Out of balance Washing Machine repair / upgrade

More Performa Washing Machine repair fun. After my last washing machine finally gave out due to a rusted inner tub I decided to just buy the cheapest, cheapest washing machine I could find which of course was another quality Performa. The old saying "You get what you pay for" is certainly true with the Performa models. This DIY is more of an "upgrade" project than it is a repair. This washing machine would start to spin out of balance with anything more than a couple of T-shirts and a pair of socks which made it impossible to wash clothes for a family of five.

Looking underneath the machine I could see there were (3) flimsy springs that controlled the spinning of the tub. After a trip to the Home Depot and picking up some springs in the fence / gate isle I went to work replacing them. The springs I found were quite a bit more heavy duty and needed to have the ends twisted to match the original ones.

Here is one of the original springs looking at it from underneath



Here is the original spring on the left and the new replacement on the right


This is the new spring with the end twisted to match the original. I did this with a pair of Vise Grips and a vise.


I used a headlight spring removal/installation tool to change the springs




After replacing the 3 springs with new stronger ones the washing machine works great, it barely ever goes out of balance now!

Inner Pasture / Myer Valley

A quick 24 hour trip to the desert in unusually high triple digit temperatures...pictures are worth a thousands words...good thing I have a camera....

Fishhook Cactus in Inner Pasture


Snakes are out


Up close


The Turbines are coming...fight the Ocotillo Wind Project!


Myer Valley artifacts


Snakes are still out, this is a great reason why you should not put your hands in the rocks where you cannot first see what's there


Another close up


Some blank rocks and DStretch






The meteor showers were not as vivid as the press made it out to be, I only saw a few meteors and photographed this picture of the Milky Way


Ants are a curious thing, these guys were hard at work at sunrise. Amazing to see thounsands of them toiling away making their home. Too bad projects like the Ocotillo Wind Project will kill them off




Total Mylar Balloons this trip - 4

Wildlife of the Week

Spring is here in San Diego and the birds are back in my yard

Hooded Oriole



White Crowned Sparrow


House Finch


Spring also means snakes, here is a nice Gopher Snake in Jacumba