Whirlpool direct drive research and development

[gelaundry4ever]

Hello all whirlpool fans. I have a nagging question that has been on my mind since I can't seem to find the answer for a while.
What did Whirlpool do to come up with the 100 degrees arc of agitation on their machines? What methods did to research and develop the direct drive machine? Did they use computers when they first came on the scene or later on into the 21st century to enhance its performance? What made them decide to remove the belt and pulleys? How strong was their agitation compared to their predecessors?
How long did it take for whirlpool to develop the direct drive? Why other than cost and durability? What about washability?

 

[gelaundry4ever]

100 degrees arc

Why did Whirlpool come up with the 100 degrees arc of agitation as they did on later maytag centennials? What reason did they come up with as part of their research and development?

 

[gelaundry4ever]

direct drive patent

Here's their patent.

EP2119819B1 - Washing machine with a direct drive system - Google Patents

 

[gelaundry4ever]

LEAP platform

I'm not sure if that was the right link. However, I'm interested in why whirlpool called it the laundry engineered advanced product after a dozen years of research and development.

 

[Chetlaham]

I've heard on here that the short strokes allowed for a smaller, cheaper transmission. GE, Maytag, Frigidaire and others all went to short strokes latter on in there history.

 

[gelaundry4ever]

whirlpool DD transmission

I thought the whirlpool DD transmission held a quart of oil as did the older BD units. Didn't they just remove the belts and pulleys? What did they replace it with?

 

[DADoES]

 
Jerome, I've explained some details to you in the past on the differences between Whirlpool classic belt-drive and direct-drive transmissions.  The size, shape, and internal gearing is completely different from one to the other.  You need to find someone who can give you a hands-on disassembly examination of them to have your questions fully answered.

 

[gelaundry4ever]

finding someone hard to come by

Finding someone who could show me is hard to come by. I wonder how they were able to make the gears as durable as they are.

 

[maytag85]

Jerome, I know you are anxious to find out how a direct drive transmission works but patience and persistence will be the key to acquiring one and taking it apart and all your questions will be answered. I know you are anxious to find out how something works and trust me I was the same way when I joined this forum back in 2017 over 4 years ago and I may have asked a few peculiar questions and may have asked the same question over a few times but since I acquired the machines I asked questions about, all my questions were answered. I thought about creating a thread a few years back asking how the belt drive transmission worked but looked through the archives and saw a few taken apart and since I worked on one and rebuilt one, again I answered all my own questions. Patience and persistence will be the key to finding machines and answering questions.

 

[gelaundry4ever]

whirlpool dd transmissions

The whirlpool dd transmissions seem more complicated because they have to be in neutral while draining and the motor has to reverse, all the gears being in extra heavy gear oil. I heard that whirlpool gear oil is super strong.

 

[kenmoreguy89]

YouTube helps alot in these cases...
Not sure if you already gave a look on there.
Many tutorials of opened ones and neutral drain kits replacement.

Inside they are all pretty easy to understand...
I personally had a harder time understanding the external part of the old style ones, especially the clutch lifting but I did.
Direct drive transmissions are much easier.
As for your other question instead of a belt they use a coupler, a rubber disc that connects motor and tranny transmits power from the motor directly to the transmission that's why they are called direct drive.
They may contain the same amount of oil but they have lighter components.
Also direct drives are much easier to take apart vs a belt drive.
I think those changes were also made to spare technicians lots of swearings. Lol

[this post was last edited: 2/26/2022-15:30]

 

[kenmoreguy89]

I think the keyword in Whirlpool Direct Drive development was "simplification".
Simplification means less production cost, less parts, and less parts than can fail less training for technicians (just think about that with old ones a stupid thing as a fried solenoid would not make the machine agitate spin or drain.)
Now if you ask me what performs better and what I preferred I wouldn't think twice about telling you belt drive.
Better washing action, better materials, quieter too!!!
But when it comes to open them up I can sure appreciate the simplification made on the new DD concept.
Just think that to replace the coupler I spend half the time I spend on a belt drive to replace the belt.
But in a matter of 8-years I already had two couplers failure and now I need a new neutral drain kit.

 

[gelaundry4ever]

whirlpool oil

Didn't whirlpool use the same type of gear oil in their transmissions as GE did with their filter-flos? They do smell about the same and feel super thick.

 

[kenmoreguy89]

Probably an oil with a similar viscosity, but IIRC in filter flo was thinner.
The smell of the original oil both in my filter Flo and Whirlpool was not strong and just "oily".
The 90W gear oil I put had a stronger kind of petroleum smell. That's normal because mineral oil comes for that.
I used this basic mineral gear oil in the whirlpool with no additives, it was indicated for classic cars. A basic gear oil.
It was very similar to the original wp one golden in colour and everything.
I think the original oil simply lose its smell during time.
When my filter flo lower pulley seal failed a lot of years ago I recall the large pool of oil coming out under the machine was a kind of greenish yellow color.
Looked like slightly thinner than whirlpool oil.
Anyway, I don't think that viscosity makes much of a difference unless you keep the washer in a very cold place during the winter. And I never do.
In that case you might want to put a thinner oil.

[this post was last edited: 2/27/2022-06:46]

 

[kenmoreguy89]

This is how leaked oil looked like in my filter flo.
Unlike BD Whirlpool transmissions that didn't have critical points for an oil leak the GE/Hotpoint FF, RF etc had one, the lower pulley oil seal, its failure would result in the tranny leaking all the oil in it, possibly almost emptying itself.
And possible damage to floors or infiltration to lower floors, very dangerous if for some reasons the floor pendency is slightly towards the back of the washer it may go unnoticed for a lot of time, resulting in big damage to floors and finishing and also ceilings downstairs especially in wooden homes.
But you probably already knew that.[this post was last edited: 2/27/2022-07:37]

 

[gelaundry4ever]

direct drive gear oil

I was thinking the whirlpool direct drive gear oil smelled just like the GE filter-flo gear oil. I could smell it while the whirlpool direct drive machine was running, just like in the GE I had. I thought they smelled exactly the same because of the whirlpool had a heavy gear oil like GE did.

 

[gelaundry4ever]

gears and oil

Didn't whirlpool also use heavy steel gears in their transmissions? I thought they used some sort of steel in their transmissions as well as their oil from GE filter-flos.

 

[gelaundry4ever]

gear oil

Why do the gear oils in the filter-flo and direct drives smell identical? Are they similar? Why or why not?

 

[combo52]

Gear Oil

The real question is how do they taste,

 

But seriously why does it matter if WP and GE used the same type of oil, If they even did, what is your question ?

 

John L.