Thread Number: 62468  /  Tag: Vintage Automatic Washers
An episode of "The Simpsons" titled "Mayfan69 Saves My Bacon!"
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Post# 850565   11/8/2015 at 21:24 (3,062 days old) by wishywashy (Brisbane, QLD, Australia)        

Hello Folks,

Okay… I freely admit now that it wasn’t entirely clever after all to pour about 1kg (ie. 2.2lbs) of Rust & Stain Cleaning crystals (aka Oxalic Acid) into the enamelled steel bowl of my trusty old Simpson 175 Top Loader a few Saturdays ago, in an effort to remove some particularly tenacious rust stains that had taken hold in some seldom-worn whites that had been hibernating in the cupboard. The spray of rust spots in question and the number of garments involved were far too scattered and numerous to attempt anything other than a washing-machine-based solution to the problem, and - as I stand/sit here - I honestly started out by adding only 1 cup of the Rust & Stain Cleaner to about 45l of water (ie. About 12gal - the minimum sized load for the Simpson). So the whole experiment seemed quite harmless at the outset…

Anyway, being a minimum-sized load, I used the Simpson’s gentle cycle throughout the exercise in order to reduce the “chop” on the surface of the water by enough for me to keep an eye on whether or not the stains in question were shifting. After a while, it unfortunately became apparent that they weren’t doing so by any means. So I doubled the dose of the Rust & Stain Cleaner (as you do…), ran through the cycle again, and once again - no positive result was evident. So, thinking to myself in consequence that the stuff must have had far less guts than I originally figured (and had been cautious of), I foolhardishly poured all of the remaining contents of the container into the Simpson, because:

A) It was starting to go hard in the bottle from age and moisture,
And,
B) It had already proven itself pretty useless anyway for the task that I originally bought it for - namely the cleaning of the water stains in the bottom of the bowls of our various toilets…

Well, midway through the exercise my brother turned up with some rusty old whites of his own, so by the time I gave everything that needed cleaning three gentle cycles in a vain attempt to extract the offending rust out of the whole assortment, the number of minimum-sized loads ended up totalling nine. I then put all the garments back into the machine together for a full-sized rinse, drain, and spin - somewhat jaded by this time at the obvious lack of success in the endeavour. It was only after the machine completed the spin and stopped, and I started taking the clothes out one by one, that I noticed that they seemed to be clinging more to the side of the bowl during removal than they normally did. To my shock and horror, it became increasingly evident as I removed the remaining clothes that the bowl’s whole enamel lining below the approximate waterline of a minimum sized load, was severely damaged, and had taken on the texture of coarse sandpaper!!! (cue to “Psycho” theme-music…)

It was immediately obvious that if I didn’t somehow replace either the bowl or - failing that - the whole machine, that it would eventually reduce everything being washed in it over the course of several months to the status of lint-covered rags. So, in a frenzy of reckless desperation, my first reaction was to grab a sheet of medium-grit wet-and-dry sandpaper, set the Timer on the Simpson to “Spin”, and hold the sandpaper as best I could against the side of the bowl as it spun around at several hundred RPM…

Achieving the desired result was a very tedious affair, to the degree that it took me at least ten full spins to sand the lower half of the bowl back to an acceptably smooth finish again. But smoothness was only half the battle, because the basic steel construction of the bowl - formerly protected by the enamel lining - was now fully exposed, and bound to oxidise as it dried out after each laundry-day. It would thence pass on this oxidisation to a whole new generation of white garments, in order to bugger all of them up too with rust stains. So either a new bowl, or a whole new machine, would thus still be required in fairly short order…

The following photo shows the condition of the bowl after the said sanding, and the oxidisation that then resulted from about a dozen or so loads worth of washing thereafter:


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Post# 850567 , Reply# 1   11/8/2015 at 21:28 (3,062 days old) by wishywashy (Brisbane, QLD, Australia)        

Being a tinkerer at heart, it has always seemed to me that when faced with the need to replace a machine of any type (ie. washing machine, lawnmower, table-saw, etc), then if the original machine had proven itself to be basically reliable, it makes good sense to procure another working version of the original machine so that the original machine can be plundered for spares for the replacement device. Given that my 175 had hitherto proven itself to be more or less bullet-proof, it therefore seemed wise to start searching Gumtree and eBay for any old Simpson 175’s that might happen to be going through - either fully working or otherwise. There turned out to be plenty of old’ish Simpsons for sale, but unfortunately - due to the 175-model’s late-80’s vintage - there weren’t any 175’s to be seen over the course of many days…

The likelihood that this scarcity of 175’s would continue prompted me to post the following thread here, which was basically a “Which Machine?“ type of post listing several prerequisite criteria, and to which some very useful opinions were obtained in response:

www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/T...

