Rub a Dub Dub

[mixfinder]

I asked my daughter in law if she would wash three thick and oversized "braided" kitchen rugs I have. I put them by the front door, assuming she knew I meant for her to wash them at her house in her Kenmore Elite front loader. I got a distress call from her about 1/2 later. She was tweaked I asked her to stay at my house and do laundry when she thought I could it myself. Trying to honor my wish she faithfully stuffed all three rugs at once in the Maytag 806 and was downstairs with the baby when all broke loose upstairs. The washer came to the spin cycle and banged iself across the room pulling the plastic washing machine hose coupling center right out of the wall. After some plumbing repair the washer still worked but sounded a bit odd. I took the time today to investigate the noise during spin. There is a definite dry rubbing sound I thought might be the spin bearing. The noise is much worse empty than loaded and only noticeable during the spin. The top of the wash basket around the ballast is is humped up in one spot and every time the tub rotates it rubs on the shroud. Will the "concrete" like material break off and block the pump? Any techniques short of tub replacement to quiet the machine? Is it best to let the old girl spin out her last days with a rub job? The lid switch hasn't worked in years and I left it that way so I could watch the machine work, but it negates the out of balance switch which I haven't very needed until now.

 

[d-jones]

I'd tip that top panel back, remove the tub cover and bend that inner tub back into shape. Rubbing is a bad thing. It'll wear through the finish all the way around the underside of the tub cover if left unchecked. All those surfaces are coated with porcelain and once it's compromised, rust will follow. Porcelain isn't very flexible so you likely already have some damage if the inner tub is bent.

 

[mixfinder]

Thanks!!

I had no idea the top of the tub would be bendable. I truly appreciate your help.

 

[d-jones]

Can you post a photo of the damaged area once you get the tub cover off? The sheet metal that forms the perforated sides of the inner tub goes on to form the roll at the top. A separate piece of sheet metal is then used to run the flat tub profile all the way to the top until it's parallel with the top of the roll. The cavity that is formed is then filled with the cement like material you referred to.

The weight of the spinning carpets may have bent your tub out of round, and that could cause the metal at the top of that rolled edge to lift. If that's the case then pressing it back into shape(if that's even possible) would allow the lifted metal to drop back into place. Have a look at the gap between the inner and outer tubs once you get the tub cover off and see if it's the same all the way around. If it's not then that's what happened.

 

[mixfinder]

Sunday's Project

I'll take a look at tomorrow and post some pictures of what I find.

 

[combo52]

SCRAPING 806

The tub is not bent, it could be off center on the tub mounting stem and the tub cover may need to be repositioned to the correct height to prevent it from being scraped by the spinning tub. It is very unlikely that the rugged MT suffered any other damage. Everyone be forewarned if you bypass the lid switch on your MT washers.

 

[mixfinder]

Around the Top

When I run my hand around the top of the wash basket it definitely is higher in one spot. I learned the hard way while feeling around at the same time it was spinning. This makes the hunt even more exciting. When it spins the tub is exactly positioned in the center as it should be and there is no vibration, just the rub when the tub hits the shroud. I can guess now without looking that the off balance load may have knocked the tub cover askew in which case it would be a 2 minute repair. Something to live for!

 

[mixfinder]

Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte

The tub shroud was compressed during the out of bounds spinning. I removed the top, no more sound, replaced the shroud, too much compression, the tub wouldn't spin. Adjusted the shroud upward and did a retighten and all is good.

 

[rickr]

Hi Kelly! Glad to hear your 806 is ok. They really are pretty hard to really hurt.

 

[mixfinder]

Hard To Kill

When I was married and my wife did laundry I could always tell if the washer was overloaded by the sound of the transmission. The washer was in the basement and she would mad if she got caught abusing it. Regardless of how well any of us treat our machines if you have people in your life you have to let go of perfection. I'm glad the washer is happy because I jumped through a lot of hoops to get the matching dryer. Now the washer is healthy I'll go ahead and paint the dryer white and redo the trim blue to match the washer. I wish I could find skinny silver knobs to replace the big crystal control cover.

 

[gadgetgary]

Kelly

So glad to hear the washer survived.

I love Maytags too.

 

 

[autowasherfreak]

Glad all is well with your Maytag!

 

[swestoyz]

Hey Kelly -

I’m glad to hear you were able to get the Maytag back in service with little to no issue.

I’m concerned the out-of-balance trip lever did not disengage the lid switch when the machine went out of balance. Do you know if it is functioning properly?

Your accident is a reminder to myself and others to make sure you are always present when using a Maytag with a disabled lid/trip switch.

Ben

 

[lesto]

In-laws should never be allowed anywhere near a vintage machine.

 

[mrb627]

In-laws should never be allowed anywhere near a vintage mach

Here Here!!!

Malcolm

 

[mixfinder]

Disabled

My washer is upstairs above a ceiling of wainscotting. Any leak would be disastrous so I always stay close to home when doing laundry. The lid switch has never functioned while owning this machine even though the button and assembly is there. I haven't had an out of balance load with this Maytag so it would surprise me if it was a recurring issue although I see the value in it for a case such as this.
My daughter in law dropped my son at my house during the period when I wasn't driving and we left for Seattle. I simply assumed my DIL would think I meant for her to wash the rugs at her house and it never dawned on me she'd even try in the Maytag. Given the size and bulk of one rug, getting three in the machine was testiment to her upper body strength. The rugs ended up in a garbage sack in the car trunk for a trip to the laundramat in town. After an overnight in the garage they were frozen in places when we arrived. Into the dryer they went to soften them up so they could go in the Wascomat to get washed.