Learning my ABC...

[turquoisedude]

Sunday dawned cloudy and rainy. YES! A perfect day to spend in the garage and not be guilted out by the dog. 

 

So I started by cutting a new gasket for the the vacuum breaker.   I managed not to cut my fingers - bonus.  The darn thing just kept reminding me of the cup for an athletic supporter...  Yeah, the varsol and paint fumes were getting to me...  LOL 

 

On reinstallation, I figured a coat of blue silicone wasn't going to hurt.  

 

[turquoisedude]

So, now I was ready to get the tub back in and start re-installing the spin and drive mechanisms and pulleys.  

 

[wiskybill]

tub drain...

Paul,

You could easily make a nut for the flange.

Purchase a plastic bathtub drain and hacksaw enough of the
threaded portion to create a nut.

Would make it stronger when the hose is attached.

Looking good so far!

Bill

 

[turquoisedude]

It seemed easy enough, but I made a near-fatal boo-boo with the order of the thrust washer, spring, and woodruff key mounted above the spin pulley.  When I tried to spin the tub manually, nothing happened...  

 

Here's the lesson learned - take lots of photos during disassembly!  These and the '55 Kelvinator manual got me out of this potential mess. 

 

Getting the agitate pulley off was a bit of a pain.  It was a LOT of a pain putting it back on again - EEESH!  I had to heat the pulley to loosen it up.  But when I tried to push it onto the agitator shaft, I kept pushing the shaft out.

A sledge hammer and a box of tiles helped.  Hubby would have been better in this case however... 

 

[turquoisedude]

While parts-shopping on Friday, I definitely remembered to get new belts. So on they went on Sunday!

 

It was going fine until Canyon said he was going to call the Eastern Townships Neglected Puppies helpline.  I told  him he couldn't dial the phone with his paws.  Never saw a dog flip me off before.... 

[this post was last edited: 7/12/2016-16:21]

 

[turquoisedude]

So I fed him, but I kept at it.   I wanted to get the pump back on.  

 

The good news was the substitute drain to pump hose I had fit the drain flange I cobbled in.  The bad news is that it was too big for the pump inlet...  Not a problem when you have lots of spare 1 1/2 flexible tubing lying around.  Full disclosure - I did coat the top of the inlet area with more blue goo.  The pump seal between the base and housing was shot, so I beefed that up with some liquid gasket.  

 

But there was just one thing I couldn't figure out... The pump is driven by a drive wheel that contacts the agitate belt, but I couldn't seem to make them connect.  I thought perhaps the drain hose would provide tension, but this didn't make any sense to me.  Yeah, I know, this is ME saying that... LOL    I figured I'd sleep on that one.   

 

 

[turquoisedude]

So for my last trick on Sunday, I figured I'd make some more creative use of weatherstripping.   

 

A replacement seal for a floor sweep made a good fitting sub for the gasket that had been at the rear of the washer top.  A little cut here and some blue goo to hold things in place and voila!

 

The top of the washer cabinet had a gasket that was rusty and too inflexible to re-use, so I called on my old pal closed-cell foam tape.  Again, some more blue goo to hold things in place and it seemed good to go. 

 

At this point I was ready to pass out from hunger, so I had a brief bath in varsol (my fingers looked like a Smurf's...) and I called it a day.  

 

[turquoisedude]

So on Monday July 11th, the first thing I did after putting on a pot of coffee was to consult the '55 Kelvinator manual.  That problem with the pump tension I was concerned about?  I simply had to install a spring to tension the pump.  Woo hoo!

 

With the pump safely installed, I figured it was high time I did something about water supply.  I had the original water valve but I honestly didn't expect it to be good.  When I tested the solenoid on the hot water inlet side of the valve, I found it was completely dead.  However, the coil on the '55 Norge solenoid that I replaced fit and still worked, so I tried it.  Much to my amazement, the thermostatic components in the valve still worked.  Huge bonus!

 

And of course, I couldn't forget the agitator boot.  The original one was pretty far gone and amazingly enough, I found a source for new ones!!  But before installing the agitator drive plate, I used my brand new grease gun to add some fresh grease to the drive shaft.  

 

I replaced the power cord and put the washer top back on... So what's next??

 

[turquoisedude]

I couldn't resist plugging it in....  And this what happened:

 

 

[turquoisedude]

But would it spin, especially after my near-miss???  Oh yeah!

 

 

[turquoisedude]

So, I figured it was a case of 'just add water'... LOL

 



 

 

[turquoisedude]

So I'm not quite ready to slot the ABC into the Ogden Laundry just yet...  I do need to fix that leaky pump (that won't be a big deal) and I do still need to test the water valve and hope that vacuum breaker doesn't leak. 

 

But then, oh boy... I've got a few more washers to play with than I thought I'd have this year...  Musical appliances anyone??

 

[ken]

Looking good Paul. And very ingenious. Another one saved.

 

[philr]

I'm so happy to see this! I can't wait to see it working in person!

 

[washerlover]

Paul, you are quite the MacGyver! Such simple yet innovative ideas to get the machine back in service. I was a little concerned about the adhesive door weatherstrip that it wouldn't be pliable/flexible enough to allow enough water to exit but it certainly did the trick! Thank you for the great videos and looking forward to more updates!

 

[peteski50]

ABC!!

This is such a awsome find and restore!!
Best Of Luck!!
Peter

 

[mrsalvo]

Paul,
You did a fantastic job. This is a great save. I usually don't follow restoring machines really well, but I understood what you were doing by the careful and good explanations you posted. You are very innovative.
I can't wait to see the final finished job, and the first wash load. Hope you post it here.

Barry

 

[Ultramatic]

 

 

What a great looking washer Paul. Congratulations. Can't wait to see it doing it's maiden wash.

