I recently acquired a 51 or 52 Kenmore washer, an Indiana woman had asked here on AW.org about one she found in her grandparents storage unit, see thread #41462, it's now mine.

Well, it doesn't have a motor at all, so, umm.., I think I'll start with that.

This pic shows 3 long dowels or posts meant to hold the motor mount, it's not how my 1960 WP is mounted.

This pic is a 1981 motor available on Ebay. I don't care about 2 speed versus one, wiring doesn't worry me. It's the physical attachment I worry about. Will this BD motor, with the 2 tall braces, fit right into those same holes where my machine currently has 3 long pegs coming down from the baseplate? I remove those 3 from the picture above of the 1951 washer and fit this motor with its 1981 braces right there in the same holes?

I haven't bought the motor yet. Various early 50's WP and KM manuals have some pics of the motor, but I can't pull them out of huge PDF's to post here. The motor's 4 bolts that run through its edges, bolt to an oversize plate, then the three dowels from the machine baseplate get bolted to that motor plate. Frankly, I am beginning to think I could fabricate a plate and then shim with various washers/spacers, up or down on the motor-to-plate or up-down on the plate to 3 dowels, and up/down on the belt pulley on the motor saft.. and I should grab a WP/KM motor while available.

Thoughts?

I would sort of like a 2 speed motor, I could easily figure out and wire in a speed switch on the back of the machine, so some aspects of a 1981 motor are quite appealing.

The original thread is in the link in the first post here.

WOW Mark this is a new one on me also, I have several early WPs and KMs and they use a system where the motor has brackets like the used one you found that bolt directly to the base plate. The motor you found will work, although it is not the prettiest used motor I have ever seen, LOL, but you may have to make a flat mounting plate and drill enough holes in it unless someone here has one laying around. I know that I have never even seen one like yours, Good Luck, John.

Stan----I don't know yet about the thermostatic valve, I haven't gotten up inside the machine yet, starting with the motor instead. Everything about this seems to be first generation. The discharge pump, instead of being a flapper valve style where the agitator versus pumpout wig-wag bar pushes the flap, instead the bar pushes linkage that tightens a wheel against the belt near the pump, pushing the belt into action against the pump pulley. Similar on the suds suction pump, a solenoid pushes a wheel against the belt near the suds pump. Both pumps are currently seized solid. And the motor is mounted differently, this one is gonna be lots of fun.

I do have an 80's unused 2 port KM pump, it should fit perfectly if I can find a modern wig-wag bar with the correct slots instead of this linkage.

John--usually you give me great hope, this one even has you befuddled, oh no!!!!!

I bid on that motor, it's pretty cheap, it is 2 speed, I am looking forward to adding a speed switch to this old thing.

Of course, not a drop of water in the machine yet, so I have no idea of leaks. I don't think this one will be done all that quickly.

that's it exactly. I have the PDF, just can't load a page here. While the real plate would be damn convenient, I do believe I can fabricate somthing usable from 10 or 12ga steel, and I may not have a choice. Between washers/shims, extra long bolts, and the pulley up or down on the shaft, I'll figure something.

Bill It looks like you found the picture, this motor mount must have been the first style used on the suspended automatic washers. Mark I bet your KMW may have been made in the late 1940s, I have an early KM bolt down [ 1947 ] and it uses a completely different motor mount, mine actually has a motor mount on a pivot with spring tensioning to maintain proper belt tension. It is funny how the first machines are built, as I always wished that all WP built BD washers had automatic belt tensioning, it would have saved the changing of millions of burned belts.

John--the only date so far seen, on the water level float switch, is March 1950