I picked this machine up from Jetaction/Don this weekend to play with. This machine was originally posted here by Ben in 2008. It's a 1977 top-of-the-line Norge made Montgomery Wards washer. My bf has an LG top loader which he dislikes and has been asking me to keep a look out for an agitator top loader which he said he prefers. So if he wants this, it will go to him after I get to play with it for bit.
The outside styling very much reminds me of a Lady Kenmore from the early and mid 1970's. It has a 30 minute soak cycle, although I haven't figured out what the "Delayed Soak button" is yet. It will automatically advance to wash and dispense the detergent through the dispenser. It not a recirculated dispenser, the incoming fill water is diverted away from the main fill flume to the dispenser during wash fill. I tried it with powered Oxydol and it works perfectly, not one drop of powder was left after a minute of fill.
I've never experienced a TOL Wards from the 1970's and it's super cool! I have a beautiful hardly used TOL 1965 Wards set which is a long-term keeper. I always thought the Plus-Capacity Norge and Wards machines were superior in performance over most other 1960s and 1970s machines, both in cleaning ability and extraction ability.
After full testing it needed a new water valve and also it knocked loudly during agitation as the tab on the brake band that is held by the brake latch had worn down from heavy use. I simply raised the brake latch slightly by installing a thrust washer under the latch bearing which raised the latch away from the worn spot and the machine immediately stopped knocking and sounds great. These were not quite machines when they brand new, but it sounds really good otherwise.[this post was last edited: 8/21/2017-11:11]
The outside styling very much reminds me of a Lady Kenmore from the early and mid 1970's. It has a 30 minute soak cycle, although I haven't figured out what the "Delayed Soak button" is yet. It will automatically advance to wash and dispense the detergent through the dispenser. It not a recirculated dispenser, the incoming fill water is diverted away from the main fill flume to the dispenser during wash fill. I tried it with powered Oxydol and it works perfectly, not one drop of powder was left after a minute of fill.
I've never experienced a TOL Wards from the 1970's and it's super cool! I have a beautiful hardly used TOL 1965 Wards set which is a long-term keeper. I always thought the Plus-Capacity Norge and Wards machines were superior in performance over most other 1960s and 1970s machines, both in cleaning ability and extraction ability.
After full testing it needed a new water valve and also it knocked loudly during agitation as the tab on the brake band that is held by the brake latch had worn down from heavy use. I simply raised the brake latch slightly by installing a thrust washer under the latch bearing which raised the latch away from the worn spot and the machine immediately stopped knocking and sounds great. These were not quite machines when they brand new, but it sounds really good otherwise.[this post was last edited: 8/21/2017-11:11]
