Husqvarna 21

Husqvarna 2000 rebuild

Rebuilding a seized 2000

Warnings

Read through the entire process before starting, especially the parts that are easy to break. If you aren't confident that you have the patience, tools or ability to do it yourself, don't do it. You would be risking breaking your beautiful European machine and it might be better value to leave it to an experienced professional.

If your pattern mechanism is stuck, do not force it. The bottom gear, which drives the pattern indicator, is the first thing to break when you do this and they aren't cheap.

If the machine is very hard to turn, do not force it. The two things that break when you do are the plastic hand wheel and the take-up slide. You will probably cry.

If you can't get it into buttonhole mode, do not think you can skip this and remove the pattern mechanism anyway. Fix the buttonhole mechanism first.

This takes a lot of work

The fact that I love repairing Husqvarnas means I will repair them. As mentioned, almost all sewing machine mechanics avoid these due to the work involved. In the past I haven't performed a full restoration of a seized and broken 2000 from “unused for decades” condition for someone else. This changed when a lady came into the shop one Thursday afternoon (20/7/23) with a 6460 that hadn't been used for a very long time. It was completely seized, the reverse was stuck, the camstack was broken, the buttonhole function seized, the motor brushes worn out but it looked in excellent condition otherwise. I started prior to 6am on a Friday morning (probably at 5:50) and finished the test sew at 2:05pm, having taken a total of about 15 minutes for breaks (customers picking up and dropping machines off). That's eight hours of work by someone who has a lot of experience with these, and there wasn't anything unusually troublesome about it.
So the lesson is that even for an experienced repairer, it takes a very long time to fix one of these. All of these problems are much worse due to Husqvarna's adoption of sintered bearings. Several years of being idle causes the leaking lubricant to settle on the bearings and completely dry out, effectively gluing the bearings and whatever else it has leaked onto. The good news is that by now none of the built-in lube is left, so it will never happen again (unless you ‘lubricate’ with something like WD-40 or 3-in-1 oil, which also dry out and leave a sticky residue). I repeat: do not use WD-40 or 3-in-1 on any sewing machine. If you have (or someone else has), it must be washed off and lubricated with sewing machine oil. Some sewing machine mechanics I know regularly use WD-40, and the machines are always gummed up when left idle for a few months.

The stitch width mechanism

If the pattern mechanism is seized, there's a high chance that the stitch width will be very tight and you can't get it into or out of buttonhole mode (with the dial on zero width you pull the dial and it should click). This leads me to the non-aligned buttonhole issue. Get yourself a bottle of methylated spirits and put a spray top on it. Be very careful not to get it onto the exterior, as it will melt the paint I usually put a cloth around what I'm attempting to free up to absorb the excess. Spray some onto the part between the plastic and metal parts and turn the dial. It will quickly become easier and in just a few minutes it should be quite easy to turn. Now put it on zero width and look at the mechanism. There should be a U shaped male part that fits into a U shaped female part. If these are not there, the metal part (towards the front of the machine) has slipped around and must now be turned until it allows the other part to enter when the dial is pulled for buttonhole mode. Be extremely gentle here. Remember that most of the metal on a seized Husqvarna had lubricant embedded. This means that the metal is not solid and can be more easily damaged, marked or broken. Putting a mark on the metal is something you will feel later when you go to use the machine. You'll be kicking yourself for not being careful enough. If you have to use a big screwdriver, wrap cotton around it. The metal part is curved and friction will still allow it to be moved. If you're lucky, your machine now has a working stitch width and buttonhole mechanism. Now you can put it into buttonhole position 2 and continue. I have only needed to actually remove the stitch width mechanism on a couple of occasions, which is just as well: It is very time consuming.

Removing the pattern mechanism

Never attempt to force the dial, or you will break the pattern indicator gear.

After much trial and error, I discovered that it is entirely possible as well as a good idea to remove the whole pattern mechanism as a single unit. Take plenty of photos if you want to do this, and before starting download the technical briefing (service manual). If you do this job often, you should get to the point of being able to remove in under five minutes.

seized pattern mechanism
A Husqvarna pattern mechanism just after removal from a machine.
Husqvarna 2000 cracked camstack
Husqvarna 2000 cracked camstack. They are usually much worse than this. This one will probably be okay for a year or two.

