Mainestitcher

My wife purchased a lightly used singer touch & sew 758 for $5 at a garage sale. She was able to use it to make a bunch of covid masks until the timing failed.

I oiled and greased the machine and reset the timing but it kept slipping. All gears looked okay.

i read everything I could find on the machine and know it is not everyone’s 1st choice but given its condition, i’d Like to try to salvage it. Also, I‘d hate to put it in the dumper.

i took it to the local repair store and they kindly said it needed a new timing belt. Old belt is clearly cracked and old. Said they don’ t do this type of repair anymore & it would take several hours and could cost several hundred dollars to fix.

I am relatively handy and do basic car and appliance maintenance and repair for fun. How difficult is it to replace this belt? Couldn’t find any specific instructions or videos on line. Any suggestions or recommendations?

thanks a lot.

JoeJr

I started to work on a 758, or a T&S very similar, which needed a new lower gear because some of the non-metal teeth disappeared. When, in the video I watched, the person broke out the dremel with the cutting wheel to remove "excess" metal on parts to allow other parts to be removed to get to the gear, I said, "Forget it."

I ended up taking the machine apart completely, for scrap, and I'll never touch (nor sew) another one again.

I think your problem will be at the top end and freeing up space to get a new belt over the top gear, but you could run into the same problem I encountered at the lower end.

I think if you can get the new belt on, setting the timing is actually the easy part.

dublb

I have recently worked on a 600 & a 600E. The 600E is a Touch & Sew. If the belt is in the same place as as it is in these 2 machines it is gonna be difficult to get to. Notice I didn't say impossible. If I were gonna work on your machine I would first charge ya a service/cleaning fee of $112.50 (a requirement for all machines I work on as I know all the extra places that need grease & oil) then I would charge ya for the belt & a dollar a minute (for how long it should take me to do it) to put it in. Around $30 for my labor. I have never turned down a machine that needs work as I truly wish that all machines could be fixed. Now I have found a few that couldn't be fixed but I have never just said I don't want to.

OurWorkbench

I know some have used tandtrepair, particularly for slant shank machines.

Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.
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jothesewer2

I have a Touch and Sew, it is my favorite. It is a workhorse. I have had it for many years.

bkay

In my humble opinion, putting much money or effort into a T&S 758 isn't a good idea. It has plastic gears, so even if you get the timing belt installed, you still have a machine with plastic gears. My 778 (same as a 758, except it's a free arm) is still working and I love it, although I don't use it very often as I prefer a machine in a cabinet.

Several years ago, I bought a bunch of sewing machines at auction including 3 or 4 T&S. They all had shattered gears. Leon sent me a 756 (for my quilting kids class) that was working fine. The gears shattered within a month. They are on the last years of useful life, as they are from the early 70's and so are 50 years old or so.

So, I guess my decision to repair it would depend on the cost of the belt and how much I enjoy messing with stuff.

Also, Dublb mentioned working on a 600 and 603. They both have metal gears, so would be worth fixing.
bkay

Dressmaker

If this is the belt in question, you will have to remove the horizontal drive shaft.

Hooligan

I'm with bkay on this

I've also heard rumours that many repair places won't even touch these.

Mikegenwood

You don't need to remove the horizontal top shaft to replace the belt. You can cut and splice the belt once it's around the shaft. It's easy. See pic. Works great. Furthermore the T&S is an awesome machine and replacing the 50 year old plastic gears is easy and so worth it to get another 50 years out of the machine. There are many youtube videos on the subject

jafinch78

I second that and am thinking I might try out your method as well as document in a video and post on Youtube if I can.

What's wrong with spending another $100-$200 to get a great machine that will have gears that will last at least another 25 years I'm guessing? If they lasted 50 years, then the rebuild should last that long with the plastic parts.

Also, once I get more confident machining metal on my mini-lathe, I've set a goal to make some of these plastic parts in metal. At least brass. Seems if the parts are re-machined in metal to specification, then the machines might last as long as the antique designs. I have seen one or two machinists offer to machine some parts on the Facebook groups. I'll come back and post once I find them as I don't quite have the time now to search for.

Thanks for sharing the belt design. Did you do the pinning and then slip around the bottom gear once all pinned together?

I'm also wondering what kind of adhesive might help out as well... something like the 3M Scotch-Weld PR series (note the different numbers have different set time and other properties) used very carefully. That stuff is so impressive on tires used alone, including side walls of tires like the YT channel sixtyfiveford demonstrated, I'm wondering how will perform without the pins.