Attention vintage Kenmore belt drive experts

[repairguy]

So I’ve got my latest acquisition the ‘71 Kenmore 70 torn down. The gearcase needs an oil change and 2 of the 3 pads that come in contact with the brake pad are gone causing a slow to no spin condition which is no problem I can take care of that. I need to remove the tub to repair some cancer on the center post and replace the tub seal. This machine has a plastic replacement tub and this is only the second one I’ve ever seen and I didn’t mess with the first one I saw somewhere around 25 years ago. My question: does the tub just pull straight up for removal? There are metal clips that go through the baseplate that each stud goes through. I certainly do not want to break this tub trying to remove it.

 

[kafooty06]

some help

HI there I removed tubs from my two kenmore washing machines before but mine are from 1978 a little different than the one you have . The tub just pulls straight up after you remove the agitator and the big hex nut from the center shaft that's only for the inner tub the outer tub I never removed it there was another large clamp of some sort attached to the shaft that was seized on there and impossible to remove to pull out the outer tub so I just left it alone plus I didn't want to damage anything removing that outer tub

 

[combo52]

Removing A plastic Outer Tub From A WP Built BD Washer

Hi Melvin, WP tried out plastic outer tubs in standard size belt drive machines for a very short time around 1970, I have only ever seen about 2 of these machines.

 

It is too bad they did not continue this as 100,000s of thousands of BD washers went to the crusher early because of rust and leaks in their outer tubs.

 

Whirlpool told us in the 70s they did not go with the plastic outer tubs because they cost a lot more to make.

 

I know I removed at least two of these outer tubs from machines and do not recall any problem removing them, I guess I would be careful to really sand any rust off the center-post etc so as to not force it too much.

 

I may still have one of these plastic outer-tubs around, they still used a porcelain-steel tub cover that was different than the regular as it fit inside the outer tub lip.

 

Please post some pictures.

 

John L.

 

[repairguy]

Thanks for the information! I thought this was a replacement tub. I didn’t know it actually came that way from the factory. Since I posted this the tub has been removed without damage. The gearcase has been rebuilt and the brake has been replaced on the basket drive as two of the three parts of the brake that make contact with the disk were gone and the machine did not want to spin. Unfortunately the center post has cancer all the way through in the tub seal area but I’m not going to let that stop me. The bearings are still good and the spin tube and gearcase shaft are in great shape. I’ll post some pictures when I get a chance.