How dependable are older Whirlpools?

Were in our extensive experience a little MORE reliable than Maytag washers, BUT the Maytag's tended in most cases to last about 5 years longer before needing really expensive repairs where most owners would give up on them.

Heavily used WP washers built from 1960- 1975 would usually suffer main bearing failures after 10-15 years which few customers would have fixed. Heavily used MT washers from 1956-the early 70s would suffer main seal failures and serious oil leak problems from the transmission that were seldom fixed.

But this is history and if you are looking for a vintage W&D set today it can be a little easier to fix an older MT washer [ 1975-2006 ] and it is easier to restore a WP dryer. If you are willing to go into the 80s and 90s WP laundry is not only more reliable than MT but also much more repairable once the DDs became popular 1985-2009.

In all cases and years WP built dryers are longer lived and require less service and repair than Maytag dryers and after 1966 perform better.

John L.


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Post# 1005584 8/31/2018 at 09:02 (2,058 days old) by Charles (Charlotte N.C. )
Checkrate/Likes Compared to older Maytags from the 60s and 70s how dependable are the whirlpools from the same time frame?

Post# 1005586 , Reply# 1 8/31/2018 at 09:36 (2,058 days old) by combo52 (50 Year Repair Tech Beltsville,Md)
Checkrate/Likes 3 *Whirlpool Belt Drive Washers From aprox 1965-1985* Were in our extensive experience a little MORE reliable than Maytag washers, BUT the Maytag's tended in most cases to last about 5 years longer before needing really expensive repairs where most owners would give up on them. Heavily used WP washers built from 1960- 1975 would usually suffer main bearing failures after 10-15 years which few customers would have fixed. Heavily used MT washers from 1956-the early 70s would suffer main seal failures and serious oil leak problems from the transmission that were seldom fixed. But this is history and if you are looking for a vintage W&D set today it can be a little easier to fix an older MT washer [ 1975-2006 ] and it is easier to restore a WP dryer. If you are willing to go into the 80s and 90s WP laundry is not only more reliable than MT but also much more repairable once the DDs became popular 1985-2009. In all cases and years WP built dryers are longer lived and require less service and repair than Maytag dryers and after 1966 perform better. John L.