supermaticjames
Well-known member
Evening all,
Well I've had a busy week - The 15790's faults were found and I was glad to be reassured that they were fixable with some patience and skill.
First of all, the leak. As expected, the seals were in good condition so my attention was turned to the support tube. There was some corrosion which led to water seeping out between it and the bellows. I thought now would be a good time to inspect the support tube on the 9605 that I was going to salvage for spare parts. This was in better condition but it still had some corrosion. I was well aware of the fact that these support tubes are long obsolete and pretty much unobtainable so after asking an engineer I am friends with I was given the answer. Turns out you can repair the support tubes by brushing off any corrosion with a wire brush and filling in any pitting with car body filler. So that is just what I did, and it worked!
Next I had to tackle the gearbox issue. This was somewhat more simple surprisingly! Since the 9605 had a better gearbox and a much better bearing yet leaking oil from the pulley shaft (due to Hotpoint's cost cutting exercises in the late 80s), it was obvious that I had to pair the 9605's upper gearbox with the 15790's original lower gearbox. This was a success!
The 15790's original friction dampers were expired and yet again this was an obsolete part, not that it really matters anyway because I was informed by the aforementioned engineer that the 9605's dampers were of a better design and can be fitted to the 15790 if a large washer was fitted underneath each bolt through the base. So this was done without much trouble and indeed the suspension is much more sturdy like the 9605 yet not restricted so that the machine would go walking across the floor.
Apart from these tasks the pump was cleaned and the each part of the machine was given a clean - the job may as well be done properly when it involves a big strip down like this! I've noticed that the top loaders seem to gather up a considerably larger amount of gunk than front loaders. This could just be down to the roomier outer bowl and of course gravity.
Anyway, I was now in a position to start rebuilding!
Well I've had a busy week - The 15790's faults were found and I was glad to be reassured that they were fixable with some patience and skill.
First of all, the leak. As expected, the seals were in good condition so my attention was turned to the support tube. There was some corrosion which led to water seeping out between it and the bellows. I thought now would be a good time to inspect the support tube on the 9605 that I was going to salvage for spare parts. This was in better condition but it still had some corrosion. I was well aware of the fact that these support tubes are long obsolete and pretty much unobtainable so after asking an engineer I am friends with I was given the answer. Turns out you can repair the support tubes by brushing off any corrosion with a wire brush and filling in any pitting with car body filler. So that is just what I did, and it worked!
Next I had to tackle the gearbox issue. This was somewhat more simple surprisingly! Since the 9605 had a better gearbox and a much better bearing yet leaking oil from the pulley shaft (due to Hotpoint's cost cutting exercises in the late 80s), it was obvious that I had to pair the 9605's upper gearbox with the 15790's original lower gearbox. This was a success!
The 15790's original friction dampers were expired and yet again this was an obsolete part, not that it really matters anyway because I was informed by the aforementioned engineer that the 9605's dampers were of a better design and can be fitted to the 15790 if a large washer was fitted underneath each bolt through the base. So this was done without much trouble and indeed the suspension is much more sturdy like the 9605 yet not restricted so that the machine would go walking across the floor.
Apart from these tasks the pump was cleaned and the each part of the machine was given a clean - the job may as well be done properly when it involves a big strip down like this! I've noticed that the top loaders seem to gather up a considerably larger amount of gunk than front loaders. This could just be down to the roomier outer bowl and of course gravity.
Anyway, I was now in a position to start rebuilding!