 

[toploader55]

Necessity is the Mother of Invention.

Brilliant Paul. So glad to see that Handsome Little Bugger running.

Now... To find the Illusive "Flying Rubber Fins".

 

[combo52]

ABC O Matic Saved

Wow Paul that was quite a rebuild, it was neat to see that washer all apart and running again.

 

My parents first automatic was a 55 Kelvinator and it is probably one of the reasons that I am in the repair business today, as a kid I watched the local repair guy do at least 6 different repair jobs [ timer replacement, inlet valve rebuild, they removed the Delco motor and sent it out for rebuilding, new centrifugal switch, boot replaced under agitator, cabinet to pump hose replaced ] on that washer and my Father did a few more. I used to lay on the floor and watch the repair guy work on the washer.

 

Finely when the thing just would not spin anymore it was replaced with a CO-OP washer by Franklin in 1960 and my Dad left us kids play with it for a week or so outside before it was hulled away. Automatic Washers were not very well built or durable in the 1950s that's for sure.

 

Its really neat to see you getting this machine working Paul, can't wait to get up there some day and see it in person. I really think that you should take on fixing Combination washer-dryers after getting this going.

 

And to think you were having all this fun on my birthday, lol, look forward to seeing you guys at the Wash-In, Yay.

 

John L.

 

[turquoisedude]

Back to the ol' drawing board...

I only got down to Ogden around midnight Saturday and spent the day Sunday doing yard work (OK and a couple of garage sales...) but yesterday, I made time to look into the leakage issues I'd noted with the ABC-O-Matic.

 

I had noticed a bit of a drip at from the hose to the vacuum breaker assembly.  Piece of cake! A coating of that wonderful blue goo took care of that. 

 

[turquoisedude]

And there was still the pump housing drip.  No surprise - that original seal was broken and no doubt the source of the drip.  

 

This got a coat of blue silicone topped with a layer of the flexible black gasket compound.  Worked like a charm!

 

[turquoisedude]

I figured a full cycle test with water was in order... I was using the garden hose as a supply but the ABC cycled through the 'shampoo', wash, spin, rinse, overflow rinse, overflow water flush, and final spin.  Things got a little splashy, too... 

 

 

[turquoisedude]

And now....

BUT... I have a new leak when the washer spins. 

 

It seems to be coming from the right side of the damper plate under the washer.  This drops water on the agitate pulley and propels it around the base of the washer cabinet.  I'm guessing that the splatter build-up I cleaned off of the cabinet base was due to this leak which got into the bearings and mixed with grease to cause the grimy splatter. I also guess the leak is only happening when there is a fairly good level of water in the tub.

 

Sigh... 

 

So I have a couple of thoughts (yeah, I know, they're usually wrong...LOL) about where this could be coming from.  It could be a problem with the inner tub boot OR with the water seal at the bottom of the drive plate on the wash tub.   This really ticks me off 'cause I had both parts exposed and they seemed OK (note to self - get eyes checked).   And now I have a dilemma - August is going to be a month of crazy hell with Chris' mother, sister, and 3 nephews visiting from the 1st to the 18th.  I know I'm not going to get out of the kitchen long enough to make a triple Manhattan, never mind disassemble the ABC.  

 

But on the other hand, I have two weeks still and I'm armed with fresh memories of how to get the son-of-a-gun apart and back together again.  Oy!

 

And before I go off on another wild goose chase, if any of you other ABC or Kelvy owners have run into an issue like this, please let me know.  

 

[swestoyz]

I got lucky with my '59 Kelvinator.  I did take the outer tub boot out and cleaned everything and reassembled the lower boot with some RTV around both the tub and the outer tub. 

 

You say though that it leaks when the wash tub is full of water?

 

[turquoisedude]

Ben, it seems to leak when spinning out a full tub of water and during the overflow flood rinse.  I am scared to death that it's the tub seal that's on the tub drive shaft itself.  

 

Clearly the 55 Norge it's been sharing garage space with has been a bad influence... LOL

 

It better not leak from that wash tub - I found a brand-new production tub boot!

 

[turquoisedude]

Update on the ABC

So, I spent a pretty busy weekend down in Ogden getting ready for the visiting hoards who will arrive August 1st.  Even Hubby was not kvetching about having 9 working washers and 4 working dryers at my disposal in the Ogden Laundry.  I dredged out some sheets that were still in the box from our move from Mountain Lakes to Ogden in '07 and sheesh, were they dusty!

 

I was still of two minds as to whether I was up to taking the ABC apart again, so I compromised.  I popped the top off and ran some water into the tub in stages, to try and see where the leak was coming from.  Well, it didn't take long to see the drips...  Then I had a crazy idea (correction - yet another crazy idea...) - I tried running some hot water into the tub to soften the lower tub boot.  After a soak, I found I could just get my hand under the tub to the lower boot clamp with a stubby screwdriver, so I tried tightening the boot clamp. 

 

Amazingly, the drips slowed down!  But they didn't stop altogether so I will have to get that blasted tub out again and have a closer look at the boot.  I am hoping that it's not torn but I'll only know once I get to it again.  I'm really hoping that just removing it and reinforcing the seal with blue silicone goo will do it... 

 

I'm also hoping to get back down to Ogden earlier than Saturday to take another run at this.  The way I see it, if an ABC service rep could tear the washer apart, change a boot, and get the machine back together again in a typical service call, it's got to be doable...  

 

Keep yer fingers crossed for me!

[this post was last edited: 7/25/2016-19:52]

 

[philr]

I caught Paul in the act...

 

[philr]

Checking for leaks.

 

[christfr]

fun vids your getting there great work... now when your done just drop it in the mail and send it to my house