Opinions Needed on Souping-Up a 1970s Helical Drive Maytag

[Unimatic1140]

So here is what the Easy Spiralator looks like installed in the Maytag. This wash load consists of my 4 huge bath towels which measure 5 and 1/2 feet x 3 feet they are very plush as well. This is the start of the wash cycle, I don't use a power boost with the Spiralator as it's not needed. The Maytag agitator turns these towels over as well, but the power-boost gets things moving much faster with the original Maytag agitator.

I love how natural this agitator looks in the Maytag, if you didn't know it you wouldn't know it's not the original agitator! I set the agitation speed to approximately 62 strokes per minute, which is what the Easy transmission does...

 

[yogitunes]

Freakin' Fantastic!

I too love how that agitator looks.....

an extra advantage your having is no slipping clutch/belt from that setup....

again, souped up or not, something Maytag should have had all along...

 

[lowefficiency]

>> an extra advantage your having is no slipping clutch/belt from that setup....
>> again, souped up or not, something Maytag should have had all along...

Not sure I'd go that far! That slippage is an integral part of the Maytag design... Everything else around it is built with the assumption that that slip is there, so if Maytag were to have taken it out, they would have had to deal with the consequences in other places! It might have looked like an entirely different machine when they were finished...

 

[combo52]

Maytag Spiralator Agitation

Wow that's a huge improvement Robert, Very cool.

 

Good Point Martin getting the performance robbing slippage out of a MT DC washer is a big plus.

 

Its funny that when MT introduced the helical drive washers they had a belt tension system for the main drive belt that allowed no slippage at all during agitation and then when the motor reversed for spin it would slip nicely as the water drained and the basket got up to speed.

 

Then around 1960 they ruined the belt tension system with the introduction of the motor carriage with the plastic rollers which allowed too much slippage during agitation with big loads or in cold rooms dooming owners to poor performance for over 30 years.

 

No other AWs drive system ever built allowed slippage during a washers agitation.

 

Finally in the last decade of MT HD washers Maytag mostly fixed this problem by moving the tension springs in the motor carriage to the same side which really helped the sluggish agitation issues that us service guys had to deal with.

 

John L.

 

[jeb]

Easy agitator

Is this agitator out of an automatic or spindrier ? I don't know if the agitators were different but the spindrier tub was HUGE.

 

[qsd-dan]

Different strokes for different folks....

The Easy agitator looks like it's just bouncing the clothes up and down while providing little rollover. I don't view that as an improvement over the original agitator.

 

[Unimatic1140]

Well the machine has an digital clutch now, so if the transmission ever locked up it would immediately cut power to the motor. From what I remember with the 806 I had for several years the agitator never slipped unless the basement was super cold and only for a few minutes of the first load so I don't remember that being much of an issue. However I do believe this will end the issue of winter basement sluggishness, but will we see in six months.

This is a Spiralator out of an Easy Automatic, not an Easy spin-drier but I don't know if they were the same agitator. The big difference I see between the two agitators is the Easy gets all the clothes down faster into and under the water, however that doesn't mean it really makes much of cleaning difference over the Maytag, its just the action is a bit more dramatic.

Soooo onto a different subject lol. That big load of towels you saw in that video I was curious about something. So I washed them in hot wash/cold rinse in the Maytag which spun them at 1050rpm. Then I re-rinsed them in cold water as well in the '58 Frigidaire Unimatic with 1140rpm spin as a test. But after each test I weighed the entire load zeroing the scale with an empty basket. So here is what happened.

First empty basket and zeroed scale...

Next the towels dry before washing weighed

I'll save the Maytag for last. Now the towels rinsed and spun in the Unimatic at 1140rpm for 4 minutes (3:30 at full speed)...

and now the Maytag wash/rinsed and spun for 5.5 minutes (4:15 at full speed) at 1050rpm, what have I done! I've created a monster lol

This also means 1050rpm is the winner and really no need to take the machine any higher in speed at this point. I noticed the other day that a big load I had done the dryer had finished and I thought wow that was fast, but I figured I was just imagining the timing, that couldn't be right. I guess it was right after all.
[this post was last edited: 7/24/2019-23:42]

 

[toploader55]

Better Extraction due to the Perforated Tub as to Solid Tub ?

 

[Unimatic1140]

Better Extraction due to the Perforated Tub as to Solid Tub ?

