tearing down an old hotpoint- and question of proper sleeve bearing lubricant.

[rollermatic]

i'll do the sleeve bearing question first. i can never remember how to lubricate a sleeve bearing properly. i know grease will ruin them quickly you folks have advised me in the past. this hotpoint has a very tight turning bearing right under the water seal and i'm hoping to get the seal out without ruining it (as there are no parts available) and properly lubricate both this top and the bottom bearing on this hotpoint motor.

fire away guys! i'm all ears!

 

[rollermatic]

this dishwasher is rough

but i just love these old hotpoint machines with the black pump assemblies and the 1725 rpm motors.

i know they don't clean worth shit but this was the first dishwasher style i ever worked on back in the 60's when i was about 13. i've had these dishwashers off and on all my life.

this one came from north carolina i think. picked it up when covid was goin on.

it's seen better days for sure but if nothing else i can get some parts from it. altho i am bound and determined to see it run again, at least for a few minutes before the motor completely fries due to a leaky seal or rusted bearing.

gotta work on the rust in the tub big time. none of it seems that deep, some is just surface discoloration turning into rust!

any words of wisdom on what to use on this rust would be met with glee!

 

[rollermatic]

first i tried to get the wash impeller out

without having to break it apart. i rigged up one of my "pullers" that i have been successful with in the past. sadly this one didn't work.

so i smashed it out carefully with a hammer and screwdriver. i have 5 more of these impellers i got on ebay last year, cheap too. around 10 bucks each.

i was mainly afraid of breaking the pump housing as i don't have extra of that part nor does ebay show any.

pump housing intact! impeller out! now to get motor off.

 

[rollermatic]

motor came out pretty easily

i must say, but tub has some major issues where rubber coupling attaches to tub.

i can fix it tho, i'm sure! i'm also dealing with same issue on a g.e. mobile maid machine.

when i get into that part of the work i will post a thread and pics.

this machine will run again, come hell or high water! probably high water as i'll bet pump seal is shot too!

 

[rollermatic]

motor off and entire pump area

full of crud! drain port completely clogged with same rusty crud! had to use a drill bit to open it up.

had a funky check valve built into the drain port that i have never see on any of these machines before.

stainless drain impeller actually came out very easily. i was surprised.

tub seal is my next area of concern. if it leaks i have no solution except again to run machine till it fries the motor and then scrap it for parts.

these old seals used a brass mating plate to mate with the bottom carbon seal and it was not replaceable on any of the machines i have had. it was built into bottom of lower pump.

this brass top peice does not want to come up that rusty motor shaft, even after some serious wire brushing.

i also need to get it out as said above so i can get to top motor bearing. it is the one that is extremely tight, almost frozen. my guess is tub seal leaked and fried the bearing?

ive got it saturated in pb blaster. gonna ever so gently attempt to see if it will move up the motor shaft after soaking a few days. if not i'll continue and simply use it like it is when machine is ready to be tested.

one good sign is the bottom black rubber part of the seal that contains the carbon mating surface is still very pliable and i can press it down a tad and it returns to it's position of pressing against upper brass ring.

 

[rollermatic]

that's it

for now. i'm working on 3 machines these days. when one bores me i switch to another one! all are G.E. including this hotpoint and an older g.e. impeller machine as well as a top load mobile maid.

g.e. and kitchenaid, my favs i guess. the majority of my collection is are these 2 brands.

when i start to repair tub bottom flange that rubber coupling attaches to i will update this post, or do a new one if this one has dropped off. as said above my mobile maid has the same problem. i intend to use a radiator clamp and jb weld on both. or if not a large radiator worm clamp (6 inch) then something else metal and thin and about 1/2 wide to basically build a new flange around the rusted wreckage of the old one.

you probably gotta be there to understand my vague description of how to repair this area. i'll take pics for anyone interested.

thx for lookin and if anyone has any advice on any of this prey, do tell!

