|
Thread Number: 28577
/ Tag: Vintage Automatic Washers
Photos of my PINK Lady Kenmore Combo! |
[Down to Last] |  |
Post# 436551 5/20/2010 at 23:51 (5,083 days old) by RevvinKevin  (Tinseltown - Shakey Town - La-La Land) |
||
 Well folks the BIG Minneapolis Wash-In is now past us (and it was an absolutely FABULOUS!). I got the Combo unloaded from the truck yesterday and took some pix today.... and I discovered there is good news and bad news about this Combo. 
This post was last edited 05/21/2010 at 00:26 | ||
|
|
Post# 436552 , Reply# 1 5/20/2010 at 23:53 (5,083 days old) by RevvinKevin (Tinseltown - Shakey Town - La-La Land) |
||
|
| ||
|
Post# 436553 , Reply# 2 5/20/2010 at 23:54 (5,083 days old) by RevvinKevin (Tinseltown - Shakey Town - La-La Land) |
||
|
| ||
|
Post# 436554 , Reply# 3 5/20/2010 at 23:56 (5,083 days old) by RevvinKevin (Tinseltown - Shakey Town - La-La Land) |
||
|
| ||
|
Post# 436555 , Reply# 4 5/20/2010 at 23:59 (5,083 days old) by RevvinKevin (Tinseltown - Shakey Town - La-La Land) |
||
|
| ||
|
Post# 436556 , Reply# 5 5/21/2010 at 00:00 (5,083 days old) by RevvinKevin (Tinseltown - Shakey Town - La-La Land) |
||
|
| ||
|
Post# 436558 , Reply# 6 5/21/2010 at 00:02 (5,083 days old) by RevvinKevin (Tinseltown - Shakey Town - La-La Land) |
||
|
| ||
|
Post# 436559 , Reply# 7 5/21/2010 at 00:06 (5,083 days old) by RevvinKevin (Tinseltown - Shakey Town - La-La Land) |
||
|
The GOOD news... | ||
|
Post# 436560 , Reply# 8 5/21/2010 at 00:08 (5,083 days old) by gansky1 (Omaha, The Home of the TV Dinner!) |
||
 | ||
|
Post# 436561 , Reply# 9 5/21/2010 at 00:09 (5,083 days old) by RevvinKevin (Tinseltown - Shakey Town - La-La Land) |
||
|
What she looks like inside... | ||
| Post# 436562 , Reply# 10 5/21/2010 at 00:09 (5,083 days old) by A440 () | ||
|
Looks Great! I think it is in great shape Keven! The tub looks to be in fantastic shape. 37,000 btu burner! Wow! She / He won't play around with drying! I wonder if the burner heats the water also? Great pictures. Thanks Brent | ||
|
Post# 436563 , Reply# 11 5/21/2010 at 00:12 (5,083 days old) by RevvinKevin (Tinseltown - Shakey Town - La-La Land) |
||
|
The lower part. I discovered it has a rather interesting drive system using variable width pulleys to change the drum speed from "wash" to "Spin" almost exactly like a CVT (continuously variable transmission) in a car. VERY COOL! 
