I noticed that little detail on the pump as well. I'm going to clean this one up and try to use it, but that may not be possible. As for the timer, I'm inclined to agree with Dan on this. Mallory timers are more commonly found on the early machines, but since I don't know when Maytag began using Kingstons I can't say if it possibly left the factory with one or not. However, since my two other 70s 806's have Kingston timers I'd prefer this early one to have a Mallory. Bye the way, thanks for posting the link. I should've though of that.

This place is just such a wealth of information. Ask a question and sometimes you have an answer before you can say Bob's your uncle, even on obscure topics.

I bought some muriatic acid to try and was both pleased and disappointed. Disappointed in that it seemed to have no effect on the deposits I was trying to remove, but pleasantly surprised with the way it obliterated the rust that had formed in a few places where the porcelain was missing. That was a great discovery. As for the lackluster performance on the mineral deposits, does it matter that the bottle I purchased is only 34% Hydrochloric acid? I got the only brand they had in the store (it's made by Sunnyside). Does it come in higher concentrations, and would that make a difference?

Regardless, I'll definitely be keeping this stuff around for rust removal.

but I gave it my best effort with the acid and failed. I don't know what it was that collected around all the little the drain holes, but it took this polishing wheel and compound to finally get through it. I've never had this much trouble cleaning a tub cover before, but thankfully it's done. Now I'm off to the paint shop with the lid to get the porcelain color matched and pick up the Maytag Gray.

"That's some of the quickest progress and dedication I've seen on this site in quite a while."

Well thanks, Dan. I guess I'm in a hurry to get this done and out of my friends garage, so things can't happen fast enough to suit me. Now just a quick note. In what can only be described as a stroke of luck, I was doing some touch up painting on the the corporate jet that I help maintain and I had a little bit of paint left over. Just out of curiosity I thought I'd see how closely it matched the porcelain on the chipped top panel. It turned out to be about as close to a perfect match as I've ever seen, so I went ahead and filled them all in. By the time I get a few layers built up and polish it out even with the surrounding porcelain I doubt anyone would be able to spot the repairs. See for yourselves.

I love seeing the progress you're making!  Thanks for letting us have a look at the wonderful work you're doing!  I restored an A407 then converted it to an A606.  However, your skills are far superior to mine!  I had fun learning, but it took making a lot of mistakes, as well as a lot of help from the kind people on this site!

I need to get the cabinet in here now so it can be prepped, then everything can be primed and painted. Some of the pitting on the base was so deep it'll have to be filled before I can continue with primer.

Photo 2 - Most of the paint on the underside was fine so I left it alone. Only the corrosion was removed. But I did notice that the base plate color is different than the color on the motor shield, and it's quite shiny, so a new batch of paint was mixed to match the base. I'll likely use it on all of the gray parts. Getting close to painting.

I was able to get the primer surfacer applied to the base this afternoon and sanded smooth. It came out well, but I'll likely hit it with another coat of ordinary primer before painting it. I also used Evapo-Rust to remove any remaining rust from the underside of the top panel. Now I just need to touch up a few small spots to prevent a return.

Douglas - I looked for any source of zinc primer locally and found nothing, so I went ahead without it. Hopefully if I get really good coverage with the paint it'll be enough to prevent any issues going forward.

Getting the cabinet ready for paint. Some corrosion had to be removed, then lots of little chips and scratches that needed filling, and the process of priming and sanding until they're all properly smoothed out is time consuming, but things are moving along. The initial progress may have given the impression that this would go faster. Sorry about that.

and I'm finally ready to paint. My original plan had been to paint outside, but the weather here in Pittsburgh hasn't been cooperating. It's either been raining and humid, hot and humid, or windy and humid. The humidity has finally dropped back to normal, but the wind continues to be a problem. I want this to come out well so I decided I'd have to paint in the hangar, which means I had to purchase this tent like temporary storage shed to control the over-spray (and keep my job). Anyways, after sanding and priming, sanding and priming, then sanding and priming some more, all the little chips and scratches on the cabinet, front panel, and control panel dog house have been filled and smoothed over. I expect to have the painting finished over the next couple of days.

