Belt drive (?) Kenmore in NE PA for $75

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That baby is a direct drive. Most of the 24-inch machines with this control panel (1981 and later font design) were DD. There was a few BD 24-inch models of the same era, but much more common was the DD, at least with this control panel. These are the machines in which the DD cut it's teeth. They grew out of the direct spin configuration in favor of the neutral drain while the 24-inch machines were most if not all that was being produced.

You can tell a BD from a DD in a machine like this by looking at the lid. A BD's lid is smaller, in this case mostly less deep. The DD machine is all lid as you can tell. On the BD there is about a 1.5 inch indent behind the front rim of the top.

A closer inspection on many DDs with this panel will reveal a clear plastic cover over the timer pointer. These were not used on BDs. This was done to prevent the timer from being advanced while the machine was operating, as it is very easy to grab the older style pointer, even if the machine has a declutch timer shaft, so a not-so-attractive clear slip cover was designed.

It's not easy to tell a 24-inch DD from a 24-inch BD from the 1981-1984 era.

Gordon
 
I took the clear plastic cover off of the cycle dial on my portable DD. It was nearly impossible to read it with that thing in the way. With the dial that the older models and the Whirlpool had (dark letters on light background), it would've been ok with the cover. Slim silver and gold letters on a brown background aren't enough contrast to read through the cover.
 
Early DD

Well, I guess I learned that not all black console center dial Kenmores are belt drive machines! I compared this machine to some belt drive machine pictures and now I see the difference regarding the lid size. At least I'll know what I am looking at from now on. Thanks Pat and Gordon!
 

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