I love how bendix used SS drums over there! All we got was enamel on steel

Qualtex has spares left so I'd grab a new boot ASAP.

Hello Mike and Chris

I thought id share my experiences with my machine if its any help to you. It might be a bit long winded and i hope not to teach you to suck eggs but here goes!

I think it may help to understand how these machines work to see if you can identify noises etc that are not normal.

This machine has one large motor that runs continously once switched on ( apart from a pause when the heater is on, and a 1 min pause before the final spin )
This motor drives a continuosly running pump at the front, and through a gearbox the drum and fan for the drying part. All of these are running all the time and solenoid shifters (electro magnets that move levers) are the only way the machine can change into spin or pump out or allow the dryer to function. There isnt any electronics on this machine (thankfully!)

Sources of noise

The drum bearings may be worn, to see if this is the case remove the drum to gearbox belt and spin drum, it should be silent, if theres a rumble the bearing may be worn, if you try pushing the drum up and down and theres no free play even with a rumble it will be fine to play with the machine for a while, if theres lots of movement id suggest caution in case the spin shakes the drum too much damaging the outer drum.

The gearbox needs oil. remove the small white dip stick on top and fill up with gearbox, ive found the correct oil ( see Pic) its a fidly job, ive found either plastic syringes or squeezy bottles hair dressers use to apply color are ideal, ( i can get you one of those free) the gearbox can burp and oil pops out of top. The level needs to be up to the marker on the dipstick.

The drive shafts from the gearbox are held on by grub screws that have allen key heads, they can loosen, wiggle the pulley left and right as you tighten them to ensure they sit sqaure on the shaft.

The solenoid shifters may need a light oil on the linkages, there are 3 on this machine, one on the gear box to the left of motor looking from rear this is what clicks in to move the machine into spin in one step ( no distribution or ramp up spin ) the second is on the front behind the pannel revealed when you pull down the flap at the front. This is on the pump, this machine re circulates water continously (unfortunately unseen) and the soleniod allows the water to be pumped out when needed. The third one is on to back of the drum nearer the top it opens a flap allowing air to move through when in drying mode.
Solenoid shifters need to move freely or can burn out but if they've stood idle for some time can chatter, the magnets that close together need to have clean smooth surfaces, clean them with fine wet n dry sand paper and wipe oil on them they should snap shut ( remember remove plug before going near machine!!) the noise they make is similar to a pair of hair clippers that are not adjusted correectly if you know what i mean?

The last soucre of noise is the drying fan, it runs continously and can make the machine noisy, remove the belt and try turning it should spin freely and take a while to slow down.

a few pics to follow

richard

rear view showing pulleys etc

the fan belt can be replaced with a car one if its the same width to fit the pulley groove or easily adjusted by unscrewing the idley pully in the centre and moving it into a new hole. The main drum belt is a bit more fidly and should be adjusted first, you need to acheive about one half inch free play at longest flattest part. to adjust you will see there is a clamp that holds to motor in place slacken the nut and bolt slightly so the motor will turn , then you will see a long nut with a rounded end as you turn this it will rotate the motor and gear box around either towards or away from the drum pulley, as the pulley from the gear box is on the right if the gear box moves down away from drum the drum belt will be tensioned more and like wise if it moves up it will be slackened. once your happy with the tension re tighten the clamp to hold it in place.

It would be worth removing the top also, this is easy when you know how, you need a thin steel ruler or even better the fish slice thingy that you use to turn over eggs in a frying pan etc, dont use a screw driver as it will chip enamel. in the centre of the gap between the top and front you will see a clip push the fish slice against that dont lever up just push slightly back, this will relase the top and it should pop up. lift it only a few inches and put you hand in to squeeze the flexible pipe that goes from soap powder shute to drum, this is tucked on top of drum and should pop out, they can be fragile and need to be water and air tight so be careful. Lift the lid off and slide towards you, there will be a green earth wire to remove as well. Mine suffered corrosion around this soap powder hole and needs to be air tight (see later) when the lid is off check all springs and hangers are tight, you will see the heater box on top of drum at left handside its worth hoovering the inlet end as this is where is sucked in and the mesh grill can get a layer of fluff on reducing the efficicney of the machine. to the right handside there is the water inlet a small tube sits above a funnel ( see vid ) this acts as an air brake to prevent syphoning, the nozzle of this tube should be wiped clean of limescale etc as the scale can cause the water to spray in all angles and perhaps on electrics.

Replacing the lid is a bit trickier as you have to remove the plastic soap hole cover and fit from top. Ill explain later