This post was last edited 05/21/2010 at 00:29 | ||
|
Post# 436566 , Reply# 12 5/21/2010 at 00:16 (5,083 days old) by RevvinKevin (Tinseltown - Shakey Town - La-La Land) |
||
|
Wait, don't get too excited... now for the BAD news.... | ||
|
Post# 436568 , Reply# 13 5/21/2010 at 00:20 (5,083 days old) by RevvinKevin (Tinseltown - Shakey Town - La-La Land) |
||
|
When running it ALL this stuff blew out of the exhaust on to the ground. Geeze! It DOES run... it DOES tumble... it didn't spin at first, but I discovered the little motor that pulls the string to change the pulley width (to go into spin) is either weak or everything just needs to be cleaned and lubed. I vote for the latter. Anyway... I like it a lot, but am really bummed about that rust! there is some rust in other areas, but this seems to be the worst. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks! Kevin 
| ||
|
Post# 436569 , Reply# 14 5/21/2010 at 00:25 (5,083 days old) by RevvinKevin (Tinseltown - Shakey Town - La-La Land) |
||
|
Oh, one more thing.... | ||
|
Post# 436573 , Reply# 16 5/21/2010 at 00:51 (5,083 days old) by peteski50 (New York) |
||
Kenmore Combo! | ||
| Post# 436576 , Reply# 17 5/21/2010 at 01:44 (5,083 days old) by alr2903 (TN) | ||
|
Kevin its a wonderful machine. Robert has a whole string of photos on here, when he changed a beast of a drain hose in the bottom of his Whirlpool. She just needs some TLC. I have never seen one of these before in my life, its a good find. Best of luck. alr2903 | ||
|
Post# 436591 , Reply# 18 5/21/2010 at 05:16 (5,083 days old) by Gyrafoam (Wytheville, VA) |
||
|
Typical rust-through issues. Get yourself plenty of J-B Weld. You will have it patched in no time. | ||
|
Post# 436600 , Reply# 20 5/21/2010 at 07:09 (5,083 days old) by turquoisedude (.) |
||
It's very nice!!
Wow - it seems in pretty reasonable shape, I would say. I think you are right that it got used regularly and then sat for a while (hence, the 'grandma never used it' claim...). The spin motor lever is probably just gummed up as you say and that rust can be fixed! Recall the tub of Robert's Apex Dish-O-Matic - JB Weld, plumber's epoxy and silicone will soon be your best friends!! The pipe or loose hose looks a heck of lot like a condensor vent - the GE Combo has one just like it. But this seems a wee bit odd - there looks to be a vent exhaust port in the back of the dryer, unless that is for gas exhaust only... Could a gas dryer also use a condensor??
Anyway, glad to hear it runs!! Hope your timer is good... LOL | ||
|
Post# 436604 , Reply# 21 5/21/2010 at 07:31 (5,083 days old) by Combo52 (50 Year Repair Tech Beltsville,Md) |
||
1959-1960 LADY KENMORE COMBO
Hi Kevin glad you and the combo are home OK. The mystery hose is an over flow hose almost all FL and for that matter TL washers have some provision for diverting water away critical electrical and other parts when the worst happens, like a failed water level control, stuck inlet valve, or just badly over sudsed [ JC ] this type of failure used to be far more common, However new washers are still built with this type of safety built in, its part of the UL safety requirements. Unfortunately these machines were know for rust problems. This is probably one of many reasons that WP completely scraped this design and came out with the all new 29" combo in 1961, WP was the only company to completely redesign its combo. The good news is the rusted areas can be repaired with various products. If they are too large or in to hot a location you may have to make patches out of stainless steal and screw in place with SS screws and seal with silicone RTV hi temp type sealents. This way you will get the machine up and running and get to experience what less than one in a million living Americans have experienced seeing and hearing a WP built 33" combo run its full cycle. It won't be an everyday driver so please do videos.
| ||
|
Post# 436606 , Reply# 22 5/21/2010 at 07:45 (5,083 days old) by cuffs054 (MONTICELLO, GA) |
||
|
This machine does not look that much more complicated than a modern FL. So why doesn't anyone make them? I've tried some of the Euro combos and the drying was a huge turnoff. I would think that it would sell to us harried working types! | ||
| Post# 436610 , Reply# 23 5/21/2010 at 08:09 (5,083 days old) by laundromat (Hilo, Hawaii) | ||
Combinations
In selling lots of them, Equator, LG, and Asko, the number one answer from customers that were not at all interested, was that "You can't wash a load while drying the other." The way I put that fire out was that most of us are not right there when the wash cycle ends to transfer from one machine to the other and that the dry cycle in a combo begins automatically. Some folks don't do the transfer for hours then have to wait another 45 minutes to an hour for the clothes to dry. Where as with a combo,the load would have already been finished.Between that and the complexities of the mechanism, most of the major manufacturers want to take that chance anymore. The good news is that Electrolux (Wascomat) has a commercial washer dryer combination THAT RUNS ON 220V available in their commercial line of laundry equipment and may be (no promises yet) reintroducing them to the domestic appliance market this coming Fall.I am waiting for some literature I requested them to send to me yesterday.Let's all hope!!!
| ||
|
Post# 436637 , Reply# 25 5/21/2010 at 10:54 (5,082 days old) by Unimatic1140 (Minneapolis) |
||
Hey Kevin, looks like you got your work cut out for you. But it certainly can be done and that machine is beautiful enough to make it worth the time and effort.
