Sorry it’s been so long! The old busyness demon just won’t leave me alone. A belated Happy New Year to you!
Here’s a little trick I’ve used many times over the years but had forgotten to tell you about. ‘Don’t think I ever mentioned it before.
When dealing with the heavy vertical springs used in some brands of top load washers, there’s a simple way to ‘unload’ their tension to work on the machine’s snubber area, using steel electrical ‘handy boxes’. These are the surface mount boxes normally used to mount receptacles and switches onto a wall.
By tilting a washer’s tub away from it, stretching the spring, then inserting a box into its coil, the spring will remain stretched and can easily be unhooked.
If you break or cut off the screw tabs on the top and bottom of a box, it can be inserted into a spring either vertically or horizontally, making them even handier.
I’ve carried the same 3 of these modified handy boxes in my truck for many years (that’s why they look so ratty!), and have used them a lot. There’ve been just a few times I when wished for 5 rather than just 3, mostly on some of the older Speed Queen and Maycor/Admiral machines, but 3 will usually suffice.
Here’s how they work (but with the springs hooked inside a washer, of course):
It’d been a while since I used this trick, but it saved me a bunch of time and hassle again recently on a Maytag ‘Dependable Care’ washer, which reminded me that I should share it with you.
Have fun, but be careful out there!
Dave
Pray for Obama
Psalm 109:8