Joined the 806 Club...

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Determination pays again! Wanna come help me with the rust in my Westy dryer tub? LOL That's a most impressive change.
 
Thanks and Coming Attractions:

I appreciate the kudos - where else on this planet but AW.org can you show something like that off and have other people understand what it represents in terms of work and progress?

Next up is the agitator - that has to come out and get the same treatment. It shouldn't be anything like the lint filter - there's not nearly so much detail or so many crevices to deal with. There's a lot of crud down in the agitator's detergent-dispensing column; the lint filter does not yet drop smoothly into place, the way it's supposed to.
 
I'm in the "the oil leaked all out of the transmission A806 club". That's right, a puddle of goo in the storage building when I moved it. Poor thing.

I can't get to fix it right now but do I need a new trans? Or is this repairable?
 
Light-hearted chuckle, Sandy,

thinking about how you must have absolutely shuddered when you saw the extreme condition of the lint filter. The transformation is so intense, the color has changed ;'D.
 
Mickeyd:

"The transformation is so intense, the color has changed ;'D."

Well, that and different lighting, LOL.

What I don't understand about this 806 pair is the same thing I don't understand about all the things I own that are someone else's cast-off luxuries: How in the hell do you spend the money for one of the most expensive TOL machines made at the time and then proceed to beat the crap out of it? It seems to me like you'd want your money's worth, not to throw something out way before its time because it looks like it's been dragged behind a car since it was made.

I have tons of Farberware - very expensive new - that is the same deal. I have to clean pounds of gunk off nearly every piece. I have a TriStar vacuum, which was around $800 new in the late '80s, same thing - it was beat to hell and filthy. I have lots more examples, all with one thing in common: Once they were very expensive things to buy new, and someone treated them with such indifference and/or disrespect that they became almost valueless without major intervention and repair.

HOW DO YOU DO THAT???
 
Sometimes it's just lust and greed

An inveterate under-loader, I started overloading my Unimatic just because of peer pressure, and I wore out a heretofore perfectly good bellows. I just HAD to see how much the Uni would take, something I never did before, and had to have more more more huge loads. When the bellows broke, so did my heart. Now, I would hang myself before overloading that precious gem again. More later on how I added insult to injury because I did not know any better, but right now I have to catch a bike ride before the rain.

Here, Friend, is your favorite color--excuse me, colour;'D-- to brighten your day and make you happy for the care it has received.

mickeyd++11-24-2009-13-05-4.jpg
 
So then,

unable to get either a new bellows or the wrench to re-install the O-ring, I moved the machine to the deck for winter storage, careful to drain all water systems. Now, I want you to note that I have successfully stored machines in the garage for 15 years now without any problems, a 72 GE, a 77 Whirlpool, a Hoover TT and a 60's Easy Spin. They all still work; the garage is insulated only in the wall that it shares with the house. And although the deck is colder, both spaces freeze deeply.

After getting the parts for the water bellows, I very carefully removed it, not knowing that there was yet another bellows beneath it, an oil bellows. I guess it's only on the earlier models, since the 58 Tech-Talk book Terry so kindly sent me shows no oil bellows. Something caught and snagged on the way up as I gently pulled. Next, after an instinctive yank, up comes a perfectly preserved well-oiled oil bellows, now perfectly BI-SECTED, exposing a pristine metal screw-like shaft. I almost threw up after this mistake... But there's more......

And here's the real kicker. I finally get both bellows and the Nutcracker Suite of tools to install; everything is perfect until the water started flowing. Old rubber does not like northern winter deck accommodations. Two splits in two hoses. I kicked myself in the butt "real hard" for that ridiculous boner.

I know this is hardly what you're talking about, but I wanted to tell the story somewhere, and you gave me a nice opening. Thank You.

Michael
 
Well, Sandy, that set is over 25 years old. The original owners may have held them in high esteem, but they may have been passed down to other family members, or been traded in 10 years ago on a new set, and those sold as used. Or maybe the house was sold, and they were part of the deal. No way to tell for sure.

Except for the lint filter, and agitator, they look to be pretty darn nice. You should see some of the washers I pick up, that are less than 5 years old! As Ricky Ricardo would say "Ay yi yi"...
 
Kenny:

Yes, those are possible explanations for this set of 'Tags. I still can't figure out who bought my sterling silver new and let it end up on a grab table at $7 per piece, scratched and blackened. I can't figure out who would have let an $85 Farberware electric skillet become so fouled with grease it ended up at Sally Ann for $3.50 with no takers but me. I can't understand who paid nearly $300 for my food processor and sent it to Value Village in a condition so bad even I (the King of Clorox) had second thoughts about it. And the list goes on. It just seems that there are some nasty, abusive folks out there.

Is a puzzlement! Oh well, it makes some nice things affordable for me.
 
"I'm in the "the oil leaked all out of the transmission A806 club". That's right, a puddle of goo in the storage building when I moved it. Poor thing. I can't get to fix it right now but do I need a new trans? Or is this repairable?"

The $2.00 lower o-ring is causing the leak. Getting to the o-ring and replacing it (as well as other parts that should be replaced due to their age) is a little involved, but nothing compared to other makes and models. I'd rather completely tear apart a Maytag and replace an o-ring than install a belt on a BD Kenmore washer.

No need to replace the trans over a cheap o-ring.
 
Sandy,

This past May there was a posting on Craigslist for an "older washer & dryer set" here in Wausau with an asking price of $60 for the pair, so I called. When I went to look at them, the young guy who had bought the house was showing them to me, I opened the lid and pulled the filter out to check it, and he remarked that he never knew that was there. The Maytag A806S, and DE606 had come with the house, and he was about 24yo, at most. So I can understand how this might have happened to your machine. BTW, I bought the pair, and they're working flawlessly for us as back-up machines.
 
Tim:

I guess it just takes all kinds; you seem to find every possible combination of machine and owner out there. My former 'Tags in Atlanta were one-owner when I bought them - an LA108 washer and DE608 dryer. They were pretty abused; the washer's lint filter was a horror, and the one in the dryer had a huge hole in it, so big that Bounce sheets had blown through it into the dryer's ducting - the dryer was about one load away from starting a fire, there was so much lint inside its inner workings. This was someone who didn't have the excuse of not knowing (the things came with manuals, after all); she just didn't care as long as the machines did some kind of job on the laundry. P.S.: It took a long time for the reek of Bounce to get down to a tolerable level in that dryer!

On the other hand, I've seen a pair of BOL Kenmores from around 1980 or so that were absolutely pristine, with their manuals; the little old lady who owned them had obviously cared for them conscientiously. Even white plastic parts were unyellowed - and these were very cheap machines new.

I guess the story of washers is the story of people...
 
THANKS, Kenny!!!

A very public and heartfelt thanks goes out to our very own Goatfarmer, a.k.a. Kenny - he has sent me a set of 806 manuals and the official, authorised, sure-as-shootin' Maytag Laundry Guide! Since I just loooooooove having manuals for my vintage goodies, these are a real treasure. As soon as I can get with Ben (sweztoyz), they'll be scanned for sharing with others, 'cuz I know how many of you have these machines and no manuals.

Kenny - thank you SO much, and may the washer gods rain blessings all over your collection!
 
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