You most likely will have to remove the drum to be able to seal up and support both sides of that large hole. See this thread and related picture link Taking a Whirlpool Combo Apart in 16 "Easy" Steps I have the repair manual to the Whirlpool version of your gas combo around here somewhere, I try to find it and scan it for you over the weekend. Here are the pictures to my original Apex Dish-a-Matic which a had similar hole problem... CLICK HERE TO GO TO Unimatic1140's LINK | ||
|
Post# 436680 , Reply# 26 5/21/2010 at 16:17 (5,082 days old) by RevvinKevin (Tinseltown - Shakey Town - La-La Land) |
||
|
Thank you for bringing my spirits up Re: this machine! Thank you for your comments! Even though the rust bummed me out, after seeing Roberts repair to the dishwasher, I now feel this is totally repairable! YAY! Yes it also looks like it will be a LOT of work, but I agree it will be worth it! Greg: Yes the vanes inside the drum should be exactly the same as Roberts WP combo. My understanding is these two machines are the same under the skin, except for the obvious gas/electric difference. Brent: From what I'm told the burner will come on during the wash to heat the water. Also, "the box" on the lower right in the photo is access to the "button trap". More pix? This is as far as I've torn it down so far. Once I have time, I will get into the teardown and repair, but it's probably going to be a while. Paul: Yes the timer seems to work fine! It went from rinse to spin and back to rinse on it's own, PLUS after the final "super high RPM final spin" (LOL) it stopped and went into the dry mode just fine! YAY! Robert: THANK YOU for the tips, pointers and the "16 easy steps". Also thanks in advance for scanning the service manual, that will be a H U G E help! Kevin | ||
|
Post# 436719 , Reply# 28 5/21/2010 at 21:16 (5,082 days old) by appnut (TX) |
||
Kevin, thank you thank you thank you so much for all the great photos!!! I never thought I'd ever see one of these agian, even if in pictures, much less with the panel all lit up again. I was between 7 & 8 when I first spied our neighbor's. Kinda short, and very near-shighted, I saw the controls somewhat from a distance, but memorized them prety much. Was never allowed to wastch an entire wash cycle, just portions here and there. Although the 64 or 65 LK Combo which replaced it spun much faster and had the high-pitch whine when it spun, I just never felt it was a intersting and fun as this LK Combo. Thank you for reviving the nice memories.
| ||
|
Post# 436771 , Reply# 32 5/22/2010 at 07:27 (5,082 days old) by RevvinKevin (Tinseltown - Shakey Town - La-La Land) |
||
|
Yes Andrew, Great Link! | ||
| Post# 436786 , Reply# 33 5/22/2010 at 09:11 (5,081 days old) by dnastrau (Lords Valley, PA) | ||
|
Glad to help! You are welcome! Sears actually has an amazing amount of parts lists for old machines of all makes on their parts website. They even have a parts list for my '61 Maytag A700 but unfortunately no diagrams. | ||
| Post# 436964 , Reply# 35 5/23/2010 at 14:00 (5,080 days old) by aldspinboy (Philadelphia, Pa) | ||
 | ||
| Post# 437017 , Reply# 36 5/23/2010 at 20:03 (5,080 days old) by best-cleaning () | ||
|
Wow Awesome machine and great color. Congratulations! (I just don't understand the drive system :( lol) | ||
| Forum Index: |
| Other Forums: |
|
|
|
|
|
Comes to the Rescue!
