My next project, a WO-65 Unimatic!

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joelippard

joelippard

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Here is the next machine I'm working on.  I've already cleaned up the cabinet and added a grounded cord.  I'm soaking the pulsator nut with PB Blaster in preparation to remove it and replace the water bellows.  The transmission seems to be in good shape but I'm going to change the oil and clean up all the filth under the machine and on the snubber.  It's got some serious fan noise going on too.  Pulsator column was changed at some point from the original salt shaker, and the cap is long gone

joelippard++4-6-2011-21-11-36.jpg
 
Cool machine! I am surprised that a later 'jet cone' style pulsator fit this model. I look forward to seeing more photos as this progresses!
 
Oh, congrats on the pretty find Joe! A few years ago I had Robert add my scanned copy of the WO repair manual in the Service Manual section in case you need it. The pulsator column/soap dispenser and rings look like they may have come from a 1957 Unimatc as the column and the rings appear to be grey.

If you need pictorials on opening up the transmission, there are plenty of Unimatic tear downs archived (Jed's '55 rebuild comes to mind for your fan noise issue, as well as my '56 torque spring tear down for changing the oil). Keep us posted on the progress. Can't wait to see it washing again!

Ben
 


Yes, you really have to get your hands on one of these to appreciate how solidly it's built. It's like a tank! Fortunately the transmission is in good shape and will not need to be torn down. I will however do an oil change. I'd like to hear ideas on how to shut that fan up. I have several "engineering" ideas but more never hurt. I've learned so much from reading this website!
 
Hi Joe, the reason the fan is making noise is the simple fact that the pump impeller screw has loosened over the years.  Its a quite common occurrence.

 

Check this thread out, its about fixing the motor start switch, but all you have to do is to go as far as the pump impeller screw.  I would remove the screw completely and put thread locking solution on its threads.

http://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?18700
 
Great score there - you'll love this washer!  It looks like you'll have some tightening to do on the pump impeller screw, as others said, it's pretty common on Unimatics.  I had my 58 apart a year or so ago to work on the motor start switch as well.  Heat is your friend for even a loose pump screw, I've only had one turn right out.  By the looks of the spray around the cabinet, you have or had a bit of a water leak as well.  If the pump seal is OK, hopefully resetting and tightening it will solve that problem too.

 

 

gansky1++4-7-2011-07-22-47.jpg
 
did a little more investigating

looks like it will definetly need some pump work and a new set of hoses, good thing ACE sells that stuff by the roll.

A few questions. How can I best tell if the pump seals are bad?

What's the best way to remove the pulstor nut on a Unimatic?
 
Hi Joe

How can I best tell if the pump seals are bad?

There are only two seals, the cork seal can easily be recut, this will be bad for sure as it gets destroyed when you open the pump.  The center impeller seal might still be good (we hope).  You need to take off the impeller and inspect the seal.  It has two parts, the rubber bellows and the carbon face disk.  The carbon face disk is most likely ok, sometimes you can see a tear in the rubber bellows.  If its ok, you want to place a bead of silicone under it where it sits in the pump impeller.

 

The pulsator nut can be removed with a 3/4" wrench, heating the nut just a bit and some light pounding on the wrench with a mallet.
 


Thanks for checking up on me Robert.  I've taken a bit of a rest from it.  I cut myself pretty badly with a slip of the knife while wiring in the new cord so I'm slightly compromised.  After I get into the pump I'll likely put some pics up here to show it's condition.  I may need some hand holding on this one since I've never been in this territory before, but the review of the manuals makes it much easier to approach along with the knowledge found here.  I have got it in top order cosmetically though, just gotta get the innards up to snuff.  Thanks again
smiley-smile.gif
 
A work in progress

Decided today to abandon work on the top and head down below.  Changed the oil and cleaned the filter screen.  15 ounces came out and I put 15 back however, I see in the WO-65 manual that it holds 23-25.  What's the consensus on this? 

 

Now it's time to get the snubber off and cleaned up, remove the rotten hoses, then tear into the pump.
 
