Hotpoint Rimflow newbie question

[26flivver]

Good morning, all.
Recently turned up a very lightly used woodgrain top Rimflow washer. My 1861 house came with a little old 90s Maytag auto that works just fine, however being a heavy equipment mechanic my rather bulky and stiff as boards Carhartt pants are a lot for it.. this lead to perusing Black Friday deals on a bigger washer last week ... and remembering that I detest new washers.
Anyway to cut a very long tale short, I ended up trucking home a 1979? Rimflow that was destined for scrap, which allegedly only ran for one year around 1980 before being stuck in a storage building for decades. The size is seemingly even smaller than the Maytag, and it really didn't solve the original problem.. but it was too cool to let die.
It runs perfectly, all works well. But after getting wet again for the first time in decades, it has developed a detectable moldy smell. Surely coming from the rubber ring and edge of the tub you cant see around the top lid.
I've read of the issue already but not sure how exactly to go about cleaning it.. Is there some easier way to lift the whole top panel off the machine, and get into the outer drum to clean it, or does the whole machine have to come apart from the bottom down?
My only washer experience is an overhaul on a '24 Gasser Maytag and an ancient Easy Spindrier. Don't want to damage this Hotpoint if I can help it but done like the thought of festering mold either.
Any advice or a service book outtake would be greatly appreciated. Attached should be an image.

 

[repairguy]

Congrats on finding a vintage Hotpoint washer. The top does lift up but at it’s age you probably won’t get it to seal again without replacing the tub gasket and maybe more. My advice would be to set the washer for the longest wash cycle with hot water and a cup of chlorine bleach. If it’s truly a gently used machine it may not be dirty it may just be the smell of old rubber. If it works good I wouldn’t take it apart unless it’s an absolute must.

 

[gyrafoam]

These things were tanks. They gave many years of good service and have very aggressive agitation. It will clean those Carhartts.
A zillion of these machines went into new condominium and apartment complex's along with their matching bretheren, not to mention the ones for home installation.

 

[thatwasherguy]

Congrats on the machine!

I had a very similar machine from 1988 for a few months, and it worked like an absolute charm. As far as the smell goes, I second the hot wash with bleach idea. If you have the space, you could even hook up both machines and solve your capacity issues.
Thatwasherguy.

 

[combo52]

Washing bulky clothing, Carhartt work clothing

Keep your eyes open for use Speed Queen front load washer, you can also use any modern large front load washer, my partner, and I both wear a lot of Carhartt clothing and it is bulky he wears size 3636, and I wear 3234s and we also have a lot of the jackets etc. the front loading washer make short work of really dirty stuff without damaging the machine or the clothing.

I would never wash things like a top load washer it simply takes too much water and detergent because you can only get two or three items in where I can normally wash 8 to 12 pairs of jeans in the Speed Queen front loader at one time.

If I didn’t use a front loading washer for this type of dirty work clothing, I would use a wringer washer where you could at least get good use out of your hot water and detergent.

John