GE washer transmission question

[turquoisedude]

I managed to dismantle and safely extract the transmission from the 57 WA857 GE washer last week.  I came back down Ogden early to perform further surgery and today I got the transmission opened up and ready for a new snubber brake.  So far this is going WAY better than my attempts to repair the 60 bol WA350!

 

I have a question - since I have the transmission out, should I replace the drive tube seal and the agitator shaft seal? I have the parts, however I did not observe any evidence of oil spitting on clothes.  Of course, I washed exactly 3 loads in it post-refurb...

 

All thoughts are welcome!

 

[Unimatic1140]

I would replace those seals as they are all easy to get as of yet. What is amazing is those replacement seals fit and work on all GE transmissions both AW6 direct-drive and belt drive from 1947 thru 1995!

However, getting the hub off to replace the drive tube seal will be extremely challenging unless you have a new WH17x41 hub, in which case you can cut the old hub off.

 

[turquoisedude]

Thanks, Robert!  Turns out the NOS hub I have is a WH17X51 for a V-12 washer (which I no longer have) so I left the lower seal alone.  The top seal was not great - I lost a good amount of oil while I had the transmission upside down for diassembly.  That has been replaced and I am thrilled to say that I replaced the snubber brake pad with hardly any swearing!

 

[turquoisedude]

However I do still have a question...

When I took off the drive pulley, I managed to wreck the flexible washer under the solid one. The original part is WH2X200 and it's NLA...

I was wondering if one of those very strechy sealing washers might work.  It looks like this may be a source of an oil drip if not well-sealed...

 

[Unimatic1140]

Yes I've replaced those by cutting fresh rubber and using a little silicone between the steel and rubber washer.

 

[turquoisedude]

Robert, thank you - that is a great idea! I rarely consider the 'make one' option for seals and gaskets because of my shaky hands but guess who is not on the other side of the planet for a change...   Hubby was almost willingly drafted to help with the cutting on the condition that it would help liberate space in the garage.... LOL 

Well here's how the reassembled base and pulley look now:

 

[turquoisedude]

And at the time of this post, I sat the transmission upright to check for oil drips. So far so good!

I may still get my "GE Badge" after all...