Work Continues Tonight on the Turquoise 1958 GE

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Fingers crossed hoping #2 will work, always nice to have an extra in stock!! Enjoyed seeing your bathroom redo tonight again on HGTV. Terry
 
Hi Robert,
Thanks for the great restoration pictures; I really enjoy seeing the workings of these great vintage machines. I hope you are able to have two running machines, the right man is on the job.
I am interested in the Water Level Diaphragm, I have never seen that particular design before, and I presume it is used instead of a pressure switch?

All the best.
Hugh
 
Robert, the pics are great! Love those GE washers. Question: Do you use the same old oil that was in the tranny, or do you refill it with new oil?
 
Hugh the way the water level diaphragm works is when the spin tub is full of water, it starts to overflow, after four or five gallons of water has overflowed into the outer tub, the weight of the water presses the rubber diaphragm down which starts agitation.

Jimmy, on my white 1958 machine I did completely rebuild that 1960 transmission, including changing the oil. A GE tranny takes some 65 or 70 oz of oil, about three times the amount of a Whirlpool or Unimatic tranny. So before I even consider doing that again I want to make sure one of those spare transmissions will work. Since the GE transmission only swirls the oil around and doesn't pump the oil through channels it should be fine as it is.

Allen there is a thread started about the TV show in the Super Forum.
 
Hi Robert,
Thanks for the explanation; I was forgetting that the GE Filter Flo is a solid basket design whereas its UK cousin is a perforated basket design.
Just a thought; a solid basked design must use much less water and energy than a perforated basket design, I wonder why manufacturers did not look at this design again I am sure it would be easier to engineer a solid basket top load washer to meet Energy Star guidelines.

All the best.
Hugh
 
Are # 2 and 3 the pre-1960 design with no spin brake? I hope so. It would be nice to have one of the machines with that great GE "coast-to-a-stop" action. If neither 2 or 3 work is it possible to rebuild one like you did the 1960 tranny? Perhaps take the best parts of all 3? Good luck!
 
Hugh

"Just a thought; a solid basked design must use much less water and energy than a perforated basket design, I wonder why manufacturers did not look at this design again I am sure it would be easier to engineer a solid basket top load washer to meet Energy Star guidelines."

How many people though would want to revert back to small wastubs and therefore more time doing that oooh sooo dreary chore of doing laundry ;)

Pat
 
Hi Les, yes both transmission #2 and #3 are pre-1960 no brake transmissions. To answer your question about whether I can take and combine two or three of the trannys into one good one, that's a possibility, but it depends on what is wrong with #2 and #3. If all three have a broken Anti-Indexing Pawl, then no, since I don't have that part, we're out of luck. If one of those spare trannys has a good Pawl but is inoperative for some other reason then there is a chance that I could repair the bad tranny. I just hope that #2 or #3 works without the need of having to open one of those up; it’s a really big job.
 
Robert, what does the anti-index pawl look like? Is it inside the tranny housing? Also, what causes it to disengage when the washer goes into the spin cycle?
 
Les the Anti-Indexing Pawl is a plastic bar that’s adapted to fit into a notch on the metal Anti-Index Snubber Band. The pawl is attached to a rotating shaft and normally the pawl faces downward and points to the 6:00 position. Because of a spring on the shaft, the pawl is only allowed to move counterclockwise from 6:00 all the way up to 12:00. The pawl is restricted from moving clockwise from the 6:00 position up to 12:00. When the washer is in Activation mode, the motor turns the transmission pulley and internal components clockwise so the pawl catches on notch on the Snubber Band and prevents the tub from rotating clockwise.

I'm doing this from memory, so it’s hard to explain and even harder for someone to picture in their head how this works without a visual aid. Tonight I will find and post a picture of the tranny parts including the pawl and snubber band that will make it much more clear.

Les do you remember your mom's solid-basket GE washer before it had tranny problems and started to spin during Activation? How much indexing (if any) did the wash tub?

Eddy does your Pink '58 GE washer tub index at all?

