1971 lady Kenmore washer

[combo52]

I finally reinstalled my 1971 lady Kenmore washer.

This was a machine. I modified heavily and completely rebuilt in 1978 used it for about 30 years until the center post got so rusty that it actually cracked.

Started rebuilding it about five years ago it got set aside like so many projects, I put a stainless steel sleeve on the center post of a replacement face plate from a machine that was in good condition.

When I rebuilt this machine in 1978 I put the extra large capacity tub assembly into a 1964 all porcelain cabinet combined it with a 1971 lady Kenmore and modified the spin speed to achieve about 700 RPMs.

The one problem I had with the extra large tub because I never had a sink large enough for the sudssaver to work without paying a lot of attention to prevent overflow.

That’s why I bought the large stainless steel laundry sink so now I can save the full 25+ gallons of this machine uses ,

How many AW people are using a sudssaver on a regular basis on a vintage washing machine?

John

 

[Marky_Mark]

Looks great, John.  I've never used a suds saver.  Hopefully I'll be able to stop off in Beltsville again soon and see your latest set-up.  Does this dryer have the original 24,000 BTU/h cycling burner or did you change it to a modulating one?

 

Mark

 

[Chetlaham]

You Have Nice Tastes

The blue beams, the pink back brick, the yellow side brick, the painted has pipe, the perfectly straight shiny water copper lines, the gripped flooring, the quality sink, fan ect... there is so much wholesome about everything. And oh, of course, a perfect fitting washer to compliment it all!

 

 

You've got serious esthetic design talent with a predilection for quality.

 

 

[qsd-dan]

They still look factory new. So I assume the increase in spin speed also increases OPM's during the wash cycle? Probably helps a bit with the larger tub configuration.

 

[appnut]

John, isn't this the last rendetion of the pushbutton LKs, 1974?

 

[washerlover]

I had a ‘74 LK and it didn’t have the colored buttons…I believe the ‘73-‘74 models did away with the color-coding…

 

[peteski50]

Kenmore!

John I am Happy You were able to restore the lady Kenmore
Best Of Luck with it
Peter

 

[bajaespuma]

Beautiful set

I wish I had your talent.

 

[mickeyd]

Preaching to the choir~

Hello John,

Forget the economy and the green-ness, Sudsavers are just plain fun, so unique, such a brilliant engineering breakthrough, so interesting, and so damn dramatic, always surprised at the members who eschew them. As you well know, Whirlpool held up release of their first automatic until they perfected the SudsMiser, making it an integral part of the machine. Once was, when people knew how to wash, the first load was clean whites, and virtually no one in history--kidding!--ever dumped the scalding immaculate liquors down the drain and started over.

For me, the agitated high speed Sudsreturn has no equal in washer love. So much so that when using the wringers and the Easy Spins, I always start the agitation with the fill cycle, often filling through the drain hose on the wringers, thus having the water enter from the bottom, add the soap, and Voila! SUDSRETURN--YAY`!!!

I have a 65 Lady K Suds, an 806S, and 64 Frigidaire Spring-loaded ball model, still hoping for the proper rectangular hose; will pay you a small fortune for one.

Your Hybrid is beautiful, and I am green with healthy envy for the magnificent SS sudstub, and love the white Surgilator with the big chrome cap. Many thanks for sharing your legendary expertise and all the help you give even to the least nincompoop, LOL.

 

[rp2813]

If I had a suds saver machine, I would certainly use that feature to save water (because we'll for sure end up having to conserve again here on the left coast sooner rather than later), but I've never seen a suds saver in action and have a couple of questions.

 

In the picture above, the sink is full of saved suds.  What about when the machine completes its entire cycle and needs to drain instead of save?  Do you have to hang around to pull the sink's drain plug?  Would an old school double basin sink be the ideal situation?

 

[DADoES]

 
Two drain hoses, one to storage, other to drain standpipe.

 

[repairguy]

It looks good John. Glad you got the set together and connected again.

 

[seedub]

John, I'm curious to learn the story of the control panel with 1971 pushbuttons and as Bob noted a 1974 timer setup. Did something catastrophic happen to the original?

--Chris

 

[combo52]

The 71 lady Kenmore washer and 1974 gas dryer

When I built this machine originally in 1978, I used a 1971 control panel, but as many of you noticed the timer dial and knob and cycles around the knob are from a 74 lady Kenmore. I did this because I needed the timer from the large capacity machine to have enough pump out time For the super capacity tubs that I added back when I did this in 1978 you could still order those parts.

I used the 1971 control panel because I wanted to three speed motor by 74. They only had a two speed motor.

The spin speed was increased by using a clutch pulley from a very rare 1961 Kenmore washer for a short period of time instead of a cast-iron clutch pulley they used to stamped steel pulley , the stamped steel pulley had a deeper groove and you could use the narrow belt, and it would effectively reduce the pulley diameter about 1 inch giving it a much faster, spin speed without speeding up the agitation or pump out performance. The agitation can easily handle the large loads that I wash in this machine at the normal speed.

I did two large loads with one tub of water on Saturday. When I finished installing the washer it worked beautifully, I still think at least for me. The easiest machine to rebuild is a belt Drive whirlpool or Kenmore or of course a whirlpool built direct drive top load washer expired, the machine worked perfectly. I have not lost my touch lol

When you said save you, just put the stopper in the sink if you want to save the water if you know you’re washing the last load, you simply remove the stopper and it goes down the drain very easy to use no settings to make, etc.

Thanks for all the nice comments. It’ll be fun to use this machine again. It was my primary machine for almost 30 years however going forward I’m mostly going to use the frontload machines and the other vintage machines, both older and newer than this pair.

John

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

It's always nice and even unpredictable to see what machine here will be restored and photographed in all its beauty and even demonstrated in video, and seeing the rest of the laundry room that it's in, too...

 

Thank you very much Combo 52 for sharing...

 

 

 

-- Dave

 

[mistereric]

Nice job on the machines, wish I had a sud saver!

 

[bigalsf]

Congrats John and great job. I love it! I like the colored control panel. It's fun to modify machines to do something different &/or better. I love to experiment!

I just finished a rebuild of my 62 Imperial. My center post was toast; I had a local machine shop we partner with fashion a new one out of stainless. I'll post pics soon. I wish I could find one of those older clutch pulleys. You described this to me once before & i've been on the hunt ever since. Love the Super Surgilator; lots of action!

Enjoy using them!

 

[rp2813]

Looks like my question was answered, and if space allowed, a vintage concrete double laundry sink would be the alternative to a standpipe.

 

[bpetersxx]

Looks really spiffy there

I'm kinda of a dunce on this

I did not know that piano key washers like this had suds savers

Until it was explained

you press selective dialing cancel

that retracted the wires and pins in the timer assembly

then the perforated timer stop plate could spin freely as you turned the dial to suds

Did I get it right?