In the meantime - knowing that the 175’s design fulfilled my stated criteria of reliability, capacity, and maximum width - I thought it might also be fruitful to PM that local vintage-machine Afficionado and Collector-At-Large - Mayfan69 - to ask whether he knew of the existence of any Appliance Wreckers in Brisbane. If such a place existed, perhaps I might find an old disabled 175 there with a still-decent bowl, sitting forlornly down in some seldom-frequented (and very cut-price) corner of the yard(?)

Well, imagine my surprise when he replied not with the address of such a place, but with the offer instead of providing me - completely gratis - out of his own private reserve, with a Simpson of the same vintage, range, size, and capacity as my 175, except that is was the top-of-the-range “705” model with the stainless-steel bowl! It’s only apparent maladies were a leaking pump and a missing drain-hose - both of which could obviously be remedied in short order via the matching items plundered from my 175. Honestly folks, what could be better than an offer like that for any tinkerer?

The exact machine of Mayfan’s in question has already shared star-billing with a Delta 10 in a thread here that was posted a while back by him:

www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/T...

Faced with what was obviously a cracking-good prospect, on the appointed Saturday afternoon I therefore trekked over to Mayfan’s Lair/Museum, perused his mind-boggling collection in the flesh, and then convoyed with him over to his parents’ house way over on the other side of town, where they kindly accommodate the “B“-team machines for him. After a brief powering-up for demonstration purposes, the 705 was then trolleyed out to my wagon, and I set off back for home, counting my lucky stars all the way…

Here then is a photo of the two Simpsons side by side in my workshop, with their fronts removed. I soon took to referring to them privately as “Bart” and “Lisa” - the 175 on the left with its rusty bowl obviously being Bart, and the 705 on the right with its gleaming stainless bowl being Lisa:


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Post# 850568 , Reply# 2   11/8/2015 at 21:28 (3,062 days old) by toploader55 (Massachusetts Sand Bar, Cape Cod)        

toploader55's profile picture

Yikes !!!


Post# 850569 , Reply# 3   11/8/2015 at 21:33 (3,062 days old) by wishywashy (Brisbane, QLD, Australia)        

To those forumites among you who are less cavalier and desperate than myself, the moist yellow stain at the bottom of the 705’s outer drum in this next photo might be the cause of considerable leak-related anxiety. But to me, it was merely very-satisfying confirmation of Mayfan’s generous use of grease in the transmission when he had the outer bowl removed for cleaning in the aforementioned thread. The nice clean new yellow grease he apparently used for the exercise is now obviously spinning up and out sideways from the top of the transmission to the edge of the outer bowl by virtue of centrifugal force when the bowl is spinning. So the transmission should stay nice and smooth and quiet for some time to come…

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Post# 850570 , Reply# 4   11/8/2015 at 21:36 (3,062 days old) by wishywashy (Brisbane, QLD, Australia)        

Well, the obvious way forward was to swap over the pumps between the two machines. They are undone with a 10mm socket from underneath:


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Post# 850571 , Reply# 5   11/8/2015 at 21:37 (3,062 days old) by wishywashy (Brisbane, QLD, Australia)        

So here are the two pumps sitting side by side:

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Post# 850572 , Reply# 6   11/8/2015 at 21:38 (3,062 days old) by wishywashy (Brisbane, QLD, Australia)        

But once the 175’s pump had been installed in the 705, and “acceptance trials” were commenced, it quickly became apparent that my 175’s pump had secretly been suffering from a slow leak itself all along:

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Post# 850574 , Reply# 7   11/8/2015 at 21:40 (3,062 days old) by wishywashy (Brisbane, QLD, Australia)        

With the pump back out of the 705, and the impeller’s housing unscrewed off the end of the motor, this photo of the pump-motor’s underside illustrates graphically that the leak had obviously been occurring for quite some time:

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Post# 850575 , Reply# 8   11/8/2015 at 21:41 (3,062 days old) by wishywashy (Brisbane, QLD, Australia)        

The culprit was obviously the little rubber seal that sits around the output-shaft from the motor to the impeller. You can just make out the black-coloured seal in question in the centre of this next photo (taken from behind the impeller). The output shaft is identified here by a small dot of reflected light off its shiny surface in the exact middle of the photo:

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Post# 850577 , Reply# 9   11/8/2015 at 21:42 (3,062 days old) by wishywashy (Brisbane, QLD, Australia)        

Well, it was not only beyond me as to how to take the impeller off the output-shaft to get at the offending seal, but I was pretty certain that the seal would be quite specialised and unobtainable as a spare part anyway. Fortunately, the shiny condition of the stator of the 705’s pump-motor seemed to be indicative of the good condition of the same seal on that machine’s pump. But what was the cause then of that particular pump’s leak?…

Well, after removing its impeller-housing, it immediately became apparent that the large O-Ring that sealed the housing to the body of the pump had begun to perish:


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Post# 850578 , Reply# 10   11/8/2015 at 21:44 (3,062 days old) by wishywashy (Brisbane, QLD, Australia)        

Here's a closer-up view of the O-Ring in question:

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Post# 850579 , Reply# 11   11/8/2015 at 21:45 (3,062 days old) by wishywashy (Brisbane, QLD, Australia)        

So after transplanting the good O-Ring from the 175’s pump (which had the bad output-shaft seal) into the 705’s pump (which had the good output-shaft seal), the latter pump was reinstalled into the 705, so that acceptance-trials could be recommenced. Compared to the earlier photo of the 175’s pump, you can see in the following shot just how rust-free the 705’s pump is:

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Post# 850583 , Reply# 12   11/8/2015 at 21:49 (3,062 days old) by wishywashy (Brisbane, QLD, Australia)        

It was thus high time for the 705 to be filled with water, and put through its first complete cycle. All went well until a serious rhythmic knocking developed during the “Spin” portion, but this proved to be due to nothing more than a slight dislocation of one of the nylon seats into which screw the little eyelet-bolts that hold down the lower end of the bowl’s three stabilisation springs. The nylon seat in question had dropped slightly out of position in its little hole in the machine’s base during the drive home from Mayfan’s parents’ house, because the spring it anchored had become untensioned when the machine was loaded into the back of my wagon on its side. Being seated incorrectly by just a couple of mm, it was thus pulling ever-so-slightly more than it normally would on the spring that it anchored, and this extra force was just enough to pull the whole bowl over towards the side of the machine by the small distance required to cause the rhythmic knocking to occur during the spin. A small amount of manipulation of the eyelet-bolt was all that was required to pull the nylon seat a couple of millimetres back up into its proper position, after which the knocking disappeared…

In the meantime, the pump had been put through its paces, and had come through the exercise completely leak-free, so the machine was officially accepted into service. After about 5yrs on just one working solenoid with the 175 by the way, I’m now back to both hot and cold water with the 705...

So here’s where “Lisa” the 705 now sits, in her very restricted little berth in the laundry, with barely a whisker’s width of space to spare on either side:


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Post# 850585 , Reply# 13   11/8/2015 at 21:53 (3,062 days old) by wishywashy (Brisbane, QLD, Australia)        

And this shot down into that glorious nearly-30yo-but-still-as-new bowl shows what all the fuss was about.
Never ageing (just like the Simpsons themselves…), and brimming with stainless-steel goodness (well, just like Lisa with her braces on…)


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Post# 850587 , Reply# 14   11/8/2015 at 21:55 (3,062 days old) by wishywashy (Brisbane, QLD, Australia)        

Nothing remained to do after that except to ravage the carcass of the 175 for anything that might be useful as spares for the 705. Once plundered, it took on the appearance of some hollowed-out shell of an unfortunate crustacean that had floated lifelessly down to the seabed after being attacked by one of those killer sea-slugs that you see on the nature documentaries. But regardless, I know in my heart that Bart the 175’s soul has now ascended to Washing Machine Valhalla…

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Post# 850589 , Reply# 15   11/8/2015 at 22:08 (3,062 days old) by wishywashy (Brisbane, QLD, Australia)        

As for the general smoothness and quietness of the 705 in operation, she runs “just like a bought one”! Much quieter than what my 175 was. Mayfan obviously greased it in all the right places, because it now purrs like a pussycat. So may I therefore conclude by offering local-luminary Mayfan69 a very hearty and sincere thank-you! The whole episode has worked out very well after all, with me being not only back in business, but now armed with a stainless-steel bowl and a good trove of spares into the bargain. I can see myself using this machine as my “daily driver” for virtually… well… ever, I guess, now that I’ve got a few bits and pieces for it up my sleeve. As such, I’d be most grateful if anyone was able to provide either a Service and Repair Manual or an Exploded Parts Diagram for it, or even for any other model of Simpson that appeared to be fairly close to it in both age and architecture. Sorry that the whole thread has been a bit fluffy, but Mayfan had already tinkered so well with the machine before I got it that there wasn’t much technical work at all that needed to be done with it (but I knew you'd all like an excuse to look at some vintage washing-machine photos anyway...)

THANKS VERY MUCH MAYFAN - YOU'RE A CHAMP!

Best Wishes & Happy Washing Days to all!
WishyWashy.


Post# 850591 , Reply# 16   11/8/2015 at 22:16 (3,062 days old) by mayfan69 (Brisbane Queensland Australia)        
Hi Mike

mayfan69's profile picture
Hi Mike,

Thanks for the kind words and glad to see 'Lisa' will have a new lease of life. You did a great job with the pump repair and hopefully you'll have no issues going forward.

I'm pretty sure I might have a spare parts diagram you can have: once I get time i'll send it to you.

Cheers
Leon


Post# 850593 , Reply# 17   11/8/2015 at 22:26 (3,062 days old) by rp2813 (Sannazay)        
RIP Bart

rp2813's profile picture

Great story, easy fix, huge upgrade!

 

When one door closes, another one opens.  Lisa was meant for you.  After involvement in a catastrophic accident, it was best to harvest viable organs and put Bart down.



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