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Thread Number: 72129
/ Tag: Vintage Automatic Washers
Introducing the Lady Wards! |
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Post# 953820 8/21/2017 at 10:53 (2,433 days old) by Unimatic1140  (Minneapolis) |
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I picked this machine up from Jetaction/Don this weekend to play with. This machine was originally posted here by Ben in 2008. It's a 1977 top-of-the-line Norge made Montgomery Wards washer. My bf has an LG top loader which he dislikes and has been asking me to keep a look out for an agitator top loader which he said he prefers. So if he wants this, it will go to him after I get to play with it for bit.
The outside styling very much reminds me of a Lady Kenmore from the early and mid 1970's. It has a 30 minute soak cycle, although I haven't figured out what the "Delayed Soak button" is yet. It will automatically advance to wash and dispense the detergent through the dispenser. It not a recirculated dispenser, the incoming fill water is diverted away from the main fill flume to the dispenser during wash fill. I tried it with powered Oxydol and it works perfectly, not one drop of powder was left after a minute of fill. I've never experienced a TOL Wards from the 1970's and it's super cool! I have a beautiful hardly used TOL 1965 Wards set which is a long-term keeper. I always thought the Plus-Capacity Norge and Wards machines were superior in performance over most other 1960s and 1970s machines, both in cleaning ability and extraction ability. After full testing it needed a new water valve and also it knocked loudly during agitation as the tab on the brake band that is held by the brake latch had worn down from heavy use. I simply raised the brake latch slightly by installing a thrust washer under the latch bearing which raised the latch away from the worn spot and the machine immediately stopped knocking and sounds great. These were not quite machines when they brand new, but it sounds really good otherwise. 
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Post# 953821 , Reply# 1 8/21/2017 at 10:54 (2,433 days old) by Unimatic1140 (Minneapolis) |
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Post# 953822 , Reply# 2 8/21/2017 at 10:55 (2,433 days old) by Unimatic1140 (Minneapolis) |
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Post# 953823 , Reply# 3 8/21/2017 at 10:56 (2,433 days old) by Unimatic1140 (Minneapolis) |
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Post# 953824 , Reply# 4 8/21/2017 at 10:57 (2,433 days old) by Unimatic1140 (Minneapolis) |
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| Post# 953825 , Reply# 5 8/21/2017 at 10:58 (2,433 days old) by brucelucenta () | ||
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I always thought these machines cleaned and extracted better than most anything else available at the time and held more than most. Just noisy is all. | ||
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Post# 953826 , Reply# 6 8/21/2017 at 10:58 (2,433 days old) by Unimatic1140 (Minneapolis) |
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The Detergent Dispenser, and no I did not close the detergent dispenser lid after loading it!
This post was last edited 08/21/2017 at 11:23 | ||
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Post# 953827 , Reply# 7 8/21/2017 at 10:59 (2,433 days old) by Unimatic1140 (Minneapolis) |
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Post# 953828 , Reply# 8 8/21/2017 at 11:00 (2,433 days old) by Unimatic1140 (Minneapolis) |
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Post# 953829 , Reply# 9 8/21/2017 at 11:01 (2,433 days old) by Frigilux (The Minnesota Prairie) |
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Post# 953830 , Reply# 10 8/21/2017 at 11:03 (2,433 days old) by Unimatic1140 (Minneapolis) |
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| Post# 953834 , Reply# 11 8/21/2017 at 11:13 (2,433 days old) by Maytag85 (Sean A806) | ||
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Post# 953836 , Reply# 12 8/21/2017 at 11:15 (2,433 days old) by Yogitunes (New Jersey) |
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I remember seeing these in Wards....from a time when they had units hooked up on endcaps.....the one I saw had a Plexiglas lid for demonstration, as I imagined it only operated with the lid closed.....I remember too it always had a spun out load inside....
interesting to see who sought these machines out.....mainly it was for big families wanting the 20lb capacity... and seemed like blue collar guys bought these for something that would handle heavy work clothes.....as they claimed it was the only machine with a 1HP motor... | ||
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Post# 953837 , Reply# 13 8/21/2017 at 11:17 (2,433 days old) by DaveAMKrayoGuy (Oak Park, MI) |
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Post# 953839 , Reply# 14 8/21/2017 at 11:29 (2,433 days old) by Unimatic1140 (Minneapolis) |
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I remember seeing these in Wards....from a time when they had units hooked up on endcaps.....the one I saw had a Plexiglas lid for demonstration
Yogi I remember the exact same thing. One time when I was about 12 years old, the sales person saw me admiring the machine and clear lid and asked if I wanted to see it spin! Ummmmm OMG yes please! He attached some kind of analog tachometer to the top of the agitator and started it spinning. I remember it reading about 625rpm to this day. I'll never forget that day in Wards seeing it spin through that plexiglas lid! My aunt who lived in Florida had a Wards set from around 1973 in their garage. It wasn't TOL, but a few steps down. I remember watching that machine through the entire vacation lol. | ||
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Post# 953877 , Reply# 15 8/21/2017 at 15:17 (2,433 days old) by bajaespuma (Connecticut) |
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Aferim! I loved my Wards and used it as a daily driver until I found the 1-18. Still never hooked up the gas dryer.
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| Post# 953891 , Reply# 16 8/21/2017 at 16:37 (2,433 days old) by norgeway (mocksville n c ) | ||
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Best Washer ever made! | ||
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Post# 953894 , Reply# 17 8/21/2017 at 16:54 (2,433 days old) by appnut (TX) |
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Post# 953915 , Reply# 18 8/21/2017 at 20:07 (2,432 days old) by turquoisedude (.) |
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Post# 953930 , Reply# 19 8/21/2017 at 21:58 (2,432 days old) by peteski50 (New York) |
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Wards! | ||
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Post# 953959 , Reply# 21 8/22/2017 at 05:41 (2,432 days old) by akronman (Akron/Cleveland Ohio) |
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Darn cool | ||
| Post# 953966 , Reply# 23 8/22/2017 at 06:55 (2,432 days old) by washdaddy (Baltimore) | ||
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Would also be great to see a video of this machine running thru a cycle. There isn't one in the video archives and the Youtube vid's are of other Norge machines. Didn't see any of this model. | ||
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Post# 953982 , Reply# 24 8/22/2017 at 08:27 (2,432 days old) by swestoyz (Cedar Falls, IA) |
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Post# 954074 , Reply# 27 8/22/2017 at 20:29 (2,431 days old) by jetaction (Minneapolis) |
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Looking Good! | ||
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Post# 954075 , Reply# 28 8/22/2017 at 20:49 (2,431 days old) by Washerlover (The Big Island, Hawai’i) |
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Nirvana | ||
| Post# 954123 , Reply# 29 8/23/2017 at 08:16 (2,431 days old) by mrb627 (Buford, GA) | ||
Flume at 3:30 Position? | ||
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