Sixgun, about them funny looking washing machines of yours.

[Catshooter]

That looks like an interesting pic you showed us.

Would you tell us more? Why two? How do you actually use 'em? Do the rollers break buttons? Inquiring minds you know.

Give us another pic while you're at it, would ya? You know how we are about pics.

Thanks.


Cat

[Chuck 100 yd]

Not 6 ... but yes the rollers are tough on buttons. My grandma had a Maytag that was powered by a gas engine with a kick sterter. It had a long flex hose to channel the exaust out of the house. Put,put,put all day long and a cloths line in the back yard. Those were the days.

[Sixgun]

Cat,
Just like when my children were babies, I remember the day the Maytag came home. It was in still like new condition, being purchased by an older woman back in the sixties and put away.....as told to me by her daughter......still had that fresh factory smell complete with decals that usually come off after a month. The Maytag factory is next to a major river and I was able to smell the river ....yes.....that fresh! Cost me $400

After a year, I found another on Craig's List in the same condition and bought that one too. This was the round tub as the first one was a square tub. The people who owned it told me it was left there by the previous owner of the house. This guy told me he and his wife were going to make a planter out of it and only charged me $150. They looked at it as junk.

A few summers ago I found a used but not abused one up in New Holland, Pa at a flea market...$100

It's all we use......zero maintenance....common sense maintenance such as when not in use, release the spring pressure off of the rollers and making sure the gear box is filled with oil. Once in a while I'll take the rollers out and grease up the ends...once a year maybe...takes me about 3 minutes.


As long as you don't run things like crow bars, truck axles, or large railroad ties through the rollers, they last. These machines all my mother ever used until she complained to my dad in the seventies and then they bought the fancy automatics.......and replaced em every 4 or 5 years. I did the same as we got into the nineties, automatics were planned to break every few years. Junk....the transmissions in them went from a 50 pound chunk of iron to 5 pounds of hardened plastic.

I got damm tired of it all....washing machines were digging deep into my Winchester and Colt money.....so I did the common sense thing and bought the machines that last and last and last.

We don't baby our stuff either....ain't nothing to wash a 30 pound horse blanket in them.

You save LOTS of water too.....you wash the whites first....water stays clean....add a little Tide and wash the dirty stuff in the same water.

The only downfall is that you have to stay wth the machine...not go away and watch TV......plus, you have to put the clothes through the wringer twice if you use an electric dryer. The wringer does not get the clothes as dry as an automatic that uses centrifugal force.

You can easily wash twice the amount of clothes in the same time as an automatic using half the water......without the nasty anticipation of a breakdown you get with several year old automatics.

About half of the time we use an outside clothes line, especially with heavy blankets but we also have a new fangled Maytag dryer. These are also easy to "keep on the road" only requiring a once every 10 year heating element, belt, or thermostats.

Happy to spread the knowledge. Now you know why wringers had to be eliminated....they last too long.-----6







With two machines together, you can wash two weeks worth of clothes in about an hour.

[Catshooter]

That's fascinating Six, thanks.

There's an appliance store in my town. The brothers that own it still have a bunch of the old Maytags. Quite a few wth the gas engines still attached. They value them as antiques. I'll have to talk to them about one, see what they say.

What you say about maintenance makes sense to me. I don't care for things you can't work on, I really don't.


Cat

[M. M. Wright]

Mom's Maytag had the green porcelain tub and Daddy replaced the kick start put put with an electric motor. Oh yeah, uptown stuff. There were two rinse tubs, the last having "bluing" in the water. After Mom washed the clothes Sister and I got baths in the rinse water. She got the bluing water since it was cleaner. She was probably a little cleaner than me too.

[Sixgun]

Ya know something...that's why this country is so screwed up.....everyone wants to live like rich people and have forgotten what it was like before things like TV, house heaters, indoor plumbing etc. I experienced the transition from semi not so hard to easy and I'll be the first to admit, I was happier when things were not at your fingertips.

More than one car per household? Not when I was a kid

[Catshooter]

So you've got a round tub and a square. Got a preference?


Cat

[Sixgun]

So you've got a round tub and a square. Got a preference?

Cat

Cat,
I like the square tub. While I've never tested it, I believe the square tubs holds more. You can put a whole lot in the sq. tub. Plus, with the 4 corners, the clothes are "beat up" better. Not good for clothes that office people wear but great for rednecks like us here in Sixgun land.---6

[Tycer]

Cool beans Six!

On a sad note...my mom dried my brother's Siamese kitten back in the 60s. High heat. No fun for anyone.

[Walker]

I remember Grandma's was in the back yard, not the best for her in the winter, and I got in trouble once for shooting her clothes pins off of the line with my BB gun. Should add that it wasn't serious trouble, she was the hunter in her family growing up and could out shoot the rest of us.

[Catshooter]

Very nice. Thanks for the help Six. I'll have to look into one of these dudes.


Cat

[Rusty]

We had a modern Maytag that we bought about 9 years ago when we built the new house. IMHO it was a piece of junk from the start. The wife often lamented that she longed for the good old day when she grew up with a Maytag wringer washer. At one point she got on a tear and started looking for them online. She found that you can buy a new wringer washer, but it's made in Saudi Arabia and they are about $1K each. After more research she ended up wanting a Speed Queen. It's not a wringer, but it seems to be a solid machine. I full well expect to end up with a wringer at some point in time.

[marlinman93]

30 years ago when we bought our home there was a brand new wringer washer in the basement when we looked at the house. I really wanted it for rags, coveralls, and things my wife didn't like in her nice washer. I asked for it to be thrown into the deal, but it was an estate sale, and the owner's son wanted it for the same purpose. In the end he wanted too much to let it go, so we didn't get it. Sure would have been nice to have, especially brand new!