If you need to buy a new camstack (originals are almost always cracked), I don't sell them but Walter's import does. They aren't cheap, but these machines will never be made again.

Here are the steps to remove the pattern mechanism:

  1. Put your machine in buttonhole stage 2 (bar tack), which makes it much easier to disconnect everything for removal of the pattern mechanism by pulling out the stitch width knob with the width at 0 and turn it to 2. It should turn easily and click into each number stage. If it doesn't, you will need to fix this before progressing.
  2. Disconnect the fork-shaped metal connection at the front of the stitch width mechanism, which controls the needle position - use a small flat screwdriver to pry it away from the pattern mechanism then push it to the left until it stays out of the way (I gently push it in front of the rod that controls the feed dog height).
  3. Disconnect the spring loaded connector that goes from the buttonhole mechanism to across the top. It is secured with a circlip (be very careful that the circlip doesn't get away).
  4. Remove the light fitting (there is a single flat screw visible when you pull the cover down), put the screw back into the light fitting so you don't lose it.
  5. Remove the white cover at the front of the pattern knob (I use a machine needle), then the screw holding the front dial.
  6. Finally, remove the big screw at the back. You don't usually need to remove the camstack separately.
  7. You should now grip the mechanism by the metal part of the light fitting and the automatic feed (the metal extended part on the left) and manipulate it toward you. As soon as you start doing this you will notice that the light cord is in the way. You need to push the plastic light fitting up so that the mechanism can keep going back. When it is halfway out you will notice that there is also a spring attaching the light fitting to the mechanism. Disconnect this and since it's under a small amount of tension, attach the end to something so it won't come off.

You should now have the pattern mechanism looking like the one in the picture above.
Now you need to disassemble it completely and remove all of the waxy dried lubricant. Put on some rubber gloves and have a toothbrush and solvent to clean everything.

Detailed steps, photos, cleaning and putting it back

Adjusting the ZZ swing

Loosen the two screws holding the shaft gear and try to turn it. If it's seized, remove both of the grub screws, and spray methylated spirits in both of the holes. Now you need to force the shaft to turn without the gear moving. Keeping it from moving isn't easy, but I've found that putting a long screw onto the grub screw threads makes it much easier. Since using the hand wheel would break it, remove it and attach some vise-grips. Use these to turn the main shaft carefully while making sure the screw can't move (use tools or the frame to stop it moving). Once it starts to move, spray a bit more, then move the gear to the left and clean the shaft. Apply a little oil, move it back into position and insert and lighty tighten the grub screws.

Just the pattern mechanism instructions

For people who can't read the captions well, here is what they say in long form:

