Help- Maytag LA712 motor discontinued - advice?

[waterman818]

Bingo! I took a break and walked away for about 30 minutes. Put the old belts back on, and ran 5 loads back to back without a hiccup.

Looking at some of the 1 star reviews of the belts I bought on Amazon seem to complain of a similar issue with older Maytags. The overload protector kicks on due to the lack of movement of the motor? Belts looked identical but might be a tad bit smaller.

So far now it looks like my washer is back in action with the old belts and "new" eBay motor. Does anyone have any recommendations where I could get the OEM correct belts in case I need some in the future?

 

[qsd-dan]

"The overload protector kicks on due to the lack of movement of the motor?"

No problems during the wash cycle, it's the spin cycle that's separates that a good transmission belt from a bad one. There's no clutch in a Maytag, the belt IS the clutch. When the washer goes into the spin cycle, the motor carriage thrusts forward towards the transmission and allows the transmission belt to slip as the tub comes up to speed. As the tub comes up to speed, the 2 springs pull the motor carriage back and the belt slip less until the tub is at full speed and no slippage occurs. It's a delicate balance.

If the belt is the improper length, has the improper v-angle and/or depth, or has the improper fabric wrap coating (or no coating at all) it can put too much of a load on the motor and it protection circuit cycles on. These washers are extremely picky about factory belts.

Here's a factory trans/pump belt kit at a good price.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1962603830...j90rCRoeYJyjYrT01L7wZ+yWlx|tkp:Bk9SR76niK2nZA

Always check the pump belt for proper tension when swapping belts (even if it's just one of them), motors, pumps, or pulley's as it greatly affects the spin cycle. Most adjust it too tight. The tighter the pump belt is adjusted, the looser the transmission belt becomes. I play around and custom adjust mine 1/16" at a time until performance is best but I'm a dash of crazy mixed in with lots of OCD. The pump belt adjustment always ends up being looser than factory specs for peak performance.

Probably a bunch of information you don't want to know...

 

[combo52]

Maytag dependable care washer belts

I agree with everything Dan said in post number 21

It’s important not to replace things that don’t look bad many people end up changing a set of belts because they think they need to be changed. Drive belts on nearly any automatic washer do not need periodic replacement.

On a Maytag dependable care washer that is not abused. It’s not unusual for the main drive belt and the pump belt to last nearly the life of the machine, yes after 30 years or so you might need a new drive belt but the key to changing things like belts is not to replace them unless they look worn out if the new belts look about the same old belts don’t change them.

Everyone please be careful with parts they’re buying from Amazon, etc.. There’s a lot of online parts for appliances from heating elements to water valves belts, etc. that are absolutely inferior to what the original equipment manufacture used in some cases these parts don’t work at all or work for only a very short time, we see it all the time in our service business. We go out on a dryer customer tells us We just replaced the heating element a month ago and it’s not heating again, keep the original parts unless they are bad.

John