Some further tinkering on the Launderall...
I had some pent-up desires to work on vintage washers over the long Labour Day weekend (three weeks of visitors then the big Wash-In in Beltsville took its toll... LOL) and I'm now 'on notice' that I'd better start making some room in the garage for cars to be stored there - what better motivation than to do some more exploratory work on the Jacobs Launderall!
I wanted to get the cabinet sides off to check belts, hoses, wiring, etc. Now you'd think that wouldn't be a big deal and for the left side panel (left as you look at the front of the washer, that is) it wasn't. But that right panel.. GGGRRRR! I will admit that an 8-year-old child can probably undo screws that I can't in most cases, but the ones on the right side of the cabinet were truly impossible. I let them marinate in PB Blaster. No luck. I managed to drill out one of them; I then went through 2 titanium drill bits trying to drill out the others. I tried heating the screws (note the scorch mark...). Nothing. I managed to cut a gap in the screw heads and shear them off with a chisel. When I finally got the panel off and exposed the screw threads, the came out simply by turning by hand... My only guess is that the screw heads got rusted solidly onto that metal track that holds the chrome trim into place.
Well, now the cabinet is off and it may well be repainted at some point!
The washer still seems to run fine but I have one component that is not working. In the fifth photo, I am trying to show the cam that fits on the rear of the transmission shaft - this should control the wash water temperature selection by moving back and forth to move the spring contact fingers to the water inlet solenoids. But like the cabinet screws, this cam seems to be solidly rusted onto the transmission shaft. I've been soaking it with PB Blaster and I even tried tilting the machine to allow the PB Blaster to run down the transmission shaft. That led to fluid dripping out of the transmission onto the motor. I caught that in time - old motor windings and transmission oil can't be a good mix...
I do have the manual (which I found right here in the Ephemera Library) but no suggestions as to how to free this up - it should move back and forth as the cable actuated by the Hot-Warm wash selector is moved. Is this something I should try heating? I don't have a good close-up, but there appears to be some kind of a plastic sleeve at the rear of the cam and I would really hate to melt that by mistake.
I'm keeping my thinking cap on this week but anyone who may have tackled a Launderall has any suggestions, do please chime in!
