When did Maytag start to go bad?

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When did Maytag start to go downhill?

All modern Maytag refrigerators were made by admiral which Maytag had purchased, the wide by side originally was an admiral you can tell the admirals they had two horizontal controls that went back-and-forth at the top of the refrigerator section.

Once Maytag ditched the admiral plant in Galesburg, Illinois, and went to production in Mexico. They had also purchased Amana by this time and the later wide by side Was made by Amana It was a much better unit. It had the controls group together on the interior divider wall, two dials.

The Norge Rollator compressor disappeared by the 1950s. Maytag never had such a compressor.

Mechanically Maytag’s best dependable care washers were the 1970s, they started to cheapen them by the early 80s even things like that motor pulley that went bad on your washer was an example of them cheapening things, but some things got better. They got away from the Westinghouse motors which hurt the 70s machines a lot and the cheap Robert Shaw inlet valves from the 70s.

Maytag never had a greatly reliable clothes dryer. They were only ever average at best, but once they bought Norge and started using that Norge performer dryer, that thing was just junk. The only thing you can say for is it worked for a while, it was very slow drying because of the low wattage or low BTUs, but it would not sustain heavy use or lots of repairs.

The Maytag Neptune, top loader was an interesting machine, but never should have been built, plastic gears, driving the impellers underwater, and a plastic transmission filled with Weson oil that should never have seen the Maytag name.

The Maytag Neptune front loader was a flawed design and like all Maytag appliances when they first introduced them they had a lot of problems, but they did work a lot of the bugs out of it, but it could never get past the point of its tangling problems in the lack of a window it was never gonna be the preferred design for a good front loading washer.

John L
 
IMO,

The beginning of the end was 1989/90 when they switched from the long-stroke Pitman transmission to the short-stroke orbital one. That marked the first major "cheapening" of the machines. Although these were still really decent machines up until the late 90s or so. Just not quite the *legendary* Maytags of the 60s, 70s, and 80s.

When they switched from the center-dial panel to the new design in 1980, I think some of the parts were cheapened a bit as well. For example, when setting my 85 A506, the sound of the switches is "thinner" and less of a "thunk" than my 75 A107. And the dial doesn't quite have that same heavy metallic sound as that of the latter. So you could say this was the VERY beginning of the decline. But IMO, the true beginning was the introduction of the orbital trans.

The mid 90s white panel Dependable Care machines were the last "true" Maytags IMO. So the company was declining well before the buyout.
 
You’re very lucky to have a still working top loading Neptun

The Maytag Neptune top load washers are rarely found to be working, and almost every top loading Neptune that’s even found is broken. Those were horribly made machines.
 
Maytag motor

My family got a Maytag A207 washer and matching dryer in the summer of 1973, and it had a Westinghouse motor. A little over a year later, the basement got flooded with about 4" of sewer water, which caused the motor to go bad. I went to a Maytag authorized parts distributor, and bought a new one, which was a GE. This lasted until I got rid of the machine in 2004.
 
The Whirlpool-built Maytag direct drives were great

The Whirlpool-built Maytag direct drives were great and were just as good as the Kenmore or Whirlpool counterparts.

The only difference was that they had a different control panel, but other than that they were Whirlpool direct drives. The best washers under the Maytag brand was the dependable care or the Whirlpool-built direct drives.

Whirlpool did NOT save Maytag’s factories, Maytag is just a rebrander from Whirlpool, there’s no significant difference between a Maytag and a Whirlpool and both have similar problems. The reason why you see more results online with Maytag issues than Whirlpool is because Maytag seems to be a more popular brand for many of their appliances, Whirlpool washers these days are still popular, but are a bit less popular, meaning Maytag products naturally get more repairs.

I actually prefer the Maytag washers over the whirlpool branded ones (although I have a Whirlpool branded one) because they have a 10 year warranty on the drive motor and wash basket. Whirlpool does not have this limited warranty.

Many kenmore machines were built by Whirlpool, older ones were direct drive, newer ones were Whirlpool and VMAX. Kenmore isn’t really a popular brand anymore and is probably less popular than brands like Crosley now because Sears has gone out of business.
 
