Well, she arrived with a delivery of several things and the company that brought her to me did such a good job of packaging that I decided it would be a good idea to leave them as they were because Hurrrrrrrricane Sandy was already on its way. By the way, she's on the right.

After 3 weeks of waiting patiently ( actually, I've been cleaning and clearing out my basment, frantically, because I have run out of room and it is way past time to start throwing out years of garbage and hoarding and make room for the treasures that's now occupied with trash) I decided to take a peek:

Then I got brave and decided it was time to look under the hood to see if it is everything that I am hoping it will be:

I think one of the reasons that I pursue this hobby, passion, avocation, whatever you wanna call it, is because it's the closest thing I have to a time machine. I lift a washing machine lid and I'm transported back to 1970, the last time I saw this model in person. This is very satisfying. I can't wait to hook her up and see what she's able to do. The Vari-Flex isn't doing its thing, mostly because she's cold and dirty and when I lift to turn and extend the fins, the whole assembly goes along with it, but I think that won't be a problem for long...

It doesn't get much more "bells and whistles" than this. And here's the lid that I think is so silly, but I will learn to appreciate. Especially since it has the "easy" version of a safety switch and corresponding poker.

Huh....A white variflex agitator. Don't recall seeing one of those.

Congrats on your new set.

Might anybody here have any of these to sell ?

~ The Vari-Flex in the Lady's are white, in non-Lady's, like (for the moment) my '70 KM 800 are gold. 

~ Yes the timers on these are Pull to stop.   All of the Maytags I've seen from 1958 & up are push to stop.

Congrats on you new additions Ken!   Don't you also have a Harvest Gold 1974 Lady K pair coming too?

Kevin

All MT washers from the 1949 AM-AMPs on were push to stop pull to start.

Ok, so I've already started my favorite job in earnest, cleaning the old girl up. First, the dispensers and the Vari-Flex agitator, which, thank heaven came right off and revealed a pretty clean agitator post and a surprisingly well lubricated spline:

I connected her to an auxiliary hot water hose and ran an extension cord, held my breath and plugged her in. Will she, or wont she?

Looks like she might...

Water in--and with just 5 seconds of hesitation, she turned over like a champ!

Ok, first misconception/problem maybe/confusion, isn't there supposed to be a constant stream of water that channels through the Detergent Dispenser, or does this happen underneath without being able to see it? If I had put powdered detergent in that dispenser, it wouldn't have gone anywhere. Do I have a problem already?

Only for the first 4 minutes of the cycle.    If it doesn't... it could have #1 a clogged/dirty supply hose.  #2 have a bad/clogged/disconnected solenoid/valve, or #3 a problem with the pump.

Kevin

Well, I ran her through a cycle, and beyond the detergent no-go, she filled, washed, neutral drained, spun, spray rinsed, stopped, filled, rinsed and finished without a hitch. My first washing machine was a BBBBBB  BOL Whirlpool that behaved not too differently that this Lady Kenmore. There is something comforting and heimisch about this machine. The Kool Aid tastes good.

This agitator is so freakin' cool I can't believe how this is put together. She's a mess in this picture, but she is now covered with Mr. Muscle oven cleaner and we will see how she cleans up. Hope I can get her back together again.

Thank you Kevin! I guess my next job is to lift the cabinet top and send in the probe. Is it safe to assume that the Lady's cabinet top comes up and off like a Filter-Flo's?

????

By the way, why aren't your nice green Kenmores with the gold Vari-Flex Lady Kenmores? If those aren't the TOL's what more do you get?

Oh thank you so much! My computer took a minute to register that the video was there.

If I understand your question correctly, the Green KM pair is in another part of the garage at the moment.   The brown washer in the video (a 1970 KM 800) and the green one are the same year and same model, just a different color.   Yes they both have the gold vari-flex in them.

The difference between this 800 and the LK... colored cycle buttons, the famous "garage door" and the white vari-flex.   If there are any differences beyond that... I will leave it up to Gordon or others to explain (because I don't know).

