Maytag washers

[cvillewasherbo]

I bought a maytag washer in 1986, it was just like all of the older ones, the white tub, the turquioise agi, it had 3 cycles, the 3rd being delicate, one speed, push button temps, slide lever water level, etc. I LOVED IT! My mom bought one of the newer ones that had less on it, 2 cycles, 3 temps, 3 levels, all with a dial, and the same tub but with a different agi, and it went must faster and shorter in it's stroke.

My question is:

Is this what you guys mean by "helical"?
Why did they do this? I saw a tag with the larger tub on a 60 minutes special when they were demonstrating how much they launder new linens to see how long they last, and they had those tags like my mom's except the bigger tubs. They were so full of sheets that there was NO rollover.

I've gotten a kitchen knife and tried to see my moms, and when I'm successful, the rollover seems pretty good.

Why the short, fast strokes. No laughs please. I also had a newer tag with the cork-screw agi, but liked it less, however, but much better than a w'pool that I moved in to and had no choice.

Currently, I'm living with mom and using her above described tag which she loves, and so do I, except I would like to just open the f^&*cking lid and see what's going on!!!
Courtney
Waynesboro VA

 

[toggleswitch]

May I snicker a little bit?

~Why the short, fast strokes. No laughs please.

A smaller arc and quicker agitation makes for the corkscrew part of a dual-action agitator to appear to move constantly instead of lethargically.

Nevermind that the vanes beneath are moving at the speed of light and doing potential damage.........

 

[toggleswitch]

Never mix-up your trannies.They get offended.

IIRC the HELICAL drive is the older style MAYTAG tranny, whilst the ORBITAL tranny is the newer MAYTAG tranny with fewer parts and and a faster shorter arc.

 

[DADoES]

Both of them are helical-drive, actually ... which refers to the operation of the drive pulley on the drive shaft. It moves down a helical spline on the drive shaft when the motor runs clockwise to power the tranny, then climbs up the helical when the motor runs counterclockwise to release the brake for spin (the entire tranny spins).

 

[nmaineman36]

Both Maytags are helical drive..its just the parts that make the agitator do its thing is radically different. The older transmission had 5 gears and a pitman arm to drive the segment gear that drove the agitator gear. most of the gears in this transmission are steel. The one gear that isnt is the drive shaft gear from the belt. Thats made of Celcon plastic. Celcon wears like metal. Celcon is also used in the newer "orbital" transmission. Drive gear, bevel gear and the yoke are celcon. The pin and drive yoke and pin are steel. I have seen so many time here that some think that Maytags with this transmission is "direct drive"...but its not its belt driven.
As far as wash action goes I would have to give it to the Maytag design with the older transmission. They can move a load if the washer isnt overloaded. If you use the guideline of loading the washer with dry clothes and dont start it when your loading it since you really have no idea how much more your putting in as the clothes get wet. I load it to the top row of holes and no more. And load the load loosely. Drop them in Dont pack. I always got great results.
With the Orbital drive washer now thats another animal all together. The agitator moves at 150 strokes with a short 95 degree arc compared to the 196 degree arc of the older transmission at 63 strokes. Even though the agitator is moving so fast in Orbital washer I find it doesnt clean as well. No matter what agitator you use either the PowerFlex 12 or the LoadSensor to me it leaves alot to be desired. Now if you were to put a regular Powerfin from the older Maytag into an Orbital machine....the rollover is vastly improved and you dont need as much time to get a load clean. I know that your not supposed to do that since it causes stress and such on the transmission...I have not had any problems when I used it that way.
I still have both washers and I will go back to using them again I have an A613 and an LAT 9364 Maytag that was a Sears model.
Great Thread!

 

[johnb300m]

does anyone know exactly how the orbital trans works?
it looks like just a giant gear inside. how on earth do you get reciprocal motion out of that?
most of the drawings i've seen of it are crude at best.

how does this darn thing work?

