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Post by elec573 on Jul 31, 2018 4:41:03 GMT
Well you made me want to dig my westy out . I picked it up over a year ago but after reading Travis posts about leaking and sparks I just put it in the back Conner of my garage. Yours must have been the top of the line back then , with the crispers and the folding tray . Mine has all the shelf’s and even the chiller tray the previous owner said it ran but did not shut off. I believe it has so2 in it also .
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Post by turbokinetic on Jul 31, 2018 4:47:46 GMT
Well you made me want to dig my westy out . I picked it up over a year ago but after reading Travis posts about leaking and sparks I just put it in the back Conner of my garage. Yours must have been the top of the line back then , with the crispers and the folding tray . Mine has all the shelf’s and even the chiller tray the previous owner said it ran but did not shut off. I believe it has so2 in it also .
Thanks! I really believe it was top of the line as well. Never seen one so loaded as this one.
I know Travis had a horribly stinky experience with his Westy; however I would not let that deter you. Learn from his cautionary tale and do the testing out in the garage. If it runs in the garage for a few weeks, without a massive toxic plume being developed around it - then it is probably fine for in the house!
I wonder if the bellows tube is broken on yours? That would make it run constantly. As would a partially-frosting evaporator which isn't frosting at the sensing tube mount point.
By the way, I took the door off this fridge today to address the door hinge issue. Will make a similar repair to that for the CK I repaired a while back. Will get some nylon bushings to make thrust spacers for the hinges tomorrow.
I love the sound of the Westinghouse compressor. It sounds like a little Briggs & Stratton engine running very quietly.
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Post by birkie on Jul 31, 2018 13:02:15 GMT
Wow.! David You work on these refrigerators like a refrigerator repairing machine! :-). I'm kind of jealous of his "two weeks on, two weeks off" work schedule. It's really conducive to some amazing refrigerator work.
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Post by turbokinetic on Jul 31, 2018 13:13:52 GMT
Wow.! David You work on these refrigerators like a refrigerator repairing machine! :-). I'm kind of jealous of his "two weeks on, two weeks off" work schedule. It's really conducive to some amazing refrigerator work.
Yeah, it's not for everyone. But for those of us who have the right mindset, it allows for a very unique lifestyle. I wouldn't want anything else actually.
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Post by turbokinetic on Aug 1, 2018 0:50:46 GMT
Today I got the Westy about as ready to go as it will ever be! Now it will be the waiting game to see if the charge leaks off again or if this is a "50 year leak" as they say.
The previous owner had replaced the top door hinge pin with duct tape. That is absolutely unacceptable, vile, and unwholesome. The pin was present but not doing anything.
The door on this fridge is HEAVY. I used the overhead hoist to hang it while working on the hinges.
Both the hinges had about 3/8" of wear on the parts that support the door's weight. Amazingly, the pin bore wasn't egg shaped at all. The top face of the cabinet-side of the hinge was all galled and no longer flat. (Note - this is after machining. No pictures of the galled surface. Sorry.)
So, I faced that off flat to give the new bushings a nice surface to ride on.
After that, I mounted the hinges to the door... or tried to! Seems the top hinge was attached by only one screw, with the other two broken off in the door. That sucks! So I carefully drilled a small hole in the center of the screw stub. One of them backed out with an eze-out. The other one screwed through the threads in the door, and fell inside. Good riddance! So, after that, both door-side hinge halves were installed.
Then, as the door was being installed, a pair of nylon spacers went in the fill the gap and make the hinges hold the door in its original position.
After that, things looked pretty good!
Then, I found out that the latch was not working right. The sagging door masked this problem. Now, the door would not open. I had to take the hinge pins back out to get the door open so that the latch could be worked on! This part of the mechanism was worn completely through.
Nothing that a little bushing made of steel tubing can't fix. Soldered it in with silver solder. That doesn't require as much heat as welding, and therefore would not damage the spring.
And trimmed it off to fit in the latch mechanism.
All better now!
So after that, it was just a matter of cleaning up the cabinet with some window cleaner. It's amazing how well the porcelain enamel holds up. This thing really does not show its age!!!
Drawer slides fixed and all drawer handle hardware in place now.
A thing of Art-Deco Beauty!
Even cleaned up the back.
So now I'm going to let it run for a while. Assuming it runs for a few months without losing frost line, I am going to consider it healthy. It has a great vintage compressor sound to it.
Hope y'all have enjoyed seeing this come together!
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Post by ckfan on Aug 1, 2018 1:02:18 GMT
Wow, simply amazing as usual. Fantastic job on repairing the latch and hinges. I hope that the charge holds! And yes, these have a reassuring Bass note to the compressors.
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Post by Travis on Aug 1, 2018 1:05:07 GMT
Drool
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Post by turbokinetic on Aug 1, 2018 1:08:01 GMT
LOL! I know you like it.
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Post by Travis on Aug 1, 2018 1:13:00 GMT
I should part out the 36 I have and steal it's hinges. I am not sure my eyes can accept those nylon washers.
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Post by turbokinetic on Aug 1, 2018 1:31:38 GMT
Wow, simply amazing as usual. Fantastic job on repairing the latch and hinges. I hope that the charge holds! And yes, these have a reassuring Bass note to the compressors. Thanks, it made a world of difference in the door operation. Before it was not working smoothly at all. I believe this will help greatly with the frosting. It has a pretty good door gasket on it. Now that the door gasket actually hits the cabinet frame, maybe it will be effective!
I'll keep watching the charge and hope that it stays. After washing all the parts, there's no oil anywhere now. So, any leakage should leave a stain that will be evident.
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Post by turbokinetic on Aug 1, 2018 1:35:47 GMT
I should part out the 36 I have and steal it's hinges. I am not sure my eyes can accept those nylon washers.
Hey they get the job done! And they also keep the other parts of the door from getting further damaged from misalignment.
I just get this really sad feeling of angst at the thought of killing off a fridge for a hinge. Just seems like a sad thing to do when the hinge needs only some simple repairs... The nylon bushings blend in when you see the fridge in person. The close-up picture makes them a lot more obvious than they are in real life. Similar to how a close-up video makes the compressor of a CK sound really loud when it's not.
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Post by ckfan on Aug 1, 2018 1:47:42 GMT
So the gasket is good on this example too? Huh, mine and Travis’s 37 are the same way. Whatever material they used works really well then.
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Post by turbokinetic on Aug 1, 2018 2:07:18 GMT
So the gasket is good on this example too? Huh, mine and Travis’s 37 are the same way. Whatever material they used works really well then.
Yep it's still pliable and not torn. It seems that Westinghouse really had a good product in a lot of ways. the whole machine is very solid.
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Post by Travis on Aug 1, 2018 2:31:00 GMT
Yes, my 37 is the only original gasket that I would say is in good shape. Westinghouse did right with them!
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Post by elec573 on Aug 1, 2018 15:16:00 GMT
What are the hinges made of ? Could it be built up with weld or something similar and then ground or machined back down ? Agree the bushing is not really noticeable. Very nice job!
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