More thoughts
Ok, now here's the deal.
I think we fixed it, and we gave the motor springs and everything else a good lubing with white lithium grease, and I hope that with this repair means we can get a few more years out of this baby. We have a piece of cardboard underneath it to check for signs of oil dripping from the transmission, and in addition to that now we'll use it to check for any tiny water leaks!
I know that combo52 suggested looking for a replacement tub, but in all honesty taking a look under the hood at this thing, I think it's beyond that. This thing is a giant rustbucket ... there's rust all over the place! The doors are rusting on the inside, the whole chassis is rusting, all the parts are rusting. Here's some pics. It was always like this for as long as we've had it. And the outside ain't the prettiest, either -- half of the buttons are yellowed. We finally tried soaking one in hydrogen peroxide and that didn't fix it (there's a site somewhere for old computer parts that talks about some formula based on HO2 that's supposed to take the yellow out of old plastic if you soak it overnight). There's some water stains on the finish, and some chipping on the faceboard. And as an A606 it's the low end model -- no lights or extra fancy switches. I know that if you brought them to the Automatic Washer beauty contest, they wouldn't ever be a 9 or a 10. They might not even be a 7.
But, darn it, this set is *ours*. It was our first "save" of a nice retro washer and dryer, they had been abused in a cobwebby old house and we jumped on fixing them, paid practically nothing for them, and we've gotten somewhere around ten or more good years out of them. They fit right in back in the pink laundry room and they're our happy daily drivers.
So what we're hoping is that they last just long enough until we find a 9 or 10 worth replacing them with. We really love the look and feel of these Maytags, so maybe it would be the exact same models, or maybe the fancy models with the built-in lights -- definitely one with a good color that matches the house, like this coppertone does. Maybe turquoise or that avocado green that hubby is crazy for. He's also crazy for Lady Kenmore ... I'd be willing to make the switch. We both are big Maytag lovers. And maybe there's something else out there that we haven't even seen before that will be a great new daily driver. In any event, we're actively looking for the replacement set that we can keep clean and maintain and use it through the decades of our lives. Pretty much every estate sale we go to now we'll be looking in the laundry room!
