Great tutorial on the Unimatic Ben. The 1958's were always my favorite of the Frigidaire. I have replaced the bearing on one, and of course had to adjust the "frying pan" and replace the start capacitor, but that was as far into one, I ever got.
Saving a Unimatic - a Custom Imperial restoration
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felix
Active member
congrats from Brazil!
Man, this machine was perfect.
For the first time I could see how it is inside and how the transmission of a Unimatic works.
congratulations for this restoration !!!
Man, this machine was perfect.
For the first time I could see how it is inside and how the transmission of a Unimatic works.
congratulations for this restoration !!!
Really great documentation of the 58 rebuild, glad to see it shine in your basement. I've added the motor relays to my unimatics for some time now (it was Ben that researched what we needed originally from Grainger) and it solves the timer-stress problem once and for all.
Great job, as always, Ben and congrats on your efforts coming to such a beautiful finish.
Great job, as always, Ben and congrats on your efforts coming to such a beautiful finish.
Frigidaire!
Ben you did such a Great job on this awesome restore! Thanks for showing a lot of the details.
Best Of Luck
Ben you did such a Great job on this awesome restore! Thanks for showing a lot of the details.
Best Of Luck
Wow Ben what a great restoration job and documentation of the process! Hopefully that machine will run perfectly for years to come now, it's one of the best vintage washers to have by far! Not to mention it's so darn fun to see run!
Thanks Ben! That's great documentation to have here.
That's awesome. I wish it was mine. By the time I have space to keep one they will probably all be gone to washer heaven.
Thanks again, guys. While going through the motions of the restoration it became evident early on that this would be a great opportunity to document a full Unimatic rebuild.
With the rebuild done I just wish that 1957/1958 had not been recession years within the US economy and that more WCI-58 washers existed today so everyone that wants one could have one.
I'm hoping to do a write up on Unimatic oil pumps here shortly, and at some point dabble in 're-shoeing' the brake plates with new pads (thanks Bud for the tip on the material - .060 sail cloth!), as well as exploring the lip seal version of the mechanism support nut to see if we can install a new lip seal for the '47 through '56 models. Lastly, documenting my first experiences of machining with the creation of additional bearing tools!
Ben
PS - I just re-read through this post and I apologize for the many grammatical errors throughout. Most of it was written live on the site, under the gun of taking care of my 19 month old daughter, LOL. Wish we had a way to go back and do approved edits on potential archival posts
With the rebuild done I just wish that 1957/1958 had not been recession years within the US economy and that more WCI-58 washers existed today so everyone that wants one could have one.
I'm hoping to do a write up on Unimatic oil pumps here shortly, and at some point dabble in 're-shoeing' the brake plates with new pads (thanks Bud for the tip on the material - .060 sail cloth!), as well as exploring the lip seal version of the mechanism support nut to see if we can install a new lip seal for the '47 through '56 models. Lastly, documenting my first experiences of machining with the creation of additional bearing tools!
Ben
PS - I just re-read through this post and I apologize for the many grammatical errors throughout. Most of it was written live on the site, under the gun of taking care of my 19 month old daughter, LOL. Wish we had a way to go back and do approved edits on potential archival posts
christfr
Well-known member
wow how awesome is that.... such wonderful work I know I am very very impressed indeed.. fantastic job my hat is off to you. wish I had your talent.. cheers from st louis and a great new year to you... wow
cornutt
Well-known member
This is fantastic work. Reading and looking at the pictures was like following a race car restoration. Congratulations!
Thanks for the memories
I've enjoyed every bit of this post.
What great memories of this machine: the startling immediate transition from agitation to spin with that click, and the high speed spin ending with the bouncing agitator coming to a full stop. Good stuff
I've enjoyed every bit of this post.
What great memories of this machine: the startling immediate transition from agitation to spin with that click, and the high speed spin ending with the bouncing agitator coming to a full stop. Good stuff
As for the brake material ....
that Ben is talking about in Reply# 46,
I noticed in the multimatics the brake material GM used was cotton based.
What lead me to believe that this is a cotton material is the fact that 3 of the 5 multimatic transmissions I've rebuilt had water in them. Every brake assembly I took out had a tremendous amount of rust, evenly across both sides of this brake material, to the point the brake assemblies were not able to separate. Only after prying the metal plates apart would it release and tearing the cotton friction material. Even though the original cotton material was submerged in oil, the oil was totally replaced by the water.
BTW ..... one important lesson to take away from this! If you ever get your hands on a multimatic do not power it up. The very first thing to do is drain the oil and check for water. WHY? If water got into the transmission, the brake will be fused together with rust because of this cotton material. Operating it will destroy the transmission when it goes from spin to stop. It will agitate and spin just fine .... but when the machine goes from full spin to stop when the motor is no longer in spin mode, the clutch is forced past neutral and into agitate. At this point the spinning mass slams the brake assembly on the spin tube and rips the 6 clips that hold the brake assembly together and strips the inner brake cup teeth on the spin tube. A very ugly and violent death! pic #3. After removing this brake, it was found the brake plates were totally bonded together with rust with the cotton in the middle again.
