Speed Queen LWN432SP115TW01 transmission operation

[kalanikaau1]

I've searched exhaustively on the internet and this forum for any sort of useful information on how the transmission operates with no luck.
There are tons of YouTube videos on transmission replacement, but I am looking for information on what actually takes place within the unit during agitation.
There is a YouTube video on transmission disassembly, but to say it is convoluted is being polite.
There has to be some sort of rack gearing within it to obtain the famous SQ agitator arc of travel and already know that the innards of the transmission do nothing when in spin mode, they just go along for a dizzying ride.
I'm almost certain the the transmission in my 2018 top loader is exactly the same as a present day TC5, it almost as though what I am seeking is some sort of trade secret...

 

[combo52]

Speed Queen transmissions

We have occasionally had one apart. It’s kind of an interesting design. Unfortunately, I do not have any apart right now that I could snap a picture of.

About six or seven years ago, we had one that locked up on a brand new machine and we put a new transmission, but then we took the old one apart. There was a tiny piece of metal that must’ve fallen in there when it was assembled and just locked it out, reassembled the transmission and I guess it would be a good spare now.

It’s not the most durable transmission design that I’ve ever seen. It has several fundamental flaws. There’s a lower seal of course the input shaft goes in which always be a problem. It also has aluminum gears against an aluminum housing and I’ve heard of them locking up many years ago, but they seem to have solved whatever problem caused that .

I would rate the old belt drive oral transmission is a more durable design, one of its wonderful things was it had all steel or cast-iron gears and a cast-iron housing, it also had no input shaft, oil seal problem.

The Maytag Pittman transmission was a more rugged transmission than the new Speed Queen units. However it had the problem with a lower oil seal, the other major problem with the Pitman and orbital transmission like the Speed Queen it used a low post agitator drive and it’s more likely to get water and detergent into the transmissions when the seals wear.

Anyway, you cut it. The front loading washer is just a more rugged and potentially longer lived design, that’s one of the reasons why you would never see anything but front loading washers in the laundromat anymore, the other of course is water and energy usage. however, it doesn’t always work out that way lol

John

 

[gelaundry4ever]

Speed Queen Transmissions

These transmissions are absolutely huge and hold a lot of oil by today's standards from what I heard. I'm sure Chet would agree with me. They do hold up well and have a smooth humming sound during agitation.

 

[kalanikaau1]

interesting design

Mahalo again John for your response,

Unusual that Alliance uses aluminum gears in it, you'd think the material would be steel, I'm sure they had their reasons.

Am I correct that in spin mode, as in Maytags is achieved by reversing the drive motors rotation and the brake unit being disengaged? I've read online how Maytag top loaders work, it's an amazingly simple design. Am I correct in assuming that Maytag pioneered this design, then SQ "copied" it? Conversely, wash drum rotation is halted when the motor is stopped causing the brake unit to engage and hold the drum stationary?

Getting off the subject a bit, my pet peeve about my 24 year old Maytag is that the rinse agitation time period is way too short. I hope that my soon to be operationational SQ has longer rinse agitation time periods, consulting the machines timer matrix should reveal that.

 

[kalanikaau1]

humming sound

My brother recently acquired a used TC5 and is amazed at the machines wash performance, he did mention that there is a humming sound as the machine is agitating.
He's amazed because he was beset with a washplate "Whirltag" which would leave laundry un-washed, I told him not to buy the POS, but his wife fell in love with the glass lid, a stupidly problematic design...

 

[gelaundry4ever]

whirltag washer

I bet that even using the power wash cycle did nothing. If the Speed Queen Classic looked ugly compared to the whirltag, so be it. The heavy duty cycle on a Speed Queen Classic blows everybody else out of the water in performance (no pun intended). I hope your brother's wife watches the Speed Queen Classic agitation and doesn't get fooled by the smaller tub. The truth is that 3.2 cubic feet is the maximum usable capacity on a Speed Queen Classic than the whirltag will ever be.

 

[kalanikaau1]

Sister in law...

Is enthralled with the SQ because of it's outstanding wash performance, she admitted her poor choice in selecting the POS Whirltag when the lid hinges broke, rendering the machine useless, not to mention it's dismal laundering capabilities.
Prior to it, they had an old school Whirlpool DD top loader which gave them years of reliable service, however some fast talking "sales associate" at a home improvement center talked her into the Whirltag, believe me my brother was not happy when he came home from work one day to see the DD Whirlpool gone only to be replaced by the "lipstick on a pig" Whirltag, he did not know that she had bought it.
It was by sheer luck and perfect timing that my brother found the 3 year old TC5 on FB Marketplace 2 weeks ago, the sellers wife wanted it gone pronto...he paid just $300 for it, the machine is still practically new.

 

[repairguy]

I’ve repaired speed queen washers for close to 25 years and have changed a few transmissions in that time period. They were always heavily used machines and the top oil seal failed in all of them causing oil on the clothes. I don’t believe I’ve changed one for any other reason. I have changed many top bearings due to center seal failure.

 

[kalanikaau1]

few transmissions

Would you happen to have any pictures of a transmission being disassembled?
I'd be very grateful if you would post them here or email them to me...

