Hey Gang ~
Thought I would share a bit of weekend warrior progress with all of you. Due to the cold winter temps and a crazy arrangement of family gatherings and lack of tools needed for house work - I thought I'd spend a few minutes on the late 60's GE washer.
In the fall of 2004 a friend asked if I'd like to visit an antique shop on the west side of Waterloo. She had mentioned that he had some old wringers (a few model N's) and old appliances. What was found later on in the storage garage of the now defunct antique dealer in Waterloo was a cool looking GE. It had a price tag of $150 dollars on it. Knowing he was closing up shop that day - I asked what I would have to give him to haul it out that day. 15 bucks later and the GE was now saved.
I would have felt very bad for a needy family if they would have bought this GE. While the machine is in great cosmetic shape - the crazy 3 speed clutch was totally toast. After hearing how bad it was I decided to leave this machine for another day knowing this was only the 2nd vintage washer I had picked up.
Fast forward 3 years to earlier this fall - a nice late 70's parts GE shows up at Menards. Bring it home and it works perfect. After parting it out I discovered that it did not have the 2 speed clutch that I was hoping for but instead a 1 speed clutch. I figured any speed was better than none in the classic GE!
Over the last few weeks I've taken parts from the donor GE and brought the old 60's GE back to life. A few years ago I stumbled upon one of those mid-sixties timeline GE's behind an appliance store. I grabbed the ramp activator out of it but was foolish to leave the washer behind. It was sent to the crusher the next day - but thankfully part of it was kept for future use.
I've included a link here to a short video that was put together to show the difference between the straight vane activator and the ramp activator. Enjoy the video and the photos ~

Thought I would share a bit of weekend warrior progress with all of you. Due to the cold winter temps and a crazy arrangement of family gatherings and lack of tools needed for house work - I thought I'd spend a few minutes on the late 60's GE washer.
In the fall of 2004 a friend asked if I'd like to visit an antique shop on the west side of Waterloo. She had mentioned that he had some old wringers (a few model N's) and old appliances. What was found later on in the storage garage of the now defunct antique dealer in Waterloo was a cool looking GE. It had a price tag of $150 dollars on it. Knowing he was closing up shop that day - I asked what I would have to give him to haul it out that day. 15 bucks later and the GE was now saved.
I would have felt very bad for a needy family if they would have bought this GE. While the machine is in great cosmetic shape - the crazy 3 speed clutch was totally toast. After hearing how bad it was I decided to leave this machine for another day knowing this was only the 2nd vintage washer I had picked up.
Fast forward 3 years to earlier this fall - a nice late 70's parts GE shows up at Menards. Bring it home and it works perfect. After parting it out I discovered that it did not have the 2 speed clutch that I was hoping for but instead a 1 speed clutch. I figured any speed was better than none in the classic GE!
Over the last few weeks I've taken parts from the donor GE and brought the old 60's GE back to life. A few years ago I stumbled upon one of those mid-sixties timeline GE's behind an appliance store. I grabbed the ramp activator out of it but was foolish to leave the washer behind. It was sent to the crusher the next day - but thankfully part of it was kept for future use.
I've included a link here to a short video that was put together to show the difference between the straight vane activator and the ramp activator. Enjoy the video and the photos ~