(gotta admit, today has been a very enjoyable experience working on this machine. probably didn't hurt that i ate a gummy when i started!)

 

[appnut]

One of my two best friends in high school family lived in an early 1960s rental with a Hotpoint with the same timer dial and had a coppertone front panel. It was noisy. I don't think I ever could discern if the spray arm was rotating, it just sounded like a fountain. Kitchen was original and tis wwas in 1972 to 1974. The Caloric gas cooktop and wall oven were the exact same ones that were used on the Dick Van Dyke Laura Petrie kitchen.

 

[rollermatic]

funny how we notice

what appliances the sitcoms had on tv!

i am fortunate enough to have a flair double oven and range top like samantha had in her kitchen. dont use it but it will work.

this timer dial on the control panel i like cause it's the same one i had on that first dishwasher i ever brought home from the garbage! that little hotpoint! mine didn't have the bubble top spray tube in the center, this first one had a half of a spray arm attached to the center tube with a flow rate knob you could adjust to your liking.

my next step on this one is to fix that rusted center ring.

thx appnut!

 

[rollermatic]

a few pics of the tub rust

i've seen and had worse!

this dishwasher will never be a frequently used machine, if i can get it to run at all. if not, parts for my other 2 hotpoints that use this style pump!

would like to see it run once, even if it floods the place!

or i could put a plexiglass front on it and just run it to see the pump action! been wanting to do that with one of my dishwashers!

 

[thatwasherguy]

Can you please make a video of it once it’s running?

I’ve looked all over the internet for a video of one of these 1725 RPM Hotpoints running, and have never found anything. I’ve been curious to hear what they sounded like ever since Norgeway described them as sounding like “a chainsaw fighting a garbage disposal”. It looks like a beautiful machine. Good luck with the restoration!
Thanks,
Thatwasherguy.

 

[circlew]

Pete, it looks like you have your work cut out for you. You might try CLR to remove the rust stains. Bar Keepers Friend should also work, but take more effort. Hope you get it going.

 

[gansky1]

 

Good luck on your dishwasher, this is a fun one to work on - never saw a pump that tightly clogged.  Are your racks in good shape?

 

When my mother remarried in 1986, they bought a house with this same HP dishwasher.  Everyone in the house hated that machine except me, mediocre cleaning and the cacophony of irritating sounds were no deterrent, I thought it was perfect.  It was installed in a peninsula of the kitchen so you could open the cabinet doors on the back side and see the back of the tank and the mechanicals under it.  This just made the sounds and action even more interesting.   After the dry cycle, the smell of clean dishes and hot bakelite, vinyl and rubber was so unique to Hotpoint, their solid-tub washers had a similar scent.

 

[rollermatic]

thanks

for the comments. i am going to put a plexiglass front on this one as a novelty as i'd also love to see it in action.

i will post a video when i do!

thanks for the tip onn the clr too!

i do remember that smell now too! that bakelite smell that these machines had! brings back memories of my fixing that old hotpoint in the basement and then having to cart the dishes downstairs to wash them as it leaked too much around the door seal to use it upstairs in our kitchen!

they were noisy but i always thought the g.e. mobile maids were the loudest dishwashers i ever heard, these hotpoints didn't seem too bad to me. ofcourse compared to the one's today that use a few drops of water and take 3 hours to do a load, well i'll take the old noisy machines any day!

with this motor bearing issue who knows how this one will sound!

 

[rollermatic]

guess i got my answer

on how to lubricate the sleeve type motor bearings by using the search engine on this site to view previous threads.

3 & 1 motor oil sae 20.

 

[qsd-dan]

Zoomspout Turbine oil for a lighter weight oil, 10 weight.

3-in-One Electric Motor oil is a 20 weight oil.

 

[rollermatic]

thanks

sounds good, i'll find it on the web. have never seen it in the hardware stores. ebay will probably have it!

 

[qsd-dan]

I have purchased both at Ace Hardware.

 

[rollermatic]

Thanks

Will call them