Solid Tub Norge - knocking for parts!

[swestoyz]

Hey gang,

A few months ago some may recall that Todd out in CA was looking for new homes for his prized possessions, with one of those being an early solid tub Norge. There are only a few washers/designs left on my short list, with a solid tub Norge being one of them, so I offered to find a spot for it in Iowa!

Once it arrived it was apparent this machine was from California due to the lack of rust usually found on machines that surface here in the Midwest. Todd was very transparent that the machine was leaking oil from the bottom, and boy he wasn't kidding! Oil usually leaks from machines for one of two reasons:

1. A critical oil seal is no longer sealing and oil is flowing past it
2. Water has compromised the gearcase and oil looks for exit points that normally wouldn't be an issue

I had no intentions of tearing this machine down for a full restoration once it got here, but I also wanted to see what the viability status would be for this machine in terms of being able to perform a full restoration. There also appeared to be a burnt dark spot on the control panel lens, which was not obvious at first what the cause was, along with a stuck Time-Line timer.

The full model number is an AW-450, which from my research was in production from 1953 thru at least 1955, which the 450 model receiving updates thru the 1955 and 1956 model years with different panel and control updates. The 450 was the first TOL Norge model made that included a lighted control panel, gold accents, the safety spin lid, and white porcelain wash tub. The original Time-Line model AW-422 was introduced in early 1952.

 

[swestoyz]

Once inside I made quick work of getting the agitator off with an Agi-tamer, and pulled off the agitator block with the Robinair Norge agitator drive block removal tool.

Already things were not looking good as it was quite obvious that water had gotten through the block to the agitator shaft, and the original agitator shaft seal was absolutely done. While I didn't use a caliper to measure the play it sure felt like roughly 1/32" play between the agitator shaft and the center post assembly.

After putting a set of clutch head driver set on order I cut the original belt off. Thankfully the transmission was able to spin freely, as well as the tub with the brake disengaged. But man, what an oily mess!

 

[swestoyz]

Next up was to see what the cause was for the burnt spot on the control panel. This was my first round with a Time-Line control and wow, what an amazing piece of engineering! There was a date stamp of 6-28-55 on the timer housing, putting this machine in around the summer of '55. In theory this is really good as there were several engineering changes that occurred between 1953 and 1955 that make this particular 450 a bit better than some of the originals from 1952/1953.

The grease used to lubricate the feed screw and latch mechanisms on the timers must not age well as everything was absolutely frozen. It took a complete disassembly of the whole timer to get the latch free from the feed screw.

While extracting the timer it became obvious what had happened. A wire was pinched arched on the timer assembly, causing the plastic wire holder to ignite. While the warping on the control panel lens is not fixable, the rest of it will clean up nicely.

 

[swestoyz]

Now armed with the appropriate clutch head drivers the center post assembly was able to be removed, along with the wash tub. Sadly, the further I got into the machine the more my hopes were getting dashed. The agitator shaft had seen several years of use with water rusting away at the shaft, causing wear on the center post assembly bushing.

With the wash tub and outer tub removed, it was obvious that water had gotten into the transmission as the drive side of the machine was being torn apart. The water-oil mix was all over the upper trust bearing on the clutch shaft.

While draining the oil from the transmission, water would pour out every so often while the oil attempted to breathe out the breather hole.

 

[swestoyz]

And finally, on Saturday I was able to get the transmission cracked open to see how things looked in there. After seeing the condition of the agitator shaft I did consider the idea of trying to use an upper bearing from a plastic center post for a later perforated tub machine, and press it into the diecast solid tub post and machine down the agitator shaft and use a metal filler to rebuild the point on the shaft that interfaces with the bushing.

But, after seeing the condition of the drive pinion, that was the final straw. Most of the teeth have worn down to a nub and sadly the pinion used on the perforated tub machines is different from the solid tub machines.

So, at the moment it looks like this old girl may not see another wash day, which isn't the end of the world. If anyone happens to have a spare solid tub Norge transmission that they are tripping over, I'd be happy to use it to give this Norge a second chance at life.

At a minimum I'd be looking for:

34-0856 - drive pinion and shaft assembly
34-6866 - transmission drive tube assembly (rust has also caused issues with the special bronze bearing, 34-0123, on the suspension leaf assembly)
43-0161 - agitator shaft and rocker arm assembly (or a full assembly including the crank)
34-6215 - center post assembly w/ bushing

I was able to find the last updated versions of the solid tub agitator shaft seal assembly (34-7117) and basket shaft seal (34-2421), so from a seal perspective this would have worked I had not run into issues with the drive pinion.

Again, if anyone has leads on a transmission or any of these parts, please feel free to drop me a PM. Thank you!

Ben

 

[cfz2882]

worn gear

there are companies out there that could create a replacement gear-probably out of steel-to replace that nylon one..small ,simple gear would be easy to recreate.There might also be an"off the shelf"gear that could be made to work.

 

[repairguy]

Ben this washer couldn’t have gone to a better place in hopes of a second life. I hope you find a transmission and are able to get this really cool machine going again.

 

[washerlover]

Ben, thank you so much for rescuing this machine and I hope you can bring it back to life. I just never had the time to dig into it and know these machines are rare as hen’s teeth so anything you can do, I’m with you in spirit! (I guess for me now that would be “aloha spirit!”)

Cheers,

Todd

 

[swestoyz]

Thanks for the good thoughts, everyone. It's a total long shot to ask for help with parts, knowing full well that it will probably take finding a donor machine. Hopefully that may come sooner rather than later (or later as in decades).

Brendan - that is a good suggestion. I checked out a few sites yesterday of vendors who do custom spur gears. Sadly, the sizing on this particular gear is really odd in comparison to most standard sizes. I may check out Rush Gears out of PA to see what the price quote would be in both nylon as well as steel.

Bore - 5/8"
Face width- 23mm (tooth width)
Hub length - 13.75 mm
Hub diameter - 26.75mm
Overall diameter - 36.75mm (due to tooth damage this is an approx. measure)
Tooth count - 20
Tapered Pin hole diameter - 3/16"
Pitch (approx.) 15.205 @ 20 degrees

Ben

 

[christfr]

very cool if anyone can save and fix her you can

 

[peteski50]

Norge!

Ben Best of Luck with this washer I hope you get all the parts