Maytag A906 - Pushbuttons only!?

[danemodsandy]

The A906 Cycles Were:

- Delicate (Warm wash, cold rinse)
- Wool (Cold wash, cold rinse)
- Wash 'n Wear; changed to Perm Press on later machines (Warm wash, cool-down rinse)
- Full White Load (Hot wash, warm rinse)
- Partial White Load (Hot wash, warm rinse)
- Full Colored Load (Warm wash, cold rinse)
- Partial Colored Load (Warm wash, cold rinse)
- Bright Colors (Cold wash, cold rinse)
- Rinse (Cold)
- Spin Dri (Just what it says)

Preset fills were 40 gallons on full-load cycles, 29-1/2 gallons on partial-load cycles, 19 gallons on the Rinse cycle.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

I saw an old M-T Washer service manual at a library from the gray-button era & the 906 had a lever behind it for Full & Partial loads...

-- Dave

 

[kenmore71]

2 things:

 

1. During the "gray button" era, the machines were the model 160 (1959-1961), A900 (1961-1964) & A902 (1964-1966).  The A906 was introduced in January of 1966 and discontinued in 1972.

 

2. There was never a level switch on the back of the panel for a full or partial load.  That was always determined by the button pushed.  From 1959 until the revised timer this was controlled by a solenoid that changed the position of the diaphram on the pressure switch, after the revised timer was introduced, there were 2 pre-set switches and the timer would select which one to use.

 

I have EVERY service manual every published on these machines and I have never seen mentioned anywhere that the water level could be anything other than FULL or PARTIAL based on the cycle selected.  

 

There was a cancel button on the back up until the revised Kingston timer was introduced in the late 1960s and the early model 160S machines did have a 3 position dial on the top to determine suds save and suds return.  

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

There was never a level switch on back for full or partial l

Oh, OK...

It was actually a hard-cover book & I believe there was also one for Maytag dryers, too...

That library (in Hamtramck, MI, actually) had a lot of hardcover "Chilton-style" books on various makes of washers & dryers (a Westinghouse dryer one sticks out in my memory too... And I'm sure a slant-front Westinghouse washer and dryer book was also kept handy!)...

Frequented the area to visit a record store there, which moved just as frequently, too...

-- Dave

 

[danemodsandy]

One Thing to Remember:

As wonderful as 906s were and are, the first-series A806 is exactly the same machine from the console down - and much more plentiful.

I would venture to say this is because prospective purchasers looking at the brochure or machines on the sales floor could easily see that the 906 was automatic as all Hell, but what it was not was versatile.

This was in stark contrast to the Lady Kenmores of that era, with their three speeds, their double row of pushbuttons for cycles and a timer dial that allowed you to play and play and play with cycle modifications.

So, if you had any desire whatever to be in charge of what happened to your clothes, and you wanted a Maytag, the A806 was the natural choice.

I personally consider both the A906 and the A806 top-of-the-line machines. One was a TOL pre-programmed machine, the other a TOL user-variable machine.

P.S.: The survival rate for A806s seems to be much higher than for the Lady K competition; less mechanical complexity appears to have paid off for the Maytag machines.

 

[danemodsandy]

A906 vs. Lady Kenmore:

There was one other factor that drove Lady Kenmores to much higher sales than Maytag ever achieved with the A906 or even the A806 - price.

List price on the A906 was around $429.95, or just over three grand in today's puny currency. The A806 was about $409.95 list, making it over $2800 at present-day pricing (since Maytags were sold by independent dealers who set their own prices, exact figures are hard to come by; these prices are from penciled notations in Maytag brochures I've seen).

The 1966 Lady K was list-priced at $239.95, or about $1675 in today's money.

That is a huge difference. As we know, the higher purchase price of a Maytag often paid off in greater durability, but the average consumer has no idea what's under the hood of anything they buy. Styling and features are the drivers for most people, and those were qualities the Lady K possessed in abundance.