I'm not exactly sure but that would be my first guess that it's easier for water to escape from the clothes in a perforated tub. I suspect that faster the tub spins the more that makes a difference as well. Could be the specific shape of the Maytag tub as well as it's diameter. Next week I'll do the same test and compare it to the '47 General Electric which has the best extraction of any 20th century washer.

One more major change to this machine and it will be ready to leave the workshop and get installed with the other machines. Hopefully that will be by the end of the weekend. Pictures to come.

I'm also thinking of adding another toggle switch to force warm rinse as this machine doesn't have a warm/warm setting which I use all winter long.

 

[sfh074]

What was the spin time ....

for each machine? Looks like the MT spun a minute or more longer.

How about spinning both for the exact same time and then tell us? Maybe 3.5 mins at full speed per machine. That would answer the solid tub vs perf tub question since the rpm's are the same now.

 

[lowefficiency]

>> Could be the specific shape of the Maytag tub as well as it's diameter.

How much of a diameter difference is there between the two?
That alone could easily advantage one machine over the other...

 

[norgeway]

What a VAST

Improvement over a regular Maytag The clothes actually do something instead of just sit on top as they do in a normal Maytag with anything but a very light load!As John so correctly said load them up like you can a Kenmore or Norge and the belt slippage prevents any decent washing action.

 

[kenwashesmonday]

My past experience matches Robert's.  The only time the belt slips during agitation on my 1972 Maytag A606 is when it's cold in the winter, and then only for the first minute or two.  Once it's warmed up, it will stroke away at 63 O.P.M. all day long, even with a load of Carhartt cargo pants.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Robert: Soup up that machine all you wanna!

Yes,it's your machine, but everyone claims it as "their's"? I don't think so...

Add all those modifications anywhere you please, like that Sapphire Whirlpool (was that (done by) you?) you have got every damn right!

Me, my reaction, as long as the machine is in every norm of perfectly optimal working orde has been anything but this:

By the way, while the new agitator fits this Maytag to a "T" what do you do about lint?! (Yes, the native lint filter's gone, so is there now NONE?)

-- Dave

 

[askolover]

Now you need to find a small crystal knob to match the one on the timer.

 

[Unimatic1140]

So it turns out the Frigidaire Unimatic tub is 22" in diameter and the Maytag tub is 21" in diameter. That means the increased spin time as well as the perforations in the Maytag tub make for slightly better extraction at 1000+ rpms, or at least we can make that as an educated guess.

By the way, while the new agitator fits this Maytag to a "T" what do you do about lint?! (Yes, the native lint filter's gone, so is there now NONE?)
Actually the Easy agitator does have a filter. I'm more concerned with a fabric softener dispenser as I don't have one that will fit the Easy agitator.[this post was last edited: 7/26/2019-09:01]

 

[yogitunes]

technically, lint filters have been removed from machines long ago....

if Robert wanted to, he could switch out the inner tub with one that has the so called self-clean filters under the agitator...

although they did catch lint, there was still a fair amount left in the tub/load...take any machine with a lint filter, and at the drain portion, place a screen colander under the drain hose, you will still find a good amount of lint left behind...

I rarely, if ever, use my lint filters in any machine I have....

if you sort properly, correct wash time/temp, and detergent amount....the lint should be held in suspension until the draining...

a few times on Kenmore/Whirlpool machines I had to bypass the self clean filter....in the long run, you wouldn't know it was even gone...

odd too....if you ever used a wringer washer, and washed a load of towels, you would see lint floats...hence why overflow rinses were so effective....

although, we love the drama of the waterfall lint filter systems....

 

[Unimatic1140]

So many choices, however with these Beam agitators I suspect I'll need to increase the agitation speed a bit. Of course now that's nothing more that a quick adjustment of a knob, yay!

 

[yogitunes]

very nice, and colorful choices....impressive!

of course this will be the first time a Maytag will splash water at you with a Speed Queen agitator.....

I vote for a video of that with different water levels and speeds...

now you got me thinking of a new way to try out agitators in a Maytag....

 

[lowefficiency]

>> I rarely, if ever, use my lint filters in any machine I have....
>> if you sort properly, correct wash time/temp, and detergent amount....the lint should
>> be held in suspension until the draining...

That's assuming that "lint" is the only thing you're intending to catch!

The Maytag agitator filter works brilliantly for pet bedding and other loads with hair, fur, or other debris. Some loads I'll clean the filter three times because it is fully packed, flush to the agitator wall.

Not saying it's the best filter design (it's not), but for our wash loads, there's no way I'd run without it. It's surprisingly effective at removing debris from the wash water. The biggest flaw is that it isn't any larger!