1974 Lady Kenmore Dryer Rebuild

[jons1077]

With plenty to work on I decided to tackle the ‘74 Lady K dryer today. All the parts arrived and these should be pretty straight forward. The dryer was pretty noisy initially but otherwise seemed to work just fine. Goal is to give it a good cleaning, replace the rollers, belt and lubricate everything. We will throw in a new felt drum seal and replace seals around the filter and exhaust connections.

Here we go! Always unplug first!

New light bulb since this one ain’t workin.

 

[jons1077]

Next

Pop the top and remove the kick panel and front panels. We need to get up in there and get the drum and old belt out. Then we can do some serious cleaning and get those old rollers out.

 

[jons1077]

Drum is out

Big drum out and now we can clean up and put in new rollers.

 

[jons1077]

Rear panel

Time to remove the rear panel and clean more. Will remove the fan and wash it, clean around it and replace. Per Jason, remove the lint filter warning light hoses and blow air into them to ensure they are clean. The large filter manifold is easily removed for cleaning and new gaskets placed to seal off and prevent lint build up inside the dryer.

 

[jons1077]

Since we are back there...

Let’s install a new power cord.

 

[jons1077]

Felt drum seal

Tear off the old felt rear drum seal and replace with a new one. Good news about these dryers is they are all the same! Plenty of available parts!

 

[jons1077]

Lubricate the motor

Jason suggested drilling a couple of small holes in the motor housing and adding lubricant. Whatever she says I do!

 

[jons1077]

Let’s get her all back together

New idler pulley wheel and a new belt. Get her all out together! The door hinges were pretty noisy so a little 3-in-1 oil takes care of that.

 

[jons1077]

And we’re done!

She’s all back together and ready to be the best dryer I’ve ever owned!

 

[appnut]

Jon, you made it look oh so simple.  Looking forward to see if it does live up to the billing as the best dryer you've owned!!!  

 

[Ultramatic]

 

 

Great job Jon! Brought back a lot of memories when I was on my rebuilding dryers kick. Thanks for sharing!

 

[turquoisedude]

Wow, Jon, it's just like new.  Great photos and descriptions of the restoration process!!  May you have many years of soft-heat automatic drying!

 

[jons1077]

Easy to service

Glad you all are enjoying the photos! This dryer is actually pretty easy to get into and work on. Honestly, the hardest part was probably changing the light bulb because it’s a narrow 26” bulb in a very tight space.

Having worked on and rebuilt three GE dryers, this is my first Kenmore to dive into. The quality of this machine is remarkable to say the least. The panel alone probably weighs 15-20 lbs. all of the sheet metal is thick and it is very well-designed and built. Don’t get me wrong. The GEs are good performers but Kenmore definitely had quality on their side.

I’m curious about one thing and maybe you all know the answer to this. Notice in the first photo with the panel open the green circuit panel. Was this the first Solid State model Kenmore or were they using circuit boards prior?

 

[akronman]

2 things

1) Take a close up pic of all the controls, there's so many buttons/knobs/switches.
2) I have a slightly lower model 1974 Kenmore in gas, it is THE BEST DRIER in my collection of 8 various dryers.
3) allright, it's 3 things total, not 2: CONGRATULATIONS AND THANKS FOR THE PICS OF YOUR GOOD WORK

 

[jons1077]

And we have lift-off!

Hooked up this morning and running nice and smooth. Here are some close-up finish photos. The options are actually pretty minimal since you can basically choose a dryness level and a temp. It pretty much is on autopilot after that. End of cycle signal is a variable loudness setting and wrinkle guard is either on or off. Two warning lamps are for the lint trap and another alerting g that the cycle is almost finished. I dunno but I think the wood grain might grow on me.

 

[DADoES]

 
Wondering, does the control knob advance to Off on the Timed settings?  Or is Off a position to manually turn the machine off?

 

[bradfordwhite]

You make it look easy and fun.
Fixing driers typically is because it's a matter of cleaning and changing out simple parts.

The washers.... not so easy. plumbing can't leak. several parts are dependent on others to work or you have to take so many parts off to get to a part. There's more to it, that's for sure.

Still it's better than a refrigerator, freezer, or A/C units sealed system which I can't even do. Dangerous flammable chemicals, expensive tools. Precision measurements. One has to have their limits.

 

[jons1077]

Dadoes

The timer does not advance. The knob has set positions and everything is managed by the integrated control board. It’s just like a modern day computer controlled timer but without a time display.

 

[hippiedoll]

WOWZERS!!

That dryer cleaned up nicely! Thank you for the pictures to bring us along with you on your LADY KENMORE dryer rebuild.

So glad you got it up & working.
WOOOO HOOOOO!
)