Rebuilding Westinghouse laundromats

[3beltwesty]

DIAGRAM 3 BELT

DIAGRAM

 

[spin-it]

Thanks 3beltwesty for all the info, you sure know these machines inside and out. It's amazing that Westinghouse kept that proven design for 50 years. It obviously was a great drive system and had to make it easy for service since the same parts were used for that length of time. The SF laundromats of the 50's used that same design as a machine in the 90's? How about the Tall Tubs? In reading this thread I see that it was difficult to get the "boot", what about these drive parts? If you ever hear of an older Westy up in the Northeast for sale I'd love the heads up. I have really changed my passion towards Fl from TL macines over time.

 

[spin-it]

What can you tell me about the Westy Tall Tumbler? Looks like a cool machine. What years were they built? Do thet have the same 3 belt drive system and components as the SF?

 

[neptunebob]

I would like to see it...

How could you possibly have a Westinghouse washer from 1976 without it being a pile of rust? Every time I have seen one in the garbage I notice that the cabinet is badly rusted to the point of holes - They even earned the name Rustinghouse. It just seems like a poor design with thin metal that trapped moisture that was not improved until the Frigemore came out.

It seems that the 1950s laundromats were much less prone to rust. Or is that because all we see here are restored machines?

 

[3beltwesty]

The washer of 1976 actually went under 2 feet of salt water in Katrina in 2005 too. My dad bought the 1976 washer brand new, its front bearing gone noisy about 1999, it went until the summer of 2005 before the cage broke in the bearing. I was rebuilding it before Katrina. There is some rust on the bottom frame where salt sat for a few weeks. There is a small 1/4" hole that in the back tub below the bearing housing that got filled with goop and painted with rust bullet.

The only other washer my folks had was the 1947 Westinghouse, that got scrapped in 1976. As far as rust there seems to be really no difference in the build quality.

The basket on the 1976 machine is now out to replace the worn shaft. The machine was rebuilt in 2006 and just taken apart last month.

The 1976 Westinghouse dryer went under 2 feet of salt water too, only thing I did was remove the AC motor and washing it in a bath tub and relubed the bearings. The front dryer vent's "screen" one sees when one opens the door rusted out after Katrina. A new one was a few bucks off of Ebay. All I did with the dryer is wiped the insides and outsides with windex and towels. The heater element broke a few years after katrina, a new old stock one was 20 bucks from ebay. The element broke were a replacement standoff is added in the repair kit.

As far as functional rust on the 1976 washer; the rebuild of 2006 had me doing a repair to the lower part of the "tub front" piece with some marine epoxy. This still looks good after 4 years of usage, but I scored a new tub front from a Hunstsville repair place as a spare.

The aluminum trim on the 1976 has the typical aluminum pock marks due to living right by the water, and the house being flooded.

The 4 steel adjustment feet got rusted alot after Katrina; I just got new ones. The washer was apart when the house flooded, the spin basket, two pulleys and AC motor went under water too. I had a brand new motor I used in the 2006 rebuild, the old motor still works but why chance it.

About the worst concern with my 1976 westinghouse is the back tub right below the bearings small hole. I am going to grind of the patch of 2006 and re do it and use POR15 and exoxy paint.

In my house that got 2 feet of water, the 1990? dishwasher works, its solenoid was stuck. The wtser heater in the garage had to have its jet cleaned, it did this a few days after the storm. It is from 1990 thus the salt probably has me on borrowed time.

The 6" micrometer in this video has a rust stain since it went under salt water too!

 

[3beltwesty]

Lower frame of 1976 washer repainted after going underwater

With the washer, if did repaint the the lower say 1 foot of the frame after Katrina. I sanded off some Rust spots and just used a Rustoleum paint that "sort of" matched the 1976 Harvest Gold.

In the video you can see the low part of the frame is a different color. If the unit did not go underwater I am not sure if any paint would be required.

The offical way to pull the basket is to have the unit on its back, basket facing up. One can pull in out horizontally, BUT since one has just a few concrete weights the tub is higher. One has to push down too to clear the frame, and be carefull not to ruin the seal too.

One can see some surface rust at the leading edge of the basket.

 

[3beltwesty]

With the old worn shaft one always knows that the old washer

This crummy video done with a cellphone has the roar of the old shaft and loose roller bearing, with no back on the machine.

This was shot several years ago, post Katrina but before the lower 4 feet of sheet rock was replaced. Since the sheet rock runs horizontally; gutting the house has one busting out the lower sheetrock and removing the insulation too.

 

[3beltwesty]

dryer painted too

With the 1976 Westy dryer I just washed our the mud, they used rags, then painted it. This was a week or two after Katrina. I probably should inspect to see if the repaint trapped in job has any in corrosion since it has been 5.4 years now

 

[3beltwesty]

Another dryer shot after katrina

Here is the 1976 Westy dryer in Sept 2005 after the motor was washed in the bath tub and the bearings relubed

One can see some rust to the left of the motor. I am about the only person on my block that did not haul their washer and dryer to the curb after the got 2 feet of salt water.

Many things "one got to" right way could be fixed. The basic issue is one cannot clone oneself. Stuff one did not get to quickly got fused together or was a massive corroded mess. An old 1950's camera in sealed set of 2 zip lock bags was discovered in the mess a year later; the alumnium was just a bunch of powder in the bag

 

[3beltwesty]

Rust on Westy HORIZONTAL FRAME 2 inches above floor

Here is where I got the most rust after Katrina. Water collected and stayed on the horizontal L section on the lower frame. As far as percentage "gone" it is just a few percent. More of a cancer to be halted.

This area today will be redone again with POR15 instead of just rust remover and paint.

 

[3beltwesty]

More Westy parts hiden in the rubble

When Katrina hit the 1976 washer was being rebuilt and was already apart. The kitchen floor had a few inches of muck. The kitchen cabinets were "saved" because I was able to use the garden hose and clean out all the crap quickly. These are real pecan. All the "particle board" stuff turned to soggy corn flakes and came apart in chunks.

The bearings new seal I had for the washer for its bearings got corroded ude to salt water; the garder spring is high carbon thus rusts like the devil.

A mess of the small westy parts were in this kithcen mess or crud, the AC motor, pulleys etc. I did not find the door spring for about a year!

 

[3beltwesty]

Rust Bullet was used on the door

Here is where I used Rust Bullet on the door after Katrina. It had a few rust spots and a few places I added some putty. This seems to have worked very well after 4 years later.

Notice the pock marks at the bottom of the door, there has always been some rusting there probably for decades, but one really did not see it

 

[3beltwesty]

Wild color painted pulleys

Here I had some left over paint colors and just painted these too to stem off rust.

The Yellow of course is the potato pulley; the Blue the spin pulley and Red the Motor pulley and sliding section pulleys.

The red guys connect to the the 1725 RPM AC motor

The blue guy directly connect to the baskets shaft

Not shown is the another pulley they idler pulley

 

[3beltwesty]

Idler pulley and Big Spin Solenoie

Here is the westy's idler pulley in yellow/stipes.

The big Spin solenoid is at top.

It pushes in the outer red pulley (split pulley ) which is in red. This is the Bang one hears when going into spin mode and the Blue pulley is then driven real fast

 

[3beltwesty]

Westy preload springs on idler with missign felts

Here is the idler pulley and its two preload springs

There are several felt pieces that are in between the two leaves to reduce sqeaks.

at the bottoms towards the right are is one damper. Per each corner there are one pair of rubber shoes that are spring loaded has to rub on the sandwitch of metal plates. These shoes need to be grease free and rough too.

To goof around with the tub height; one has to either have the washer with a light 1 lb load and running; or have the 4 pairs of shoes not touching via a separator tool. Or one can just hoss the tub around up and down and note the average of the two heights.

 

[3beltwesty]

westy 6205 bearings on shaft.

Here is about how the two 6205 bearings go on the shaft #5303261165.

The brass piece that mates with the water seal is to the left of the new looking bearing.

The bearing to the right still works; but was retired. it is the original outer bearing from 1976 that never failed. The inner bearing ( next to the basket) failed about 1999 as far as noise, but ran until the summer of 2005 before the cage broke; 29 years.

This same 6205 bearing and water seal is in all WestinghouseFL washers from about 1940 to 1995.

The same bearing is use in snowmobiles

The right end of the shaft has the snap ring right by the bearing; then there is a gaint washer (real important),then the potato pulley, the the slinky clutch spring, then hub; then BLUE spin pulley. Note the shaft is keyed/rectangle this goes into the spin pulleys slot.

 

[3beltwesty]

basket install

One is suppose to have the washer on its back and place the basket in vertically.

Here I just used a 1x2 and pushed the tub down and placed the basket in horizontally

 

[3beltwesty]

westy e ring

westy e ring

 

[3beltwesty]

westy Potato pulley no on; plus 2 out of 3 belts

The roller bearing needs a good contact type high pressure grease

 

[3beltwesty]

DANGER area; worn HUB can cause failures

Here is where I once screwed up. I used a HUB piece that was the old 29 year one and the went through a few clutch springs and a potato pulley too

 

[3beltwesty]

the 3 westy belts

the Spin belt was drawn in

 

[3beltwesty]

tub front clamp bolt

To get the tub fronts red clamp installed was a bit if a challenge. I ended up get a longer threaded rod instead of teh stock bolt. No matter how many clamps and rigged clamps I was always about 1/4 inch short of engaging the threads. I had a brand new gasket and probably too much rtv and not enough grunt force. One the bolt is intalled one hits around the tub front with a mallet to seat the gasket and tightens then repeats

 

[3beltwesty]

shot showing front and water hose new feet

unit here was leaned over, Ince it is all togeher it weights approx 260 to 270 Lbs

the yellow plates purpose is to hold the balance weights

here one spot welded pem type nut got lost or was rusted gone; notice there are 4 screws to hold the retrofit nut

 

[3beltwesty]

Booting up

Booting up

 

[3beltwesty]

minor goofs to show us we know very little!

After I put the boot on I went to install this blue weight and had unclamp the boot and move the clamp so I could remove the boot again with this weight!

Those concrete weights need a tad of locktite too; not the killer type; just to keep the bolts from coming loose

 

[3beltwesty]

Kludge but it worked

This bottom weight required new screws. In replacing the nut on the yellow plate, no stock bolt would work, thus I just added a few washers. These old bolts were lost in Katrina, I am not sure if Westinghouse had a non standard bolt length on the old ones.

If too long they hit the tub front, if too short and only on thread is engaged.

 

[3beltwesty]

1976 westy in 2006 with a 5 weights in place

Originally I just painted washers parts odd colors so I could find them in the cluttered rubble of the house.

They machine almost has a Mardi Gras attire or comic book coloring scheme

 

[3beltwesty]

westy door now on; color match is fair but livable

before intalling the door test out the tub lamp!

 

[3beltwesty]

Another GOOF, Delector RING (clothes guard)

This ring was way too hard to install because when I epoxy painted the tub front, I had too much thickness where ring goes.

It was a bear to install.

There is a trick to install these, like a figure 8 and hand reversal gambit too.

This guard helps prevent stuff getting behind the basket

 

[3beltwesty]

1976 westy in operation washing

Unlike my new FL washer of 2010; the 1976 washer actually has the clothes washing IN water, not sprayed/tinkled on.

This LT570 machine in a 1978 CR test had the lowest water usage of any washer, 30 gallons max