 

[gelaundry4ever]

Speed Queen Transmission and lipstick on a pig maytag

I bet Speed Queen Classic uses the exact same transmission with some upgrades to their drive system. As for the Maytag "commercial", it's a lipstick on a pig as far as I'm concerned. The Speed Queen Commercials at my apartment really move the water around with its powerful agitator. I've watched it run before, and ran it empty just to see how much it would fill, and it was full completely unlike the lipstick on a pig Maytag.

 

[kalanikaau1]

lipstick on a pig

Some will argue that Whirlpool's method of outer wash tub suspension is durable, I disagree, to suspend a tub of water and laundry using rods is just ass backwards, gravity is directly working against such a design and, in time will reign supreme.

I suppose that such a design is necessary for the machine to weigh the amount of laundry within and to calculate the "optimum" amount of water to dispense.

You'll never see me own a machine with such technology, if there's anything I don't need it's another machine which "thinks" for me, yet again some will argue that my cranial performance is diminished somewhat after I've had a few cold and frosty ones.

I don't disagree with that fact one bit...lol

 

[gelaundry4ever]

maytag so-called commercial

I don't buy the Maytag so-called commercial washer durability for a bit. This is why I lean towards Speed Queen Laundry Classic. There's no way that Maytag will last in a commercial environment like a laundromat. That's why Speed Queen Classic is prevalent in many laundromats. As a side note, I bet Speed Queen Laundry uses thick oil in their transmissions which might explain their smooth sound compared to the Maytag.

 

[repairguy]

I do not have any photos of one of the transmissions taken apart. I have a few early nineties models in the shop that need transmission replacements but the machines were given to me and are not high on the priority list at the moment. When I get around to doing the replacements I’ll try to remember to document the process. They can be a bear to take apart sometimes but they can still be incredibly dependable at their age after a repair like this.

 

[DADoES]

 
<blockquote>I suppose that such a design is necessary for the machine to weigh the amount of laundry within and to calculate the "optimum" amount of water to dispense.</blockquote> Automatic fill level sensing doesn't involve directly sensing load weight via suspension depression.  It works via sensing motor current and/or basket rotational characteristics during a dry test spin.

Fisher & Paykel developed a different method of two steps.  The spin basket has a cavity in the base that holds air as the water rises in the tub.  Weight of the saturated clothes against the buoyancy of the air determines at what point the basket floats slightly upward to disengage from the spin drive cog, which is sensed via motor pulses during the initial fill.  Agitator toploader models stop filling at the next discrete fill level (of five), then test agitation strokes measure the resistance of the fabric against flexible lower fins to determine if more water is needed.  Impeller (AquaSmart) models are fully variable. Fill stops immediately when basket float occurs. Agitation resistance determines if more fill is needed for an HE level, or to calculate the target level for a deeper fill in Conventional Mode.  Early models of Kenmore Oasis, Whirlpool Cabrio, and Maytag Bravos were of F&P's floating-basket design.  VMW and VMAX are not.

 

[kalanikaau1]

Automatic fill level sensing

Mahalo for the detailed explanation, I've been enlightened!

I suppose such technology is necessary to meet government standards for water usage, it sounds as though extensive logic is involved.

Call me old fashioned, but I'll stick with old school technology, despite being a resource hog, that is why I bought a used SQ top loader with a mechanical timer and am in the process of disassembling it to sanitize it.

Ditto for electric vehicles, internal combustion engines have served my reliably for decades.

 

[DADoES]

 
A correction on the AquaSmart.  There is a minimum HE fill level.  Basket float with a very small load may occur before the minimum HE level is reached so fill continues to that level.  There are also cycles that fill to a specific deeper level, such as Bulky.

The designated Sheets cycle is unusual in that it fills to a deep level (without basket rotation), agitates a bit to mix the load and check impeller resistance, then drains some water (typically between 1-1/2 to ~3 gallons maximum, I sometimes catch it in a 5-gal bucket) to the target level.  A larger sheets load, two sets of queen sheets with extra pillow cases (and perhaps some other items, I sometimes wash shirts with sheets for being similar fabric weight) drains less of course.  Or none if it's large/heavy enough.  I've seen a few instances in which it may add back a bit of water later in the wash period.  Sheets is the only cycle that fills fully-deep with the choice of five temperatures, including tap-hot.  Bulky is hard-coded for warm (ATC 50°C).

 

[gelaundry4ever]

woo-woo sound

I think the woo-woo sound comes from the transmission. I like that sound because it reminds me of the Pitman transmission from the real Maytag.

 

[combo52]

Reply number 16

Hi Jerome , I assume you’re talking about whirlpool belt Drive machines that make the woo woo sound when agitating that sound comes from the half-inch cogged drive belt, the models that had the narrow quiet pack belt did not make that sound and have the same motor transmission, water pump, etc.

John

 

[gelaundry4ever]

woo-woo sound

I am aware the Whirlpool belt drive machines do that, but so do the old Pitman transmissions and the New Speed Queen Classics do that too during agitation. You can definitely hear that on full loads.