Hoover 455 (A3072) Washer Overhaul Pt 1

[crouzet951]

Hi folks

My Hoover 455 is now up and running again, and I’ve done my first couple of loads. The delightful spin sound can once again be heard by all the neighbourhood, so everything is good.

It hasn’t been totally plain sailing, but what is life without a few setbacks. Hopefully some of this may even be of help to others, as the assistance and experience on this site has certainly helped me during the repairs. So many pictures were taken, it’s been divided into three parts.

Thanks to all again.

Cheers
John

Disassembly and Diagnosis

Removing the backplate revealed the usual rusty flange, but the rust near the drain tube didn’t look too promising.

 

[crouzet951]

There is a hole about 20mm long and 5mm wide, right where the drain tube attaches to the drum. This probably wasn't helped by the machine having been stored in my garage for six years. The rust around the heater element support is quite minor.

 

[crouzet951]

The telltale sign of water getting into the bearings. The heating element is covered in scale

 

[crouzet951]

The inner bearing was seized and has worn a groove in the spider shaft. This can't be reused.

 

[crouzet951]

This looks like it was brought up from the Titanic!

The back plate was brand new in 2001, and the machine was retired in 2007. I don't understand why it looks so bad. Perhaps I've been under-dosing washing detergent.

 

[crouzet951]

The spider needed to come off the drum, one way or another. The rivets have been drilled out and the support is being popped off the drum. This needs to be done gently as the vitreous enamel cracks easily.

 

[crouzet951]

Next the motor.

The bearings were very rough and needed to be replaced. The motor came apart pretty easily. Thank goodness as I've not done this before.

I had to buy a three-claw puller to get the large bearing off the armature.

 

[crouzet951]

The commutator didn't look too bad, but I decided to have the armature checked out and cleaned up by an electric motor specialist.

 

[crouzet951]

When the armature was collected, I left the field windings with them to also check out.

The outermost item on the left side windings, retained by twine, is the thermal overload cutout.

 

[crouzet951]

I was originally going to repair the rust in situ, but it would be easier with the outer drum out of the cabinet.

 

[crouzet951]

Another thing I've never done before is remove a ballast weight. It weighs 13.5kg, 30 lbs or so.

 

[crouzet951]

YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED!!!

 

[crouzet951]

I moved the drum outside to my balcony as it's not as cramped as my bathroom.

This is rust damage to the door seal flange on the front of the drum. It's at top centre, which is good.

 

[crouzet951]

After initial wire brushing, the awful truth about the drain tube is revealed. It's rusty and razor sharp in part (tetanus anyone!), but the metal is still solid.

 

[crouzet951]

Back to the cabinet.

Following a thorough vacuum with my trusty Dynamatic, the base appears to be pretty good after inspecting. As mentioned in previous posts, the brown stuff over everything is fish oil based paint used many years ago to keep the rust away. It has mostly worked, but it will not clean up easily.

 

[crouzet951]

I decided to drill out the pop rivets holding the module supports, so the shield could be replaced.

Unless it's absolutely necessary, I wouldn't recommend doing this as the rivets just ended up spinning, as they were only holding soft plastic to the chassis. I was waiting for one of the supports to break.

 

[crouzet951]

EEEK!!

 

[crouzet951]

Flipping the cabinet over, the base is good, except for some slight rust near the corner to the right of this image. The other 'rust' is the fish oil paint.

The two rubber back wheels are very flat, not helped by having stuff piled on the washer while in the garage. I have one pair left of new rear wheels, but I'll leave these as the location for the washer has a noticeable drain slope, and the flat rear wheels will level it out (well that's my plan anyway).

 

[crouzet951]

The upper rear panel and the drum wire support both look pretty bad.

 

[crouzet951]

The door is terrible.

I repainted the inner and outer door panels many years ago when rust appeared at the bottom. I do have a new front door panel and aluminium trim ring.

 

[crouzet951]

Basically, three main problems need to be fixed:

the outer drum,

the spider and shaft, and

the motor bearings.

As mentioned at the beginning of this thread, the machine is now up and running, so all were fixed with varying degrees of threat to my sanity. I'll post again tomorrow.

Cheers all.

P.S. The image has nothing to do with the washer. A sun shower had started and one of my avian friends was visiting. Things like this keep me sane. Hehe.

 

[fido]

I would have re-used the spider with some Loctite to glue the new bearing to the shaft.
What detergent do you use? Liquids tend to cause more rot than powder.

 

[sesteve]

Fantastic thread and great pictures. Well done on getting this stripped down and back up and working. I need to spend some time like this on my machines instead of buying more lol!

Can't wait for the next instalment

Steve

 

[chestermikeuk]

Hoover

Glad to see you are cracking on with the full restore, my 3008 keymatic tub needed a hole filling and some good coats of rustoleum and enamel paint, Fab washers to work on, nothing much that cant be adapted...

Nice to see a Dial-a-mat or convertible in use for all the vintage paint flakes and dust!!

 

[crouzet951]

Hi guys

fido

I was going to do something like that with the shaft as a last resort if a new one couldn't be located.

Liquid is used for my clothes and powder for sheets and towels, so it might be a good idea to stick only with the powder from now on. I'll also run a decalcifier through it once a month.

sesteve

They're getting few and far between in Aus these days, though new (Candy) Hoovers appeared again on the Aus market a couple of years ago.

chestermike

They are great to work on, and so many parts are interchangeable.

The vacuum's a Power Drive model which used to belong to my parents. It's beautiful to use, but not when lifting it.