An Update

Back at it again today.  Into the pump, the screws for the snubber/pump plate came with ease.  I lightly heated the impeller screw and it came easily too, or so it seemed -- so old and rusty that it broke right off.  Here are a few pictures from today.  I need help.  What is the best and safest way for me to get whats left of this screw out of the motor shaft without causing any damage to the shaft?  I tried holding the shaft with a vice grip and turning what was left sticking out of the screw with another one, basically it's just chewing off what's left there hanging out.  Another piece of information I need is how long should a replacement screw be since I have no way of know how long this original is?

joelippard++4-13-2011-18-45-51.jpg
 
Hi Joe, the carbon disk can be turned over and you can use the other side after cleaning it, as for the rubber bellows in the pump impeller you need to pull that out and inspect it.  Its not the top that's important, its the sides where need you to look for a tear.

 

As for the pump screw, I've only had one break off for me and I ended up using another motor because I didn't want to deal with it.  You are probably going to have to drill it out by starting out with tiny bit and slowly increase the bit size until you have all but the outer shell left.  Then you might be able to chilsle the rest out.  I've done that sucessfully with other broken screws and it saves the original threads.

 

As for the length, I believe its about 1/2" inch, but you should probably buy varing size screws and see what fits best.  This is going to be a challenge.  I've had worse, but I suspect this machine was in a humid environment which makes it even more challenging.
 
Enough of the screw broke off that you'll be able to match the size and thread pitch when you try to find a replacement. Below is a photo of the impeller screw from the '56. Doesn't look to be much longer than an inch to 1 1/2 inch or so, but I'll let you be the judge. Buy multiple sizes to see which works best as a good hardware store should have similar screws on hand.

The end bell has some rust on it, leading me to believe the seal had been leaking for sometime, and certainly had something to do with the screw rusting to the motor shaft. The bronze washer on the pump side looks good, as well as the carbon seal. As Robert mentioned, the bellows is the next source to look to.

Good luck on pulling out the broken screw. Been there, done that. No easy way of getting around it.

When you get around to putting it back together, Greg gave me a great tip awhile back - put some silicone on the bottom of the bellows portion of the seal, to ensure the rubber face seals against the pot metal impeller.

Ben

swestoyz++4-13-2011-21-55-13.jpg
 
IIRC, that pump screw is a 28 thread, 1 inch long.  Very odd screw.  I think I ended up at a specialty machine parts company in town to find it.  Is there some of the screw protruding from the motor shaft?  If there is enough to get a vise-grip pliers onto, heat that thing up with a torch, dab a candle stick on the screw where it meets the shaft (wax will be drawn into the threads and help lube it)  and then turn it out with the pliers snapped on tight. 

 

Try not to pull on the top of the bellows-spring portion of the seal assembly.  As the guys said, if the rubber bellows are OK, this is easily reused.  I think I can see a bit of corrosion at the bottom of the impeller shaft from the inside which would indicate that water sat in the impeller shaft sleeve.  I put a light schmear of silicone around the impeller-bellows end that seats onto the metal and on the carbon seal where it meets the bellows (keep the outer face that meets the bronze seal clean of silicone and lightly oiled on final reassembly as it says in the manual) and the back of the bronze face seal that seats into the pot-metal pump housing. I have one corroded pump housing that seeped water so I sealed up all non-moving parts water-tight.   Silicone is fairly easy to rub or scour away if and when you need to service these parts again, and can greatly extend the life of fairly fragile parts that were never designed to last 60+ years.  You can see the barnacled relic that's pumping water tonight in my 58;  it ain't pretty but it works perfectly and nary a drop of water gets loose. 

gansky1++4-13-2011-22-24-39.jpg
 
STUCK IMPELLER SCREW

I would try Gregs suggestion for heating the shaft and trying to turn out what is left of the screw first. But if it breaks off you want to drill out only the shank of the screw leaving the threads in place then take the proper size male tap and re-clean the threads inside the motor shaft. I would do a parts search to see if a new water seal assembly can be found after going to all this trouble, I an sure these are still out there, I will look and see if I have any and let you know, Good Luck.
 


I'm going to first try the least evasive method with the wax, if that doesn't work then out comes the drill.  I've had good success with drilling old screws out before so we shall see.  It would appear that before this machine was taken out of use that there had been a pretty good leak of some fashion going on because there has been a good deal of rust to deal with also, the outlet hose had a lot of rust in it, most likely the machine was used with water that had a high iron content.  The cooling fan had definetly been spraying water around under there at some point.  I shudder to think of spraying water being that close to an open style motor.
 

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