  1. A Husqvarna pattern just after removal. The waxy lube is obvious, and is also present on shafts and between gears, effectively acting as glue.
  2. With the camstack and pattern gear removed as a unit (they were stuck together). Clean these in solvent.
  3. With the arm removed. This is secured usually with a circlip (I have circlip pliers) as well as two nuts on two dished washers and an off-centre screw. You must keep these in the same order. Later models have a single nylon (self-locking) nut.
  4. Remove the washer clamping down the pattern gear, then the locking pin and all of the gears. I usually need to apply some heat in order to soften the lubricant. Be extremely careful removing these. The gears are very easy to break so don't apply any pressure anywhere except to the inside where there are less breakable parts. You don't need to remove the automatic feed arm, just clean it in place. This way you won't need to remove the star washer.
  5. Here are all the parts. Clean everything in methylated spirits and mineral turpentine solvent using a toothbrush to scrub. Dry them throughly then you will be ready to put them back. I lubricate everything with a teflon grease as I'm reassembling, but you could use tri-flow, as recommended by Husqvarna.
  6. Here are all the two bottom gears. The outer (bottom) one is turned and kept fully clockwise whilst the gears are being reassembled, so that it sits in the left zig-zag position. The next gear is inserted, then the pin is put back in. Align the mark on the inner gear so that it is as close as possible to the post, as per the photo.
  7. The next gear goes back onto the post, lubricated. Note the alignment mark, which matches up with the inner gear. Do not screw the clamping part on yet. The tricky part is next.
  8. I usually put a little grease into the channel as well as onto the gears. You have to hold the black metal part into the channel, align the alignment marks and insert the gear, all at the same time. The black part is at the end of the channel, since alignment occurs at the extreme clockwise position. Once this is on, you can screw the clamp on. Make sure that neither edge is hitting the central gear.
  9. After securing the central gear, put the front parts (coloured ring and the dial) and make sure you can turn it to every pattern. You will need to hold the black metal part upright or it will get stuck. You can now put some other parts back as per the photo. The black forked metal piece settles into a cutout every time a pattern is selected. Applying a little pressure you will be able to see how this works. Put the spring back into the central gears.
  10. The arm must be reassembled and goes on before the gear and camstack. Put it back on but be aware that you will need to loosen the horizontal screw on the right again in order to align the zigzag follower. This is done before putting the mechanism back into the machine. Put the gear in, lubricate the shaft then put the camstack in and secure it with the screw.
  11. At this point, reattach the pattern tension arm onto the automatic feed arm, making sure the spring goes onto the appropriate spot on the other arm. Put the indicator and dial back again and now you can check that everything works. Now that the camstack is in, you should now set the alignment of the zig-zag follower. When it is set, tighten the screw and you're almost ready to put it back into the machine.
  12. You will probably need to adjust the ZZ swing, so loosen the two screws holding the shaft gear and try to turn it. If it's seized, remove both of the grub screws, and spray methylated spirits in both of the holes. Now you need to force the shaft to turn without the gear moving. Keeping it from moving isn't easy, but I've found that putting a long screw onto the grub screw threads makes it much easier. Since using the hand wheel would break it, remove it and attach some vise-grips. Use these to turn the main shaft carefully while making sure the screw can't move (use tools or the frame to stop it moving). Once it starts to move, spray a bit more, then move the gear to the left and clean the shaft. Apply a little oil, move it back into position and insert and lighty tighten the grub screws.
  13. Now you can put the pattern mechanism back, putting the light housing and lead over the top of the metal part. Make sure the buttonhole control lever is safely off to the left. Reattach the spring for the light and push it on. It will click into the correct position. Make sure the auto feed is correctly inserted.
  14. Reattach this and carefully put the circlip back on. Put the pattern mechanism screw back and tighten it. The buttonhole control's U can be carefully put back underneath the corresponding part on the pattern mechanism. Put the indication ring and dial on the front and your pattern mechanism should now turn easily and work perfectly.

The stitch length mechanism

The reverse on this is almost always seized, so that's what we'll deal with. The problem is caused by dried lubricant inside the part that toggles, so we must free this up. This also take the greatest amount of time of all the seized parts.

Stitch length toggle (left)
The toggle is the square part on the left.
You will need to put some force on this part, but because it's a bit soft (especially models after 6020 with sintered bearings), you will need to minimise the possibility of damage. I have a very large flat blade screwdriver whose width is almost exactly the same as the gap from top to bottom of the toggle, so get your most appropriately sized screwdriver. You will also need either a heat gun or a hairdryer. This is to warm up the part, making the dried lubricant much easier to get rid of. You will also need a jar of the chemicals mentioned before (methylated spirits + mineral turpentine) and a toothbrush. Heat the area that's seized but don't overdo it. I heat them for about 10 seconds with my heat gun on the low setting. Once the area is warm, scrub it with the chemicals then try and move the toggle. It might take a fair force to get it moving but if it's warm it should move. Scrub again. When it cools, warm it up again and repeat. The worst machines I have dealt with so far have been 6440s, where it has taken more than an hour to remove the lubricant. Expect that it will take you at least this long. It should be getting easier with each round of heating and chemical scrubbing. You will get to the point of it being very easy to move the toggle, at which time you can stop heating it. Now you can switch to moving the feed backwards with the reverse button and forwards by pushing the feed dog directly, until there is absolutely no resistance. If there is any at all, and you think it's good enough, stop for an hour (until it cools down) and go back to it and it will probably be seized again. Once there is no resitance, you can blow it out with a compressor hose (if you have one) or just wait until it dries. Once it's dried and cold, push the reverse and make sure it is still good.

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