I got a WO-65 Frigidaire, 1950

[akronman]

About ten years as a collector, and sort of thinning the herd as retirement approaches, but I finally got one from my Most Favored list-------in need of plenty of work. Chris "Spiraldasher" sold it to me, it needs all hoses and various parts of the agitator. But it's a start! I've spent 3 days reading all I can here about WO-65's, Unimatics, etc, and some time on YouTube watching. This will not be any overnight fix, true. IT's a genuine WO-65 with 2 agitated deep rinses, no spray rinsing which I think was only on the WO-65-2.

I sold and gifted away all my Easy spindriers and SQ Wringers, and one of my Hoover twin tubs, so I'm down to about 12 various top-load automatics with only 8 running (Two 1-18s will eventually be restored into one, and 2 early WP/KM from 1950 or 52 will also be made into one running machine). The wringers and Easy were very fun for a while, then I found myself always going to the automatics for ease, especially in Ohio winters where you really don't want the freezing HANDS ON work.

So this WO-65 is a prize, long on my list!

 

[appnut]

Mark, I'm so happy for you. It's still a WO-65, your towels will now be singing an opera being so happy to be washed in a Unimatic!!

 

[repairguy]

Congratulations! Best of luck on your restorations.

 

[peteski50]

Frigidaire!

Mark Best Of Luck with this new find

 

[gansky1]

 

 

The machine doesn't look too bad, tub is pretty good.  How's things look underneath, any signs of oil drips or leaks?

 

Bob is right, Unimatics are one, if not the best towel washers of all time.  This is a great machine to have in your collection.

 

[christfr]

awesome congrats. take your time and youll end up with a wonderful machine...

 

[swestoyz]

Congrats on landing one from your "Most Favored " list! The WO-65 is one of the best and certainly was a pivotal machine when introduced in 1950.

Keep us posted on your progress.

Ben

 

[Unimatic1140]

Yay Mark congratulations!!!! That is a wonderful machine to have and I totally agree with Bob and Greg, a Unimatic is by far the best towel washer hands down.
Nothing else comes close, especially with rinsing and spinning them.

 

[akronman]

Questions

I downloaded the 1950 Frigidaire Service Tech manual from the Ephemera sister website, Thank You Robert for that site. This will be slow and cautious work, preceded by plenty of reading. The Tech-Talk shows all repairs while the machine is upright. Can I set it down on its front for some investigation work?

More pics

 

[Unimatic1140]

Yes on it's best to lay the machine down on its side, however before you do that check which side the mechanism housing vent tube side is located on and make sure it is not facing down otherwise oil will spill out of it. You can lay it down where the vent tube is anywhere between the 9:00 to 3:00 position. There will not be a vent cap on it like shown in this picture (2nd picture at bottom of this post) of a mechanism back when it was brand new.

When you lay the machine on its side be sure to support the mechanism at a 90 degree angle as best as you can as to not put too much pressure on the rubber mechanism support. I did this with a Jet-Action agitator in this picture, a piece of wood would work too:

The 1950 Tech-Talk only talks about the changes to the washer for the WO-65 updates. For full service mechanism you should download the 1949 manual which is much more comprehensive on the entire machine. The 1958 manual is also very good for mechanism service.

https://www.automatice.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi?showdoc~605~Frigidaire~