The Put Away Wet Kenmore

[kenmoreguy64]

Greg -

I noticed the same thing that Ben did - the agitator shaft splines are fantastic. Usually they are rusted due to bad spin tube and bearing seals. NICE!

The biggest issue I see here is the rust directly at the centerpost gasket. When that gets into the vacinity of the sidewalls of the tub seal area itself, it often breaks or cracks the sealing area of the tub lip due to the expansion, and makes a new gasket impossible to seal. Small breaks or chips don't usually seem to cause much problem when used with sealer, but I've had tubs come apart in chunks in this area.

You may know this already, but handle that area with care and hopefully it will come out unscathed.

Gordon

 

[Unimatic1140]

As well as those machines are built, I would wager that lack of post-washday air circulation around the centerpost was Whirlpool's biggest design flaw. They just should have used stainless steel, but that would have added to the cost of the machine.

Unfortunately they don't look like this for long, after a few weeks of washing they start to get coated and just a bit of rust starts to form within a year. They certainly can be restored though, I've done it with sanding and POR paint. I've seen them split right in half when spinning though, even after restoration.

 

[bendixmark]

thats savable

Hey everybody,I have cleaned up worse centerposts than that.I would remove the outer tub and then scrape and sand that down real good then replace the centerseal.Once the seal is in cover the underside outer edge with clear non flowing GE silicone.Next I would put the silicone on the drainhole seal and reinstall the tub.Last of all I would cover the seal support wall which tends to rust with the silicone all the way around.Ge silicone works miracles on outer tubs.I rebuilt many machines like that and I would see them ten years later and that stuff was still on there hard as a rock.That crud on the basket is usually liquid soap sludge that should clean up just fine.Good luck.