 

[DADoES]

[No message]

 

[DADoES]

[No message]

 

[pturo]

Lifetime Achievement in Laundry

If there were an Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement and performance in the laundry category,it would go to Maytag.
How sad thier philosphy of design and quality did not prosper into this century. If Maytag came out with a car in 1965, it would still be on the road.

Everyone shops at WalMart and complains about why more jobs are leaving the USA. Duh.

I live in a community where people buy a $97 dollar Haier air conditioner at WalMart and wonder why the Carrier air condidioner plant here is closing, and uncle Louie is losing his job.

 

[qsd-dan]

Everyone shops at WalMart and complains about why more jobs

Well, unfortunately management changed, Maytag got greedy, and churned out a bunch of garbage. They also went on a buying binge, purchasing major companies left and right, forcing them deep in debt.

In a way they deserved their demise, but it's too bad that the reputation of many decades of great products had to suffer the consequences, as well as the American workforce. This will make parts a royal pain to find for the older machines in the near future. I've certainly done my part to stock up and will continue to do so far into the future.

 

[laundromat]

What was so great about the Helical Drive and Dependable Care transmissions is they only operated during the agatation.During the spin,the entire trans would turn.However,the gears inside would stay still.The poer finn agitator would turn clothes over better and there were fewer air pockets in laundry like sheets and blankets.I realy think that other than the Frigidairs,the Maytag agitator washers(helical drive models)were too one of my favorires.They realy lasted a long time.

 

[nmaineman36]

The Orbital drive is very simple. If you look at the diagram that Dadoes posted of it you will see the drive pinion #9 meshes with the bevel gear #3. The steel yoke #5 has a steel pin attached to it...it is connected to an opening in the bevel gear #3 at an angle. as the bevel gear #3 is driven it causes the yoke to ride the inside of the bevel gear and it rides in a circle. Since its at an angle it will cause the agitator drive block to move back and forth. The drive block is the part in the middle of the yoke #5 and the agitator drive shaft is connected into it. I hope that sorta explains it.

 

[johnb300m]

thanks Mr. Maine.
It sorta explains it.

so this part spins around on the conical gear and as it goes around it knocks the yolk back and forth?

wow, that's so simple.

 

[brettsomers]

i believe this video has a demo of the orbital tranny. toward the end of the video.

 

[charbee]

Simple, yet elegant...that's the whole beauty of the Maytag design, and the reason I love those machines: there is a quality I call "Simple Elegance" in their design. Just like any other well-designed, finely-crafted machine (ex: vintage VW bugs, or the classic 1984 Macintosh, or any of the fine German Dual turntables, or Dynaco tube amps), most of the designs that are considered "timeless" or "classic" have this quality of "simple elegance" that others never captured. And there are a great many of each of the machines I just listed still alive and well and doin' what they were designed to do!

 

[fltcoils]

The maytag engineers did a write up in the 80s on the new transmission, they'd run endurance life tests on it compared to the old design and gotten 3-5 times the life from the new design.

I don't know how that compares to field use for the mechanism.

 

[cvillewasherbo]

agi's

I guess I didn't make myself clear (my problem, happens frequently anymore) my Mom's is not the cork-screw agi but has the short fast strokes, my newer one had the cork-screw. I'd still like to even have that one back instead of the whirlpool that I had to put up with later.

BTW, since I moved in with Mom, and her tag is the smaller capacity, that machine runs all of the time and is 12 years old now, no repairs in sight. She doesn't overload it ever.
C in W.boro VA

 

[johnb300m]

WOW!!!
That's how it works!?
That's freakin' awesome how simple that is.

Whirlpool would be INSANE not to adopt that transmission.
It's so freakin' simple. So few parts.
I'm sure they'd modify it a bit, but keep that essential simply orbital design and i bet that would be the cheapest, most bullet proof transmission out there.

Wow. I'm impressed. What a simple freakin' idea.

As an engineer, i'm in awe and admiration.