On 2 May 2006 10:38:45 -0700, "Bear" wrote:
If it's old and rusted, it's probably on it's way out anyway. Go to
Menards or Home Depot and get yourself a new one. I wasted time trying
to repair one once. It worked but quit on me a week later, so I had to
buy a new one. I wish I just would've bought the new one the first
time.

Since it didn't look like I was going to be able to get the nut off
without destroying the top plate in the process, I went up to Lowes
and bought a new one... Once home, I finished the removal of the old
one and noticed that when I removed the drain elbow fitting, I could
view the inside where the plastic wrap was wrapped around the shaft of
the motor... Used various tools (screwdriver, knife, needle nose
pliers, etc) to remove pieces of the plastic wrap... Even though I
couldn't see anymore of it, when I turned it, I could still hear what
sounded like a small amount of scraping, even though is seemed to spin
freely... Took the unit outside and put a 2700 psi pressure washer on
it through the hose... Cleaned it up (rust and plastic) rather
nicely... Reinstalled it and it worked... Took the new one back to
Lowes... Turns out the old one started leaking though... Probably
removed and reinstalled it over a dozen times before I finally got it
to not leak... Had to evenually replace the rubber splash guard /
mounting gasket and put a bead of plumber's puddy between it and the
metal rim of the unit to finally keep it from leaking... Seems that
the corrosion over the years had make a couple of spots in the rim
just a bit lower than the rest of the rim and my cleaning it up
removed the calcium and whatever deposits that were making it
watertight... I determined that trying to hold up the unit with one
hand while trying to screw on the mounting ring from under the sink is
a real pain in the butt... Putting an automotive screw type back under
the unit makes it a lot easier... Unfortunately, I didn't come upon
this idea until after I had reinstalled it around 10 times... Yeah, my
shoulders are a bit sore this morning from the cabinet edge digging
into them... Oh well... End result is that it's back to working...