Transmission lubricant

[ragnboneman]

I read someplace the lubricant for a wringer washer might be grease or oil.
No idea what it should be.
My simplicity ( Canadian speed queen ) has what looks like wire rope grease or open gear oil.
THICK !

No smell like a gear oil with a sulphor friction modifier.

I was thinking a transmission oil like trans 60 might be OK or a 80 w 90 gear oil

The Trany in the simplicity is old with a horizontal input pulley.
The agitator is aluminum
It might be a lot older than other wringers.
Might be a quirk of Canadian Speed Queens and Simplicty washer that they were made of earlier generations of parts.

No manuals no parts no one can tell you much other than it was built in Southern Ontario

 

[launderess]

SQ like many others including Maytag used "grease" for wringer drive lubricant.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/404133112771

Transmission called for something more fluid (again as in common with Maytag and other automatic and semi-automatic) washing machines of era.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/255788005896

SQ does have a modern transmission lubricant on offer.

https://www.goldcoinlaundry.com/online-store/27243P-Speed-Queen-Transmission-Oil-p440595814

Tear down and repair of 1960 SQ washer transmission.

IIRC SQ used same or similar version of their "Arc-Cuate" transmission on wringer washers.

 

[thatwasherguy]

Based on the description Launderess gave...

I'd say that the wringer head likely is using NLGI #2 grease, and that the transmission is likely using a non-detergent oil of some kind. I believe Maytag's oil was 90 weight if I remember right. Both of these things should be readily available at any auto parts store. If you wanted to find out the exact viscosity of your SQ's oil, you could send a sample of the original stuff off to a testing lab, and they could tell you.
Hope this helps,
Thatwasherguy.

 

[ragnboneman]

I can't Be sure this transmission has the same lubrication requirements as an American speed queen since the transmissions are a different design.
This is an awful first photo but you can see the black ooze coming from this trany ( not mine its a model 1300 ).

The clean unit is my simplicity
Same transmission, same horizontal input shaft but nothing is coming out of mine and where I think its grease filled.

How far back does this go?

Video link in post two.
That's Royal purple gear lube.
I know that product we use it at work in the bearings on our Mathers and Platts pumps ( large 500 hp multi stage de-watering pump )
Hmm... at a sister plant same pumps used a light turbine oil, a Steam oil actually to handle water contamination ( and the foreman was a stationary engineer, a steam guy VS my current plant thats doesn't have a first class stationary engineer )

Imperial oil used to make gear guard.( still does but I usually just see it in spray can for spot application )
You would pour in over and into gear boxes that were not completely sealed.
The product has solvents that would flash off and leave you with a very thick oil that clings to parts and does not drip.

The Weather is warming up...
I will get into the Simplicity in a few more weeks to see what is in it.
But it does look like Gear guard on wringer drive shaft up the side of the machine.

That's awful thick black stuff.
I use to put it on Ear piece of telephone hand sets as joke

 

[qsd-dan]

Gear style oil turns black and gets thick with age and use. The really old stuff (mineral oil) would turn black and get thick with no use at all.

I'm not sure what age the machine is but back in the really old days, GL-1 mineral oil was the oil used in these applications, which came in 90 and 140 straight weights. One of our members used it in his Speed Queen transmission and stated that it looked, acted, and smelled like Maytag transmission oil. It also sounded like it when the bottle was shook.

GL-1 oil is still available, it's used in Ford Model A applications.

See Reply #8 in the link below:

https://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?92884_39

 

[ragnboneman]

The old lubricant in there is probably contaminated and oxidized.
So I guess there would be no point in adding fresh oil without a cleaning.

Would it be except able to flush it with varsol and refill or would I need to strip and scrub.

I have no idea how this machine comes apart, not even sure if I can get the aluminum agitator to come off the shaft.

How much gear oil to add?

As said before Alliance has no idea what a 1300 speed queen is because it was made in Canada

 

[swestoyz]

I take it the transmission housing looks similar to the parts diagram below. If so, you’d be safe running a GL-1 90 weight oil. Fill just up to the top of where the pinion meets the main drive gear and you should be good to go. Speed queen never specified an amount but rather sold containers with a predetermined amount without calling it out in any manual.

Ben

 

[launderess]

Hi Ben!

How's every little thing?

L.

 

[ragnboneman]

Yup thats an American SpeedQueen washer transgression.
But its not the same unit that Macgraw Edison of Canada used.
Ours are more of a Maytag style.

Cant prove it but they may have made a Johnson powered version under the under the Simplicity name.

The Machines made by GSW ( Beatty.... Today A O Smith of Canada ltd ) might share a transmission.
All were made within a short drive of each other...

Interesting home made gas powered washer.
it has a Speedqueen like features such as the horizontal input shaft for the trany
The fact someone made this conversion leads me to think there was a factory version

https://c8.alamy.com/comp/KF2FR7/an-antique-electric-wringer-clothes-washer-appliance-KF2FR7.jpg