 
<blockquote>Many kenmore machines were built by Whirlpool, older ones were direct drive, newer ones were Whirlpool and VMAX.</blockquote> I'm sure you're aware that Whirlpool was primary supplier of Kenmore laundry beginning in the 1950s, if not the late 1940s.  I recall there have been three primary toploader mechanical designs through the years ... classic belt-drive (ending in 1986), direct-drive (1981-2012), VMW/VMAX 2010-current).  Momentary diversions into the Calypso and Fisher & Paykel's floating basket.

-------------------------------------------

BTW, this board as you see it has been in existence since Sept 2004.

May 2001 to Sept 2004 there was a different site/layout known as "Classic Appliances" with the discussion board being "Applianceville."  Robert/Unimatic1140 is one of the primary collectors, and is a programmer who developed both of them. 

It was on Yahoo Clubs and Yahoo Groups prior to that.

This thread has some photos of Classic Appliances and Applianceville board.

This link is a history of the Applianceville board.
 
Whirlpool supplied all of Sears washing machines

Since 1926 it wasn’t till the 80s that Sears started to get some Frigidaire built machines and later some LG and Samsung toward the end of Sears as they were going out of business.

Whirlpool and Sears grew together. Series became the biggest seller of washing machines in the country for many decades and whirlpool the overall largest manufacturer because of all the serious business between the two of them there was enough money for great innovation, great quality along with great prices.

John L
 
Many kenmore was made by Whirlpool

Many of them were direct drive and later VMW. Towards the end of Sears, Kenmore washers used the VMW and VMAX platforms.
 
 
<blockquote>Whirlpool862:  Many of them were direct drive and later VMW. Towards the end of Sears, Kenmore washers used the VMW and VMAX platforms.</blockquote> You don't consider the years of classic belt-drive toploaders produced by Whirlpool beginning from the late 1940s until introduction of direct-drive in late 1981 to be a valid part of the Whirlpool/Kenmore relationship?
 
Whirlpool and Sears Roebuck laundry appliances

Whirlpool manufactured Sears laundry appliances for nearly 100 years starting around 1926.

Whirlpool has passed 100 years in the Appliance business and they’re still going strong still the largest appliance maker in the world of major appliances.

John L
 
I know there were some older kenmores using the belt drive system. Kenmore was one of the first brands to ever be manufactured by whirlpool (except Whirlpool itself).

The Whirlpool belt drives were great machines (not referring to VMWs)
 
"Upton Machine Company, which eventually became Whirlpool, sold its first washing machines to Sears in 1916. Sears later took a stake in the appliance company in 1921."

Above just to be clear explains that Sears wasn't just getting appliances from WP, they owned a percentage of the company and thus had far deeper ties. In some ways and or instances Sears pretty much had very good deals with WP and or called shots.

Sears would have exclusive rights to various designs or whatever for appliances that came from WP so "Kenmore" or whoever brand got new technology before WP itself launched their own.

Sears (IIRC) moved more WP appliances than the company itself for most of history of their relationship. When "one out of three American homes have Kenmore appliances" guess who sold and serviced those units?

 
The story of the WP/Sears relationship is actually quite interesting. (Films are in the queue!) The CNBC link is a little misleading; Sears never really owned part of WP, but they did agree to a mutually-beneficial business relationship.

In 1921, Sears approached Upton Machine for a large order of washers, and loaned Upton the money for factory expansion to satisfy the order. The market dropped out as the construction was nearing completion, and Sears cancelled, leaving Upton holding the bag.

Both agreed, on a handshake, that when things improved, Sears would come back for that order, and regarding the oustanding loan, the amount Upton owed would be paid in company stock (this is the so-called "investment"). Both kept their word, and once production resumed some years later, it's said Upton suggested to Sears that they be their sole supplier of washing equipment. A great deal for them both.
 
Cory, I was told by someone who owned and operated a Sears Catalog Merchant store that Sears owned controlling interest in Whirlpool, and lesser amounts of several other suppliers. This was in 1976, when I worked part time for her.
 
Reply #36: If that's true, I'd love to see some proof, and I do mean that in the most earnest way.

Google is silent on the matter, but I'd think it would be disclosed in an annual report some place, especially if controlling interest. Adding to the complication was WP's mergers and acquisitions, some that could be seen as anti-competitive with Sears' investment. I'll do a little digging; I'm curious, too.
 

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