Kevin

I meant the brown Kenmores. Thank you for the answer about the detergent dispenser. I'm not quite sure if I gave it a fair test because I didn't have a cold water hose hooked up to the machine, only the hot service. I think the pump is working ok because it drained like a young man. Probably I will find some lint or crap in the hose leading to it. So the lint filtration goes on underneath without being able to see it I guess. And yes, I have a newer set on it's way from New Hampshire, but I have to arrange it with a shipper; the guy I bought it from was supposed to let me know when the check cleared, and then there was the interruption by Mother Nature, yadah yadah yadah. I'd like to hook up the matching dryer, but it's gas and I have to have the gas company come and run a line and I can't do that until I clean up the basement in a big way. Winter's coming and I'm going to use the electric dryer and vent it indoors. Can't do that with the gas dryer.

More pictures and maybe a video to come. So far I love this machine. It really is a trip back in time. I'll get the information on the shippers dug up for those of you who asked. They were great.

Hey Ken, your LK has (or should have) a 4 port pump similar to this one below.   The pump has a main pump section and secondary pump section (smaller area on the bottom) and there is a seperate, smaller impeller and a drive shaft.   

You may remember my full size, portable KM washer (green).   It has a manual lint filter and while the drain pump would drain, the filter would not flow.  It turned out the small shaft driving the secondary pump impeller had broken and the impeller no longer turned.   

So while I am not saying this IS the problem, it is a possibility.

Kevin

I love the car wash idea! Usually, I have a spare top-loading portable dishwasher on hand with the top racks removed for washing stuff like agitators, parts, trash cans, etc., but it's out of commission right now. So, with a combination of Clorox Clean-Up, Soap Scum remover and Mr. Muscle Oven cleaner, plus some elbow grease, I was able to clean both parts of this Vari-Flex down to "Sparkle-Y!!" I don't think this machine was in service much. All of the grime was superficial and the polypropylene underneath is very smooth and scratchless. Here she is in her Quinceanos party dress all ready to do the twist!

She cleaned up to minty freshness. Apparently, she isn't the dirty girl that she was masquerading to be...

Malcolm

Well, thanks to Kevin, I was able to open the cabinet top with unbelievable ease and treat myself to a close-up examination of the complex and wonderful dispensers on this old Lady. The detergent dispenser assembly came out with the removal of just two screws, but the combination bleach and fabric softener dispensers were attached underneath a flange that you Kenmore experts must be very familiar with as it holds one of three steel rods with what looks like a "four-on-the-floor" bakelite shift knob on top of it. This is part of the suspension system for these machines and, of course, in trying to get at the clogged and filthy dispenser tank I managed to undo one of the suspenders and the tub dropped into the cabinet. I hope and I think I didn't do any damage, but when I replace the dispenser tank I will yank the tub back up and try to reconnect the suspender rod. Meanwhile:

It's amazing how many times I've cleaned up this identical mess:

...and it's always the same waxy blue/green sludge that has to be scraped out of the dispenser in question. Can't tell whether the users never bother to dilute the softener as instructed or whether this build-up is inevitable. One of the interesting surprises for me here with this dispenser is that, although they are operated by two solenoids, the solenoids merely lift delicate little plastic plungers up from two little drain holes into a small reservoir on the bottom of the tank that leads to a small hose connected, as with Maytags, to the lower side of the outer tub. An elegant little system if one could keep it clean.

After several washings, rinsings, Soap scum remover, Clorox Clean-up, Ammonia and boiling water, the dispenser is clean. A good look at this pretty clear acrylic thing reveals that this dispenser was assembled and cemented by hand. I'm treating it like one of the Crown jewels because if I drop it and break it I doubt I'll ever find one to replace it unless I find another identical Lady Kenmore.

Ditto with the control dial, but I couldn't help myself. I just had to scan it: