Household Chores

Well, today I decide to take on the belt problems we have in the house. Our attic fan is out of commission because of a belt and our washing machine is making a ton of racket because its belt is wearing out and missing some teeth. Since we're reaching fall and using the attic fan might become a good idea and since I'm replacing one belt, why not change the other one too. Well, this turned into an adventure.

First, the attic fan. Obviously, it is in the attic. So, I get the ladder. Enter the attic and immediately the problem is obvious. The entire belt is wrapped around the fan as it has disconnected from the motor. I retrieve the belt, and you have to see this guy (left). Please, click for a closer look. That is in piss poor shape and the scaled image doesn't give it much justice. Look at how bad of shape it is in, it created a 90 degree angle when hanging from the doorknob. Last time I talked to Ernie, he said that it was on a spring, so while I was up there, I checked out the spring. Ok, good to go.

Lets save some time right now and just understand that I dismantle the washing machine and take both belts to the local auto parts store. Both belts were in such a bad shape that neither one matched up to what they were supposed to be (in hindsight). So we take an educated guess at what belt each one was supposed to be. I get the belts home and the attic fan belt fits perfectly on the first try. So, that's task 1 done, no parts left over and 1 to go.

So, before we discuss the replacement of the belt on the washing machine, lets talk about the dismantling of it first. I don't know if it is because of the age of the machine or because that is the way things are done, but the belt is obviously not in a place designed for easy access. There are 2 main components of the machine. We've got the motor, off to the left and everything else right in the middle of frame. There are water hoses, mount points, spring tension points and other "stuff" that is required for this machine to operate which includes a total of 4 pulleys. I'm sure there is a clutch in there too somewhere. But that is not important.

Anyway, I begin with the motor. This was pretty straight forward. Take 2 bolts out and the motor is in your hand. In hindsight (again), I just had to loosen the bolts and it would have pivoted so I could have taken the belt off. The next objective is to get the belt out of the middle of this contraption. The first things I notice are the support brackets, there are 3 of them. They come off with little argument. With the motor and these brackets, I try to discern how the belt was designed to be removed. I determine that the belt must come around (outside) the entire unit. This seemed to be a simple task. There was an exception to this that I later discovered.

The belt effortless came toward me, had to disconnect some water hoses, but that's minor. However, it was at this point that I discovered the challenge in this activity. One (of three) vertical mount points was stopping me from removing the belt. Ok, I take out this one bolt and I got the belt free from that, but there was another shaft that I didn't previous notice. After some examination I determine that this is attached to a plate that is under springs. Somehow this is part of the auto leveling system (or whatever that is called).

This shaft has threads and a bolt by this plate. So, I attempted to make the shaft shorter by screwing the bolt further on the threads. Nope, that didn't work, the shaft has a nipple that aligns thru the plate. Ok, lets try to disconnect the shaft from the plate (hopefully the shaft is in place with pressure) and unscrew the bolt against the shaft (making it longer and pulling the nipple out of place). This worked, the nipple came free, but the shaft would not move from where it was. Damn it. What now?

Well, on a guess I remove the bolts from the other 2 vertical mount points for the unit an hope that it doesn't fall to the ground or apart on me. We have success here. With the vertical mounts disconnected, it separated the plate from the shaft. Also note, the unit will only slide so far down. It didn't drop down on me in a blaze of glory. I then rotated the belt until one of the sections of missing teeth were in that place and pulled the belt free.

Is it just me or could they have done this another way? Couldn't they have put all of the pulleys below the mess of the internals and ran the shaft up to spin the basin thru a bearing in the housing (I assume this housing is a water pump) and this could have been a 30 second job rather than 3 hours? I guess that would have been too easy.

Anyway, so now, lets put this guy together since I now have the new belt. I pull the belt thru the gap between this shaft and plate (too some encouraging to get this done). The rest of the belt feeding was pretty straight forward. Once the belt was in place, time to put it all back together and we'll be done. Well, one can hope, can't he?

I get everything together. I'm pretty proud of myself. No parts left over and it still works. Well, I spoke too soon. I turned it to spin and nothing happened. I didn't close the lid, but that was an afterthought once I got behind the machine. The motor was spinning, but it wasn't spinning the belt. Shit, the belt is too long. The adjustment bolt for the motor was already at the extreme location. Nothing to do but get another belt. Damn, I thought it was too easy.

Now that I learned the tricks to taking it apart, I dismantled it with less mess and time then the first time. I run back to the auto parts store and get one that is 2 inches smaller. Return home and it is too small. Lets run back to the store and get one 1 inch longer then the last. Get home, put the belt on and it is it. I pull the motor and it rests in the middle of the adjustment slide.

So, I get the unit put back together and guess what. Again, no left over parts. I set it to the spin cycle and nothing. I hear the motor running and see the belt spinning, but yet there is no activity with the basin. Then I smack myself in the head and close the lid. Wait a couple seconds and there is the spinning basin. Finally, everything is back together and working.

Neither constitute a monumental status individually or combined. However, I did want to mention that companies design equipment to work, not to be fixed. Why did I have to fight the machine so much to replace a belt. Automotive makers figured this one out a long time ago when they designed the tensioner pulley. Put a breaker bar in the hole and presto, no more belt tension and the belt pretty much falls off of the car. The belts don't ride in holes or between equipment that would require more parts to be removed to replace a simple part. I don't know what more modern washing machines are like, but I sure hope that they have changed the design a bit to make quick fixes really quick.

Ok, for those that are asking, "what is all the fuss about not having any left over parts?" Well, anyone who knows me and my dad, when we work on something, particularly cars, this is a valid concern. For some reason we usually can't fix a car without having a bolt or spring or something left over. Whatever we were working on works now and still, but why do we have extra parts? We don't know. Also, the part that worries us the most is that we typically don't know where that extra part belongs.

However, just because I don't have parts left over doesn't mean we're out of the woods quite yet. There was a time that I worked on something under the hood of my car. A day or so later, discovered, that apparently, I just hand tightened a bolt and forgot to ratchet tighten it. I discovered this as I was driving down the road and BANG, clank, clank, clank... I look in my rear view and see a bolt bouncing on the road. Of course I stop and pick it up. However, I was curious to know where it came from. I popped the hood and wouldn't you know it, one of the bolts from the previous project had come out, hit the fan or belt and dropped to the ground. No harm no foul, I got home, replaced the bolt and it was a non issue. But it goes to show you that just because it works when I'm done doesn't mean the project is complete.