How to put a new wire/plug on electric motor

[digApony]

Hi, I am wondering if someone could talk me through putting a new wire/plug on an electric motor to my 1940ish wringer washer.

I have never done anything like this before, but if someone can give me clear instructions I am confident that I can get 'er done.

Also, this is an old washer/motor and the cord does not have a ground wire/post.

I am wondering if there is some way I could safely put a cord on this old motor that has a ground and a heavy duty cord?
It's a Maytag washer. Should I post a picture of the motor?

Thanks in advance. digApony

[Ross]

A picture would help yes. Of course you can ground it just run the ground wire to the motor case or a bolt holding the motor together.

[digApony]

Originally Posted by Ross

A picture would help yes. Of course you can ground it just run the ground wire to the motor case or a bolt holding the motor together.

Okay great. It may take a day or two to post a picture. But I will be back I'd like to do it this weekend. Thanks much

[digApony]

Well it looks like it's going to be a bigger job than I thought. The cord goes to the top of the motor under the tub and the motor will have be dropped in order to get to it. There is no room to get around.

I can do it, I just didn't think it would be that involved. I took a couple pictures that I will try to upload from my blackberry today. My laptop is dead for the moment.

Can you tell me what size cord to get? I would like to go as heavy-duty as possible. The old cord is OLD! ...and very brittle. It looks like the original.

Thanks again, digApony (I'm a girl, but capable! haha)

[digApony]

okay, here's one pic You can see the cord running up behind the motor and the mount.

[digApony]

oops try that again

[digApony]

you can tell the Maytag repairman never made any money off of this machine! Runs very good.

I hope these pics help. I took them with my cell phone this morning. Let me know.

[digApony]

[fishhead]

If you can it might be a good idea to put some penetrating oil on as many bolts that will need to be undone as you can reach so the oil has time to work before you try to take it apart.

I would use 12 ga. braided wire.

[digApony]

Okay. Once I get it down I'll post another pic showing the wire connection to the motor. Thank you... digApony

[digApony]

It's done! I had a snow day today so I decided to do this job. It was easier than I thought. I ran into a couple snags, but I worked it out. The 12g wire was too thick to fit under the plate, so stripped it back a bit and taped it.

I also put a new belt on, greased what needed to be greased and it runs great!

Thanks for your help... digApony

Pic:

[digApony]

I stripped the orange outter thingy back... there are no bare wires. Take care and thanks again.

[fishhead]

Good job! No more running to the laundromat.


The orange thingy is insulation. One thing to watch for is that the vibration of the washer doesn't wear the insulation off the wire where it goes through/under the plate. Did you attach the bare ground wire to the motor somewhere?

[digApony]

Originally Posted by fishhead

Good job! No more running to the laundromat.


The orange thingy is insulation. One thing to watch for is that the vibration of the washer doesn't wear the insulation off the wire where it goes through/under the plate. Did you attach the bare ground wire to the motor somewhere?

Yes, I grounded it to a third plate screw that didn't have anything to do. I thought about what you just said; the wearing of the wire last night.

I think I am going to take it off again and put the scrap orange insulation around each wire individually where they enter the motor and tape them. There are three grooves under the plate for the wires so it worked good.... pretty good for a gi!rl on my own! ?

digApony

Sound okay?

[Ross]

Well that's great! No capacitors to deal with and you probably can't change the roation any how so it should have been an easy one.

[fishhead]

If there are 3 grooves in the plate it sounds like that is where the individual wires should be placed so there would be no need for the orange insulation at that point but it wouldn't hurt.

Having the bare wire attached like you did will let the electricity find it's way back to ground if a wire starts shorting out onto the washer somewhere. I think you are good to go. Good work!

[cfabe]

Looks good to me, one suggestion might be to attach the cord to the frame somehow so that if it gets yanked or tripped on it doesn't pull directly on the inner wires. This is known as a "strain relief" if you want to google it.

[digApony]

Originally Posted by cfabe

Looks good to me, one suggestion might be to attach the cord to the frame somehow so that if it gets yanked or tripped on it doesn't pull directly on the inner wires. This is known as a "strain relief" if you want to google it.

Good idea! Yes, it does get tripped on, and now the wire is bigger and more stiff. Once I get the drain hose on and the motor on I don't have a lot of room.

The grooves are large enough to put insulation around. I cut the scraps into three pieces and wrapped the insulation on and taped it good.

I even covered the ground wire. I'm uploading a couple pics.

The only thing I'm worried about is the top of the wires leading to the prongs hitting the top of the plate. The 12g is bigger so it stands higher. I put several winds of tape on the wire that hits the plate.

After I put a few hours on it I'll take it off and inspect them for wear. Everything is so tight that I doubt I'll get vibration wear, but I'll watch it.

I put vasoline on the tub seal and now I'm going through the wringer head and cleaning and WD40 the springs and latches.

I can't wait to use it! 4 loads of wash with one tub of water! It's just me so I hope I'm saving a little money. It just takes longer to do my laundry, but it's fun. My granddaughter likes to help.

Thanks so much. digApony

[digApony]

I taped insulation around each wire and slipped one over the ground.

You can see the grooves are quite large.

[digApony]

now it's time to clean my house!

Look okay?