worse.  Or vice-versa.  I can't remember, but it was the same with each belt.

 

My hunch is on your suspicion being correct.

 

[nmassman44]

I know with my SQ washer there is alot of belt dust in the base of the washer. I am on my 2nd belt for this washer. It is also developing a rumbling bearing sound during spin and it gets very noticeable at top speed. I figure once it starts leaking that will be it for this machine. Its 5 years old now...still young.

 

[repair-man]

I was on a call to change a pump on a 5 yr old SQ a few days ago that had noisy spin bearings. I don't believe that these machines are as great as everybody makes them sound. Unfortunately they are the only one left that works like the old machines. I have a laundromat customer that has 24 machines under the Huebsch brand. 14 of them need new seals and bearings. It's a very noisy place when several are running at once.

 

[washman]

Just trying to get a bit of WD on the two washers on the trans shaft was a PITA. If I had a foot long extension on the WD can, no worries. I have a nice red mark on my left forearm rubbing against the weldment assy trying to go be feel to find the washers.

Changing the belt would not be super hard, I think. The motor and pump have to come off but in moving the idler arm, I found it gives a lot of slack to remove the belt off the main pulley.

 

[washman]

"Only assembled in USA...which is about as good as we can get these days."
"

Also amazing is the foreign machinery used to MAKE things in USA these days! Not too many machine tool makers left anymore.

 

[jeffg]

I'm not quite clear from the description/photos, are you saying the noise is caused by contact of the motor mount screw and this lever (circled in photo)? If so, I'm wondering if shaving a bit off the screw end would prevent the noise.

 

[washman]

Go about half inch in your pic with the yellow circle to the left. See where I put the grease? The grease looks yellowish in color. That is the nib that sticks up that was "bouncing" against the stop during agitation. I did check the clearance between the idler arm and the screw, there is on contact there. That nib that sticks up can travel through the arc you see and the idle spring is pulling it to keep tension on the belt.

I attempted to edit this in MS paint, hopefully it shows what I am talking about.