Belt Drive Kenmore - 60's

[whitekingd]

I just put together an early 60's Kenmore washer. Everything seems to be ok, except, it clunks when it engages. Not so bad when the agitation engages, but pretty damn loud when the spin engages. It is a metal on metal sort of sound. Any ideas? Also, does anyone know where to get a recirculation hose for the water fall filter?

 

[70series]

Welcome to the club. Congrats on completing the restoration of your Kenmore. Show some pictures of it. I would love to see what she looks like.

Unfortunately, I don't really know the answers to your questions, but there are plenty of Kenmore experts in this forum that will have plenty of information on both counts.

Good Luck,
James

 

[SactoTeddyBear]

Re: Metal Noise Sounds:

Welcome Delmer "WHITEKINGD" to the Appliance Club Site and congratulations on your Kenmore Washer Restoration.

The Pump has a Diverter in it that allows the Pump to Flow Water through the Recirculating Filter and it has an Arm on the outside of the housing that turns the Diverter respectively for the Wash/Rinse and Drain/Spin Cycles. There should be a Rubber Sleeve on the Arm, that is supposed to allow the Arm to be quieter when moving in either direction.

Otherwise, the sound that your hearing, might very well be the Cam moving along the Track, when the "Wig-Wag" Solenoid is activated to move the Gears and Pump respectively for the Wash/Rinse and Drain/Spin Cycles. Hopefully it is a pretty easy Repair for you.

"BTW" you could take the Back Panel off of the Washer and watch the Mechanism's Operations of the Cam's, Wig-Wag Solinoids and the Arm on the Pump, to try and locate where the noise is coming from.

I hope that this helps you, good luck with your research and findings to get your Washer operating properly.

Peace and great Laundry Cleaning, with a Kenmore Washer, Steve
SactoTeddyBear & SactoTeddyRanger...

 

[kenmoreman]

Clunk noise

There are two cam bars that control the agitation and spin functions on this machine. They are connected to the wig-wag. If you look athe the cam bars there is a flat metal piece that holds the cam bars in place. This is attached to the transmission case and it holds down the cam bars in place. It is either loose or missing. That is causing your problem.

 

[kenmoreguy64]

I have a couple more ideas....

Kenmoreman above is right - if the hold-down bar that sits above the two cam bars is not there or is loose, you will get a funny clunking sound which comes from the cam bars flipping from one position to the other too fast. I have not heard that but once or twice, but I DO indeed remember the noise. The "hold down bar" looks like a bow-tie sorta, and is usually black in color. It is there to dampen the knee-jerk, spring loaded reflex of the cam bars, so that is very possibly the source of your noise. Hopefully yours is just loose. If you don't have one I probably have a couple of spares.

A couple more thoughts:

Be sure there is enough grease in the cam bar tracks - WP recommends Rykon grease.

Also, check the setting and fit of the post (the basket drive yoke support) that rides on the spin cam bar and holds the far end of the clutch yoke (as seen from the service panel area. Many machines, especially models from the 70s, used adjustable nuts on that post and it could be out of adjustment, especially if you had to piece-together parts from various sources. I have noticed a distinct thunk or clunk in machines when the basket drive came together to go into spin if there was too much play in the basket drive yoke spacing. I have also noticed this, but to a lesser degree, when the clutch pads were severely worn.

One more note - Since your early 60s machine pre-dates the fast brake design by about 10 years, be sure if you're using a newer fast brake clutch, that you used a hardened spin cam bar and not the original from the machine. The pressure/force of the brake can deform older cam bars after while, and though I have never seen that happen, WP repair manuals warn about it, and I would think this could cause noises of varying degree if the bar is not operating properly.

Best wishes with the machine!!!!! Let us see some pics soon if you can.

 

[kenmoreguy64]

Here's a pic (lousy as it may be) that I just took of a leftover scrap transmission with the cam bar retainer. I apologize for the quality of the picture and the dirty trans, it was dark when I took this....but you can see the piece we were talking about in our posts above and it's position relative to the rest of the gearcase.

If you can't see it, it's immediately to the left at ten o'clock of the black tee-bearing and agitator shaft.

The

Hopefully this will help you, even a little!

 

[kenmoreman]

Hey Kenmore guy were you a kenmore tech?

 

[kenmoreguy64]

Hey Kenmore man! Am I a "tech", not officially, but I am self-taught on belt-drive work. I repaired/rebuilt nearly 60 machines in the 1990s. I had one store owner who wanted to hire me to do his repairs, but I have a job/career and washer work is just for fun.

In my early days I was mentored by a great guy who was a WP and a GE tech earlier in his career and when I met him he was working on his own. He got me started, and I took it from there.

 

[whitekingd]

KENMORE CLUNKING NOISE

MANY THANKS TO THOSE THAT RESPONDED. I DID DISCOVER YESTERDAY, THAT I HAD LEFT OUT THE CAM BAR RETAINER SPRING. WHAT A DOPE!! I LOWERED THE TRANNY ENOUGH TO GET IT ON WITHOUT TAKING THE WHOLE THING OUT. BUT IT WAS A CHALLENGE.

NOW I NEED TO FIND THE HOSE THAT GOES FROM THE FOUR PORT PUMP UP TO THE WATERFALL FILTER. I AM USING A DISHWASHER HOSE, BUT IT DOESN'T SEEM TO GET ENOUGH PRESSURE TO REALLY RUN THE FILTER. ON NORMAL SPEED, THE WATER FLOW LOOKS LIKE IT IS ON DELICATE SPEED. DELICATE IS ALMOST A TRICKLE. ANY IDEAS WHERE TO GET A HOSE, OR WHAT BETTER TO USE IN PLACE OF IT? THANKS GUYS. I AM REALLY LOVING HAVING MY OLD 1960 BACK IN SERVICE AFTER TWO LONG YEARS OF WRINGING CLOTHES!

 

[kenmoreguy64]

NLA hose

Hey there WHITEKINGD,

First, thanks for doing this project. It is a great exercise for me as I have at least two, probably more, machines that will need this hose as well, including a 1961 model 70 like yours.

First thing I did was pull up two model numbers at the Sears parts website (the 1961 and 1964 Kenmore 70s I have) - both show the original hose as being WP part 91769. It is indeed obsolete / NLA (no longer available). If you have a parts source or two that you shop, I suggest you check with them and any other parts store within reasonable reach and see if by some off-the-wall chance they have they part on the shelf. It does happen.

Next thing I'd do is measure the hose inside diameter. Aren't the filter ports on a four port pump something like 1/2 inch diameter? I have not used many of those pumps so I don't totally remember. Anyway, if I'm faced with this problem I think my solution will be to try automotive heater hose. Auto parts stores stock it by the roll, you just cut or have the counter guy cut you the length you want. I think it is available in 1/2, 5/8, and 3/4 inch IDs. Being heater hose it will be more than durable enough for a washer filter use and it probably won't soften and kink when hot water is in it. Just be sure the I.D. (inside diameter) is sufficient.

If your filtering result is still weak, you may want to direct your attention to your pump. They can get weak and loose efficiency over time. Great thing is the 350367 four port pump is still available from WP.

Let us know please how it goes. I am pretty sure I'll have to deal with this issue myself in the coming months.

Good luck man!