I have had my Maytag "Dependable Care Plus Heavy Duty Super Capacity" Model No. LAT 8654AAE for more than 10 years. I love this washer, but with the move it became off balance and some of the feet wouldn't screw back in. So for the past 6 years I've been adlibbing with putting wood blocks underneath to level, etc.
Well the last foot came off, and the wood blocks reposition themselves under there.. So here I was waiting for the spin cycle .. and there was a fire during agitation. I'm assuming the washer is shot.
I talked to my old repairman via phone.. (he cannot come to my new house - too far). He's telling me to still try to have my old one repaired in my new location, because the new ones aren't as good.
So tonite I started looking at the new top loading washers incl Maytag .. and I want the agitater.
So why is it that the new ones with the agitater (at 3.4 cubic ft) appear to be smaller than my old Maytag? .. I can't find on my old washer what the cubic ft is. Do you know the cubic ft of my Maytag Dependable Care Plus (LAT model)?
The only trouble is, if you buy a new Maytag, you aren't actually getting a Maytag now. As far as I know they are made by Whirlpool now. Kenmore is made by Whirlpool as well, so there isn't as much competition now to build better machines than the other companies do. I second the repairmans advice, get the old one fixed, or buy an older one from when there was still competition between companies to make more dependable or better machines than each other..