Inquiring minds need to know! :)
 
Thanks for the pawl info. I can't wait to see pics of the tranny interior. The best I can remember, my mom's 59 had very little tub movement during agitation. The tub wasn't as tight as the ones in the post 60 trannys that clicked & locked into place. There was a slight swaying back and forth as the activator made a stroke with slightly more movement clockwise than counterclockwise as this is the direction the motor rotates during agitation. Those plastic GE pawls much have been notorious for breaking because mom's broke when the machine was about 12 years old. For awhile she (or I) would hold the tub ring still during agitation but this got tiresome and eventually the tranny started having trouble getting up to full speed on spin so my parents finally bought a new washer because the GE repairman said he didn't have parts for the pre-60 trannys anymore.
 
"There was a slight swaying back and forth as the activator made a stroke with slightly more movement clockwise than counterclockwise as this is the direction the motor rotates during agitation."

Thanks Les, that is exactly what I had pictured in my head that is was suppose to do, it's nice to have confirmation.

Tom yes the only way to find out if one of those spare transmissions has a good pawl is to install it, put the tub back in, fill the machine with water and towels and see what the tub does, it's not a quick job in any way shape or form. Tonight I'm going to try #3 and see what happens. Stay tuned.
 
Robert bringing GE to life!

Robert:

What a great little machine! Had to laugh...Hayley saw that crumpled activator cap and went, "Oh crud!" Tranny #3 gets my vote, as it appears to be in the best shape.

Lovely colour too! Hope you get her up and running soon! :-)

Venus
 
solid basket vs perforated basket

""Just a thought; a solid basked design must use much less water and energy than a perforated basket design, I wonder why manufacturers did not look at this design again I am sure it would be easier to engineer a solid basket top load washer to meet Energy Star guidelines."

It's not whether or not the basket is perforate, it's space between the perforated innder basket and the outer tub. If KM/WP were solid basket, and stil the same distance between it and the outer tub, there'd virtually no difference in water use between baskets
 
We Might Have Success

Well with transmission number three installed with a full tub of water and clothes the washer tub still indexes, but at a much more slow and reasonable rate of about 1 360 degree turn every seven or eight back and forth strokes of the agitator. I think that is about normal, its a similar rate to my early 1951 GE washer with a heavy load. The heavier the load, the more indexing the tub will do.

BUT, There is a strange ticking sound coming from near the pulley, I have a feeling the Main Transmission Drive Spring is not in good shape. Tomorrow I'm going to have to inspect. At least you can replace the drive spring without having to open the entire transmission.

http://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-....jpg&dir=/RESTORATIONS/1958_GENERAL_ELECTRIC/
 
Congratulations Robert, we will hope that all goes well from here. It's great that you can replace the drive spring without having to tear down the entire transmission. Thanks for the neat pictures. Terry
 
Hi Terry, hold the congrats yet, sometimes things appear to work fine for a wash or two and bad things rear their ugly head after that. We will see.

As promised here is a diagram showing the Anti-Index Pawl inside the GE transmission...

8-24-2005-22-45-38--Unimatic1140.jpg
 
According to the 1958 GE Service Manual...

"An internal snubber pawl is used on this transmission. During activation the snubber butts against the tab of the snubber band. The snubber band acts as a spring and tightens under pressure from the snubber causing a braking action between the snubber band lining and the hub of the bearing frame. During spin, the snubber pawl is held up against the gear case casting because its light weight (hence plastic) and shape permit it to "plane" on the transmission oil and ride over the tab on the snubber band."

Now we see why GE made the pawl out of plastic so it would ride up and not interfere with the spinning case.
 
Hi Robert,
I am glad the restoration is going well; it’s always great to see another classic washer saved. Thank you for the great pictures and diagrams keep them coming.

All the best.
Hugh
 
Thanks for the pics and diagram, Robert. I hope all continues to go well with the machine. As soon as you get it all put back together I hope you remove that ghastly black activator cap and put a pink one on! :)
 

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