Kenmore experts; can you answer some questions

[kenmoreguy64]

Ken,

The dryer, if it is a 1974 model too, is indeed larger than the previous Lady K dryers, by 1.0 cu ft. They are considerably more generous in space. The standard dryer works fine with the big washer, but the larger dryer is better to assist in avoiding wrinkles, etc.

I think the best results I've seen in drying is when I load a standard size wash load in the big dryer. They dry fast and are usually wrinkle free.

I suppose as a testament to their original design, both the standard dryer and the large dryer remain in production today. They weigh less of course, have been updated here and there, but are generally still around all these years later.

Gordon

 

[joefuss1984]

Penta Swirl

I wasn't much on the Pentaswirl either until I put a queen sized blanked in my aunts washing machine. I was expected to have to push the blanket down in the water to get it fully submerged. As soon as agitation started the blanked was pulled under. Needless to say I was very impressed, good turn over too.

 

[jetcone]

Yes I will attest at Kevin's

I was gobsmacked at what I saw going on in the Penta Swirl Universe there! I was the one who made the off comment looking at the empty tub "that won't do anything" and Roger dared me to watch as they fired it up!

I couldn't believe how much action there was in the tub! And no matter how many clothes they threw in there was still action!

I had to eat my words, however that said,there will only be Super Surgilators in this house.

BTW Ken I love your new Bubble Woman Avatar! As I remember all she said on LIS was pleasant sing songy bubbly untranslatable gibberish. Was Robot able to translate I forget??

She dressed nice for a spacewoman, they can be so trashy sometimes!

 

[super32]

Well then

I have never had a penta swirl in my personal possession but have seen them work in the field. They move a lot more water and clothes than I ever thought they would. I was quite surprised. It must have something to to do with the "upswept" curve of the lower fins.

 

[bajaespuma]

It's not even here yet and I'm already futzing with

"Pretty, pretty Dr. Smith!" And then she would bob up and down in space and coo like an oversexed pigeon. And Jon! She actually had a name! Athena!!!! The actress was appropriately statuesque Vitina Marcus (a "B" list version of Julie Newmar). Vitina guest-starred on a lot of the TV shows we watched too much of as kids. She was on "The Wild, Wild West" and "Get Smart" apparently and uncredited. Can't remember whether Vitina's character or Susan Oliver's Green Orion Slave girl came first but there was definitely a Sixites Zeitgeist for green-skinned sexy bitches. At one point they even gave Athena a boyfriend, but he was just a big fat green Hagar.

 

And speaking of wild colors, would one of those gorgeous Blue KitchenAid Dual-Action Agitators fit in this machine?

 

 

And does anyone here have a BLACK Super Surgilator that they'd like to sell me? There's nothing like a black agitator to make your wig wag.

 

[jetcone]

Athena!

Wow I'll have to scan my season 1 & 2 for that episode and refresh my memory!!

So advanced yet now so far in the past- how odd!

 

[super32]

All I can say is OMG! Lol

 

[bajaespuma]

So whaddya think? Will it fit this machine?

 

[kenmoreguy64]

Ken -

The Direct Drive agitators don't fit in a belt-drive. The splines are the same, the centerpost designs are of similar arrangement in regard to shaft, seals, bearings, centerpost, etc but the DD agitator shafts are considerably shorter.

If you put a DD agitator in a BD, it would seat on the splines, but rise perhaps as much as halfway out of the lid well (I tried already, lol).

Gordon

 

[bajaespuma]

Gordon,

Thank you! You just saved me 50 dollars!

 

OK, so what about this arrangement?:

 

[kenmoreguy64]

Ken -

Glad to help!

The new arrangement will work. You will need to get a plastic drive block to install on the agitator shaft splines, but once you do that, this will work. You will also be able to use any other of the standard capacity WP bakelite agitators once you do that, however you'll have to pull the block to go back to other style agitators.

I am going to link a youtube video that Austin did with the same agitator, but using a 1982 machine mated to a 1968 control panel. The difference with the '82 vs. the '74 is that the 1974 is approximately 3/4 of an inch deeper than the machine in his video. The water level comes up unusually high on a standard cap agitator when used in the late 1981 and later large cap machines. The use of these agitators in the older machines would then raise the water level (when full anyway) approximately 3/4" even higher on the agitator. I just want you to be aware of that. This makes the level much higher than would be seen in a standard application.

All that said, my suggestion is that if you're going to use a bakelite agitator in either a large capacity machine or a short centerpost model (the '74 is not a short post model, nor is the 1970) that you be sure the block is seated all the way, that the agitator seats properly on the block, and that the seal in the agitator cap is fully functional. These machines count on the formation of an air pocket under the agitator to keep the bearings, seals, and much of the centerpost dry. The bakelite agitators don't seal as well as the newer splined agitators, so in machines as I mentioned that are more likely to flood these parts anyway, a working seal system is important if you're going to use that agitator very often. At least verifying the seal would allow peace of mind.

Gordon

 

[kenmoreguy64]

Here is a link to the drive block you need, part number 350211. Decent price I think considering free shipping, but I haven't bought one of these in quite some time.

Gordon

http://www.ebay.com/itm/OEM-Whirlpo...265?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item231c6e8081

 

[philr]

Ken,

You should make a thread with all the illustrations you have done so far! I don't know how you achieve that but they are so nice!

 

[bendixmark]

Kenmores

Hey Ken,Glad to see you are taking a liking to kenmores as I remember you telling me when we were talking in the cement pond at the get together last summer you were a filterflo guy.Like it or not,you will be assimilated to kenmores resistance is futile!