Agitators in early Whirlpool and Kenmore DD machines

[supremewhirlpol]

What type of agitators were featured in the early Whirlpool and Kenmore DD machines? Pictures of both the machines and agitators would be nice to see. Model numbers? How good were they as far as roll-over? Videos?

 

[cphifer5115]

Here is a pic of a DD agitator for both WP and KM. I don't know how well they preformed. I found this pic in another thread with a bunch of other agiators. I croped the pic to better show the WP and KM agitators. I don't have any pics of the machine either. I hope someone else will chim in as i too would like to know more about the early DD machines built by WP.

 

[combo52]

EARLY DD WASHERS

The white agitator on the left was the first design used in the WP DD washers and the gold one on the right the first KM DD version. At the wash-in last month we had a fully restored original WP DD washer hooked up and working. The agitator performed very well unless loaded too heavily then turn over would start to suffer as the 24" and the 27"' standard capacity DD washers had a rather tall narrow tub. The dual action was a huge improvement in these models for consumers that liked to do large loads, in fact WP brought out a service kit to add a light blue dual action agitator to these early models if users complained of too much lint or other performance issues. This was the first DA agitator used in any DD washer, because of an agreement with the Sears side of laundry marking WP was not allowed to use the DA agitator in a production machine at this time as Sears had negotiated an exclusive 10 year right on this agitator. But they managed to get some through on the service side. This change to DA agitators was as even Consumer Reports said the biggest improvement in washers in over 20 years and by about 1995 almost everyone was using it in thier machines, I only wish the SQs that we are now selling had them as it makes the washer much more water efficient and gentile on large clothes loads.

 

[ingliscanada]

Agitator Wars

I understand that Sears or WP had a fit when GE and Maytag copied the DA agitators in their machines, and forced them via court order to discontinue them.

Gary

 

[autowasherfreak]

I had a WP DD in the early 90's it was 14lb machine and had a similar agitator, but I don't remember if it had the "wings" or not. The rollover wasn't the best unless you underloaded it.

 

[supremewhirlpol]

Chris,
I've never seen that white agitator before->looks like a smaller Double Duty Super Surgilator.

John,
Do you have pictures of the original Whirlpool DD you have? I have a DD that is not a exactly the original but I think may be close.

 

[supremewhirlpol]

Here is the Early DD I have. It is LA5600XPW3 I'm not sure what year it is at one point it had a spin-drain transmission in it.

 

[supremewhirlpol]

The lid

 

[supremewhirlpol]

agitator

 

[combo52]

EARLY DD WASHERS

Hi Melvin if you look through the wash in pictures from our wash in you will see it, its a 24" model with a mostly black console. I am not sure which transmission the washer you have is supposed to have, that machine was built around he time they changed to neutral drain. If it was supposed to have a spin drain it will not spin if the newer transmission has been installed. You can put the older trans in the neutral drain models but not the other way around.

 

[macboy91si]

Spin Drain

What was the reason for discontinuing the spin drain on the DD machines?

Also the original agitator at John's had no upper agitator vanes and the double duty wings at the bottom. For a while I though it was an anemic performer, but with no soap in the water, you could see that once the clothes made it to the bottom they moved a lot. Rollover was a little slow though and it certainly wasn't a very fun to watch machine. I though it was very cool however, I just had to watch it for a bit to realize how it was doing it's wash.

-Tim

 

[cphifer5115]

I've never seen that white agitator before->looks like a

I had never seen one of those either til i saw the thread "art of agitation" that's where i found that pic and just copied it and croped to show case the two DD agitators. I have never see either one of those in person. The gold one for the KM looks like it has a lint filter on it? Is that true?

 

[redcarpetdrew]

The move to neutral drain transmissions addressed a couple of issues but created another. There was a large amount of strain on the nylon gears to spin a full load of clothes and water. I've seen a few direct into spin transmissions with shreded gearing. Also, I've noticed that the DD machines shook/vibrated less when the load was settled at the bottom of the basket after a neutral drain vs. up on the sides like you'd get when the machine spun as it drained. The problem this change created was that the suds/scum/other assorted nastiness that was floating on the top of the water would re-deposit on the clothes as the water level dropped down thru them as well as build up on the upper part of the outer tub, creating a source of stink. This was a big selling point for machines like the Maytag (relax, John. It's only an example.. LOL!) that spin drained as this would tend to flush the offending mess off to the sides of the tub and away from the load AND help keep the upper part of the outer tub cleaner...

RCD