If you drain the oil and find water, you can almost guarantee the brake will be corroded together. Even a small amount of rust between the brake plates, it may still work as it should, but the rust will tear up the cotton friction material in no time. When the brake doesn't work, you will get agitation in spin mode.
I was able to acquire 2 NOS brake assemblies. Both of them still in boxes but one had gotten wet. This one had again held water and the plates rusted together. The other was pristine and showed the cotton cloth that GM had originally used. After some research I found an article that talked about a hydraulic brake built in the 50's that used a heavy weave cotton as a friction material constantly saturated in oil.
I ordered a very heavy cotton sail cloth or also known as oil cloth and used an oil resistant contact cement (pic #1) to bond the cotton to the brake cup as seen in the pic #2. I have reman'ed 3 brake assemblies using this material and it has worked very well. If you wanted to get really slick you could order "kevlar tape" that is 3.5" or wider by the foot on ebay. The thickness of the sail cloth is about .055" and the kevlar is about .065" The extra thickness will make no difference, but the added benefit of the kevlar is that it will not absorb and hold water .... if water ever got into the transmission.
Bud - Atlanta
that Ben is talking about in Reply# 46,
I noticed in the multimatics the brake material GM used was cotton based.
What lead me to believe that this is a cotton material is the fact that 3 of the 5 multimatic transmissions I've rebuilt had water in them. Every brake assembly I took out had a tremendous amount of rust, evenly across both sides of this brake material, to the point the brake assemblies were not able to separate. Only after prying the metal plates apart would it release and tearing the cotton friction material. Even though the original cotton material was submerged in oil, the oil was totally replaced by the water.
BTW ..... one important lesson to take away from this! If you ever get your hands on a multimatic do not power it up. The very first thing to do is drain the oil and check for water. WHY? If water got into the transmission, the brake will be fused together with rust because of this cotton material. Operating it will destroy the transmission when it goes from spin to stop. It will agitate and spin just fine .... but when the machine goes from full spin to stop when the motor is no longer in spin mode, the clutch is forced past neutral and into agitate. At this point the spinning mass slams the brake assembly on the spin tube and rips the 6 clips that hold the brake assembly together and strips the inner brake cup teeth on the spin tube. A very ugly and violent death! pic #3. After removing this brake, it was found the brake plates were totally bonded together with rust with the cotton in the middle again.
If you drain the oil and find water, you can almost guarantee the brake will be corroded together. Even a small amount of rust between the brake plates, it may still work as it should, but the rust will tear up the cotton friction material in no time. When the brake doesn't work, you will get agitation in spin mode.
I was able to acquire 2 NOS brake assemblies. Both of them still in boxes but one had gotten wet. This one had again held water and the plates rusted together. The other was pristine and showed the cotton cloth that GM had originally used. After some research I found an article that talked about a hydraulic brake built in the 50's that used a heavy weave cotton as a friction material constantly saturated in oil.
I ordered a very heavy cotton sail cloth or also known as oil cloth and used an oil resistant contact cement (pic #1) to bond the cotton to the brake cup as seen in the pic #2. I have reman'ed 3 brake assemblies using this material and it has worked very well. If you wanted to get really slick you could order "kevlar tape" that is 3.5" or wider by the foot on ebay. The thickness of the sail cloth is about .055" and the kevlar is about .065" The extra thickness will make no difference, but the added benefit of the kevlar is that it will not absorb and hold water .... if water ever got into the transmission.
Bud - Atlanta
One year later...
Quick update - the oil pump write-up has been completed! Link below:
www.automaticwasher.org
Quick update - the oil pump write-up has been completed! Link below:
Frigidaire Unimatic Oil Pump Seals - explained
Hello fellow AWers - It's hard to believe I restored the '58 Unimatic about this time a year ago. During that write-up I had mentioned that I had plans to detail out the differences between the two Unimatic oil pumps, but more importantly provide cross reference information for both styles so...
www.automaticwasher.org
BEN!!!
I can't believe I missed this entire thread. But I'm glad I got to meander through it. Beside myself with awe and amazement at your meticulous, thorough restoration and the beautiful fruits of your labor. My favorite Unimatic pair too. And John & Tom, thank you both for your involvement and contribution.
I can't believe I missed this entire thread. But I'm glad I got to meander through it. Beside myself with awe and amazement at your meticulous, thorough restoration and the beautiful fruits of your labor. My favorite Unimatic pair too. And John & Tom, thank you both for your involvement and contribution.
YAY
Love Seal All !!! TOO!
Ive just updated my work too.
Love Seal All !!! TOO!
Ive just updated my work too.
