A DE606 from 1966!

[lowefficiency]

Thanks guys, appreciate the help.

I do have the spare motor I pulled from the KDG606... It's the exact same type, but given how messed up that dryer was, I'm not sure on its running condition. It feels slightly sticky - is there a trick to oiling this type of motor? I don't see any oiling ports, nor any means of taking the motor itself apart.

I'll have a look at the centrifugal switches too. I wish I had pointed a camera at it - I don't actually know if the smoke had come from the motor itself, or from the obviously burned centrifugal switch...

 

[lowefficiency]

You were right on the pulley too, John! Considerable wear on the one from this dryer.
The one from the parts dryer (second picture) has little if any wear, but is also non-magnetic. I see that the steel ones are still available, but I'll probably run with this second one for now.

 

[lowefficiency]

The blower cover was missing the lint seal, Maytag part #312623. I can't find a source for these, they must have been discontinued quite some time ago...

 

[lowefficiency]

The impeller itself happens to be the plastic type. (For a 1966, does this mean it was a replacement?)
The molded in pulley portion has some wear, but nowhere near as bad as the motor pulley. I'll have to check the used spare from the KDG606.

Interestingly, one of the impeller bushings stayed on the shaft when I pulled the impeller. It wasn't stuck to the shaft, it turned freely and came right off. My Maytag books are light on details here, and unhelpfully say to "follow the instructions in the bushing kit carefully". I presume that this was supposed to have been a friction press-fit of the black rubber parts into the plastic hub of the impeller?

 

[maytag85]

I believe all Maytag HOH’s from the 1960’s to 1975 used a Bakelite blower wheel. I have a metal blower wheel I snagged from the appliance junkyard back in 2022. Should do a test to see if it dries faster since it probably moves more air since there’s more vanes on it.

 

[goatfarmer]

Nice score!

 

 

[combo52]

Servicing a DE606HOH dryer

Hi Dave, you can oil those Emerson motors by drilling a hole in each end and putting in some light electric motor oil.

If the motor in the dryer smoked up the whole house, it’s the start winding not just the switch. If you look carefully into the motor, you’ll see that the inner start windings are probably quite toasty looking.

Yes, it looks like the replacement motor also has an aluminum pulley. It must be pretty low Use to be in that good of shape. It’ll work fine for many years. No reason to worry about replacing it with a steel pulley unless you’re gonna be putting a lot of hours on this dryer.

On the blower, the bushing is supposed to stay in the plastic housing, if the bushings aren’t too worn, I suppose you could try gluing the rubber mounted bushing back in place with some really good RTV type sealant or glue, generally when we had a bushing do this we just replaced the blower, but they’re not that readily available anymore so you might have to get creative if you don’t have a good spare.

John L

 

[lowefficiency]

Sean, it looks like I no longer have those gas-specific dryer parts you had asked about. Sorry about that!

 

[maytag85]

Reply #26

No worries, I’ll just will have to ask around in the future. Might just be easier to convert to 120v if I end up moving to another location in the future with no 240v outlet.

Btw, when you dismantle this DE606 for a tune-up, I highly suggest replacing/upgrading the thermostats while it’s stripped down for a cleaning and oiling, replacing the felt seal. I installed a 160F thermostat for the high limit thermostat on my Maytag DE806 (really just a 407 with the fluorescent light in place of the neon indicator light), makes a BIG difference since it would take awhile to dry with the 150F since it kept on kicking the heating element off, this is with a clean lint screen and ductwork. Also would replace the cycling thermostat with one that’s rated for 120F, along with a adjustable cool-down thermostat (actually is a fan thermostat) that can be set to 90F for a long cool-down. May seem ludicrous, but certainly will live up to the HOH advertising ‘a soft even circle of heat for gentle drying, no hot spots that can damage fabrics’.