A bit of a re-introduction

[Autoharp_Bill]

Hi friends,
This is not my first time here - I have been here and I was active, but something happened and I somehow was unable to get back in, worked with the mods for a while, then one thing led to another and I quit trying...but now the "Prodigal son" has returned. Glad to be back. I'm not even sure what my identity when I was here last.

To make a long story short, both of my washers died - my '72 belt drive Kenmore and my '81 direct drive Kenmore. I believe the problem with the direct drive is the spin clutch and I will replace it eventually, but the belt drive developed more major issues and I HAD to get clothes washed. I ended up junking the belt drive (but I first took off the new pump and the touch screen timer modification I had made)and found a Maytag of unknown vintage on Craigslist for $50 (turns out it was a 1989 model). It had a broken pump pulley - obviously someone had picked it up from the front with an appliance dolly. But I fixed the broken pulley with a small piece of Garolite CE (Micarta) and some J-B Weld - it has washed at least a hundred loads of clothes since and it is working great.

Also, a little unsolicited testimonial. Has anyone here gotten parts from repairclinic.com? Their brick-and-mortar location (yes it is more than just a website!) is located in Canton, MI and their parts counter is open 7 days...I got a Maytag gas dryer coil set and a Kenmore spin clutch on a Sunday afternoon...nice!

 

[cfz2882]

'89 maytag

so is your '89 maytag the old helical tranny or the new "orbital" tranny?
I remember in '89 the orbital tranny design won some design award or something...
BTW cool workbench-i spy all kinds of interesting parts and tools there!

 

[Autoharp_Bill]

It has the orbital tranny. At work I have a Magic Chef (obviously built by Maytag) that has the helical tranny.

With that orbital tranny, there is something special about the drive pulley that makes it able to work. I don't want to take it apart to find out, but do you know how it works? I have gotten so familiar with the Kenmore / Whirlpool belt drive machines over the years, then I look at this - there's nothing there! Yet it works beautifully!

 

[Autoharp_Bill]

As far as interesting items on the bench are concerned, that bearing with the notch on the inner race is an interesting character. It is out of a printing press. That notch is actually a keyway (which creates a weak spot and they can crack there, which is what happened to this one.) It's not big, only the same size as a regular 205 bearing but it is a one-way clutch in addition to being a ball bearing.

For those of you who think washing machine parts are expensive, you haven't spent money until you buy special machine parts. I can special order them locally for $175 each (made in Germany) - BTW, the machine was made in Canada. There is a company that specializes in parts for this machine, from them I can buy new German ones for $150, used German ones for $75 and new Chinese ones for $40...I gave it a lot of thought and opted for the Chinese ones. They've been working fine...

You don't appreciate how cheap appliance parts are until you buy industrial machine parts...