Documented Maytag A806 Series 1 & Series 2 changes

[swestoyz]

Hey Gang -

Quite a few of us have wondered exactly what the heck happened in the mid 70's - well, in Newton anyway. I did some digging through the archives last month and came up with some pretty juicy material from both Parts manuals, and LTS publications.

First up: I actually stumbled upon the 1982 A806 parts manual on accident, but I'm glad I did. The scan below of the last parts revision included a nice detailed list of the major revised changes through the 15 year run of the A806. More notable are the documented changes that came along with the Series 1 machines, which started production on January 29th, 1975 - with the "WD" serial code. With the Series 1 machines you got:

1. The revised/simplified bleach injector system
2. Front panel trim strip removed
3. "Sunglow" or yellow control panel
4. New aluminum timer dial
5. Non shaded top panels

Thankfully they also noted that the tub light on the A806 was not removed until the Series 2 machines. The closest date I can come up with the Series 2 machines is mid to late 1977. If anyone has a date on the Series 2 change - please post it in this thread for archival purposes. Continuing on......

 

[swestoyz]

Further documentation supporting the Series 1 changes - the March 1975 edition of LTS. 2 pages. The LTS goes into more detail on how the changes were spread across the entire laundry production, as well as some, uh, justification ;-) "Modern Schemes"?

 

[swestoyz]

Page 2 - 'vastly simplified'.

 

[swestoyz]

Okay - now you are asking yourself - when did they get rid of the chrome lint filter, as well as the full chrome timer dial? Wait no more....

Lint filter discussion - July/August 1972

 

[swestoyz]

Chrome center dial. I had no idea that it was first piloted on the A806 - to be later adopted by the rest of the model line. And so early!

November 1971

 

[swestoyz]

Page 2.

 

[swestoyz]

Last but not least - documented changes from 1966 through March of 1969. Had no idea they changed so much, so quickly! (thanks for the scans Greg)

 

[swestoyz]

page 2. November 1967 was the change of the integral spline agitator, as well as the nylon mesh filter to the plastic.

 

[swestoyz]

Ah, the 4 water level pressure switch was added in December of 1968. Cool stuff!

If anyone else has any other cool '06 series changes they'd like to share and document, please do! I do know that they moved the model tag to under the lid in 1975 as well, but not sure exactly what month later in the year. Anyone have this documented?

Ben

 

[qsd-dan]

Ben.....

From one straight guy to the another.....I LOVE YOU, MAN!!!

 

[lebron]

Awesome scans Ben!! Maytag did have some of the best Lit in the biz!

 

[scrubflex]

EXCELLENT!!! Cool stuff!...

Hey Ben, THANKS for sharing this lit. Digging through the archives, did you happen to come across any juicy material that talk about CAPACITY?
Greg (Gansky1) posted a thread# 8499 a few years back regarding Maytag's ability to use more tub space in their machines vs competition. It talks about how Maytag (increased the size of the washbasket in four of the automatic washers of the "new generation of automatics" line).
I had already wondered if Maytag had increased the extra large tub sizes thru-out their '06, 07, 08 and 12' washer lines over the years.
I'd like to find out what the increase was and the different (tub length) and (tub diameter) measurement changes of these washer until the last machine made.

Harry

 

[goatfarmer]

Great info, Ben!

 

[bajaespuma]

As far as I'm concerned, lots of stuff in that bulletin is simply Bad News.

 

[lowefficiency]

> First up: I actually stumbled upon the 1982 A806 parts manual on accident, but I'm glad I did. The scan below of the last parts revision included a nice detailed list of the major revised changes through the 15 year run of the A806.

Ben - For what it's worth, I came across a later April 1986 revision of the Maytag A806-A806S parts manual. I don't know what changed between them, but the front cover page with the series 01/02 changes appears to be identical.

 

[Chetlaham]

Reply 13

Why bad news?