The first really reliable washers were the basic 1961s and all of the later 1962s and 1963 machines into 1964 except for the roller-matics. The roller-matics did get better around 1967 on but I would stay from the very cool TOL variable speed drive machines, I have never heard of one that actually worked in well over 30 years now. I would differently agree with B. Danielson that the 1-18s were more reliable than almost any Frigidare washer that came before. And overall the newer you go with any brand the more reliable it will be and it will also be easier to fix, just like cars appliances got better in the 60s, 70s, 80s, and diffidently in the 90s through today. I love the old cars but how many of us drive a 1950s or 1960s car everyday? [ we are very active in the Lambda Car Club International ] and with cars unlike appliances there is all kinds of good parts and help in restoring and keeping them running.

Best Frigidare dryers for reliability were probably the 1950-1960 Filtertrators, but they are not good machines to use in warm weather as they vent all the heat and 1/2 the moisture in the room. The 1960 dryers were just ok dryers and the 1970s 1-18 dryers were the best performers by far but could have a host of durability problems. Almost every customer we had with a 1-18 pair the dryer was carted off and scraped before the washer was, with the exception of the people who liked to line dry a lot. Try to find a 1-18 dryer where they line dried.

Good Luck in your search, if I see any interesting pairs I will let you know [ would prefer a gas or electric dryer? ]

I worked on 1-18's when they were still under warranty in the 70's. Some of the most troublesome machines ever built, IMHO. There were weeks when we had 3-4 in the shop at once, all needing transmission replacement, because of leaks. Leaks that wiped the bearings out. I had it down to about 45 minutes to swap a transmission, as long as the tub support wasn't rusted tight to the spin shaft, which was almost never. The later models had a plastic trough that divereted the water away from the motor WHEN, not IF, it leaked.

Can you tell I don't care for 1-18's?

John, can you tell me which were the most common problems on the 1-18 dryers?

Also, from what I experienced, the most reliable GM cars I had were from the mid-sixties. I still have a '65 Buick Wildcat that I drive almost daily during summer I drove it over 40,000 miles since I got it in 2004. It's loaded with most options (except a/c) and everything still works! Even the clock and the cruise control!

It still has it's original drivetrain.

In the mid-seventies, GM shortened it's warranties on engines/transmissions from 5 years to 1 year (at about the same time as in Frigidaire appliances) and began making some real crap. I have a '75 Electra which I think is a great car but I wouldn't say it's as good as a '65, it's also loaded with about every option available (and there were a lot of options available in 1975!) and everything works, but I had the engine rebuilt at 90,000 miles.

Bodies were also more prone to rust in the seventies and things didn't get better in the next few years. In the eighties, many GM cars didn't last 6 years without requiring major repairs! My grandfather replaced his '78 Olds Cutlass Supreme when it was 6 years old as it needed a new engine (Buick "even fire" 3.8 V6) and his 84 Cutlass Ciera that replaced it was even worse! It had problems from day one after his purchase. In 1990, it was a rust bucket with many mechanical/electrical problems an bad Chevy 2.8 engine when he traded it for a Honda!

Mom's 69 solid tub ran for 18 years without a single repair until the timer went and the repairman was too dumb to fix it.  My 67 and 68 solid tub Frigidaires are running with their original motors, the 69 still has all the original rollers and my 72 1-18 which was "granny" owned has never had a repair other than a new timer motor.  I've also got 2 1-18 dryers that have never been opened up except to clean the dust out of them.

Noisy cheap plastic bearing drum rollers, the problem got a little better in the mid 70s when they went to two rear rollers instead of the three they used originally. These dryers as they aged would scrape rattle and rumble. They also had problems with blowers that came off the motor shaft [ same problem that all MT big load dryers have from 1976- the end of the 29" MT dryers, the good news is that while the blower is NLA for the FD the MT blower is an exact fit ], bad wiring connections for the heater circuit on electric models, bad heater elements, bad drum seals, melted lint filter housings along with a lot of clogged lint filter housings and like all GM built washers and dryers with Delco motors more than thier share of motor problems. Delco motors always had more switch and bearing problems than W & Ds with GE or Emerson motors. And FD did change completely by the mid 1970s to Emerson and GE for thier laundry motors. Good news is that the dryer works very well when it works. I have a poppy pair of Custom Imperials in my W Va house that are used when I go there that work well but have needed almost all of the repairs mentioned above over the last 15 years even though it is probably only run 20 times per year.

John,

I replaced one drum roller and the belt on my 1977 1-18 dryer (which has 4 rollers) and I have 7 new ones left... It doesn't rattle but it does have a squealing sound which I haven't corrected yet. The squealing stops if I remove the back cover and pry the chassis just a bit but I haven't investigated more! It's either the rubber from the rollers (sounds like that) or the felt that is worn (I haven't looked). But I don't use the dryer much anyway! Is there anything I can use to stop the squealing? (I think I have seen somewhere on a tech talk that some kind of grease could be applied on the drum where the rollers are in contact with it).

I think neither the 1-18 dryer or the washer has a Delco motor, (I'm sure about the washer, it has an Emerson) even my 1973 GMini washer has a GE motor. (again, I haven't looked closely at the dryer motor, but the blower on this one was so packed with lint that it rattled badly).

The 1-18 washer doesn't seem to be too cheaply built. And it ain't that noisy! In fact, it's less noisy than my former Inglis direct drive during agitation (the dual action agitator made a lot of noise, even after the replacement of the ratcheting mechanism which went bad once). During the spin cycle, again, the 1-18 is also less noisy than the Inglis, both the 1990 direct drive or my mother's former 1974 belt drive (which was noisy as hell in it's last year of service, in 1989-90).