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- Thread starter wetguymd
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Oh, that thing again! 
I had this next to my GM 1-18 back at the 2006 wash-in in Tucson for a tongue-in-cheek comparo.
Great machine, and I loved mine--I lucked out and it was minty. However, they are absolutely impossible to work on, and anything beyond swapping motors or changing the belt falls in the category of "I love you, but I have to let you go. It's not you, it's me. Really."
Even changing the belt is a relative nightmare, compared with other machines. If it wasn't leaking oil, I'd say stick a new belt on it--that improved my machine a thousand-fold. But if there's oil afoot, trash it. Trying to take the basket bolts out of my minty machine sheared one of them off in the tranny, even though everything looked fabulous and cherry. They used cheap, metallurgically incompatible metals together, and the results made you grind your teeth.
Plus, this model follows the Westy toploader tradition of not only clamping all the hoses in place, but gluing them onto their fittings, which just drives you ape when you have to take the thing apart. It's a real booger.
Fun and handsome machine, great wash action, splashy agitator, but if it wants to become an investment, invest elsewhere
I had this next to my GM 1-18 back at the 2006 wash-in in Tucson for a tongue-in-cheek comparo.
Great machine, and I loved mine--I lucked out and it was minty. However, they are absolutely impossible to work on, and anything beyond swapping motors or changing the belt falls in the category of "I love you, but I have to let you go. It's not you, it's me. Really."
Even changing the belt is a relative nightmare, compared with other machines. If it wasn't leaking oil, I'd say stick a new belt on it--that improved my machine a thousand-fold. But if there's oil afoot, trash it. Trying to take the basket bolts out of my minty machine sheared one of them off in the tranny, even though everything looked fabulous and cherry. They used cheap, metallurgically incompatible metals together, and the results made you grind your teeth.
Plus, this model follows the Westy toploader tradition of not only clamping all the hoses in place, but gluing them onto their fittings, which just drives you ape when you have to take the thing apart. It's a real booger.
Fun and handsome machine, great wash action, splashy agitator, but if it wants to become an investment, invest elsewhere
*giggle*
GM engineers thought that this machine would be an okay successor to a pulsator 1-18? Holy schnikies. Free beer night at the local dive.
The Westy top-loader series was no slouch, but compared to a 1-18, it's like a standard-capacity '60s Kenmore up next to the Double-Duty Surgilator machines. Big capacity difference. And don't forget, people were used to doing things like tossing a queen-sized comforter in a 1-18 and having it roll over happily, and that was not going to happen in a million years in this machine. The cubic footage of the baskets were worlds apart, and of course, the type of agitation allowed a lot of stuff to be washed in a 1-18 that couldn't easily be handled by an oscillating agitator.
Not worse, just different...
GM engineers thought that this machine would be an okay successor to a pulsator 1-18? Holy schnikies. Free beer night at the local dive.
The Westy top-loader series was no slouch, but compared to a 1-18, it's like a standard-capacity '60s Kenmore up next to the Double-Duty Surgilator machines. Big capacity difference. And don't forget, people were used to doing things like tossing a queen-sized comforter in a 1-18 and having it roll over happily, and that was not going to happen in a million years in this machine. The cubic footage of the baskets were worlds apart, and of course, the type of agitation allowed a lot of stuff to be washed in a 1-18 that couldn't easily be handled by an oscillating agitator.
Not worse, just different...