With your extreme attention to detail, that machine will come out looking better than a factory paint job.

Are you going to paint the inner cabinet or leave it as is?

Hi Dan. The inside of the cabinet has been prepped for paint as well, so yes, it's getting painted. I figure an extra layer of protection against corrosion can't hurt, so why not. It'll make things brighter in there when the front panel comes off for maintenance as well. Honestly, I'm a little nervous. It's been a long time since I've used a spray gun, so hopefully the relearning curve won't be too steep. Keep your fingers crossed.

Now THAT'S how it's done! That 806 is going to be a stunner.

here are a couple of photos of the painted cabinet. It came out pretty well. Thankfully the only visible flaws are in the clear coat, so they will be sanded smooth with 1000 or 1500 grit wet sand paper and polished out, making them disappear completely. That's one of the things I really like about base coat clear coat systems. Mistakes are much easier to correct. Now I need to get the base plate painted.

I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out so far. With any luck I'll be able to complete the polishing without screwing it up. Now I have another problem that finally needs to be dealt with. I can't get the darn agitator to let go. It seems to be completely stuck. Dan tells me it's a rare one, so I'm trying to be extremely careful with it. I've looked for an Agi-Tamer, but those seem to have disappeared from the marketplace. I really need to get it out so I can go through the transmission, but until then I'm about as stuck as the agitator is.

I forgot to include the little doghouse in the photos. This had a large sag in the paint along to top near the front edge. I was able to cut the ridge off it by wet sanding and then polish it out. No trace is left.

Ken - Thanks for the tip on agitator removal. At this point any ideas are helpful.

What beautiful work David. I wish I had the time and space to restore my 806 to your standards. Looking forward to seeing more of your restoration.

Beautiful work!  Can't wait to see the finished product! 

These early Powerfins used the older style metal drive block inside agitator that rusts overtime and binds itself to the agitator shaft if not removed frequently and lubed. They're an absolute bastard to get off, if it can be done at all. My early '67 806 with original 8 vane is giving me the same hell. I may end up drilling a small hole down the center of the of the agitator and try feeding some penetrating oil to the shaft, hoping for the best. I just don't feel comfortable with A: Drilling a hole and guessing where the drive block ends and the agitator shaft begins and B: Permanently sealing the hole in the agitator without water intrusion problem in the long-term, if not short-term future.

Hi David, your paint job looks great, your restoration reminds me of some of the restored cars I have seen that are actually better than factory build quality when done .

If you end up breaking the agitator out I have an extra original one like your machine has that you can have since you are doing such a terrific restoration and trying to see it original.

John L.

The base plate has finally been painted, and that's the last of the big painting projects for this washer. All that's left now are a few random small parts to be done with a spray can. I'm relieved to have this behind me to say the least.

Wow. It's going to be better than new!

LOL! We'll have to wait and see, but I sure hope you're right.

Anyone that's been following this thread is aware that progress has been blocked by a stuck agitator. I was unaware of the metal drive block issue until Dan mentioned it, and since then I've been trying to think of some way to remove the agitator that doesn't involve its destruction. John made an extremely generous offer of one he has if I should end up trashing mine, but I'm determined to make a serious attempt at removing it undamaged before I take him up on it. To that end I've come up with this idea seen below. I can't simply pull up from the bottom flange as it will just flex until it buckles or breaks. That leaves the barrel. Its inner diameter is almost exactly three inches, so I'm thinking when a three inch diameter rubber expansion plug is tightened up inside the barrel it should expand enough to get a really good grip on it. When coupled with a slide hammer I might then be able to tap it loose. That way the load applied by the hammer will transfer directly to the drive block with little room for flex. Dan's idea of drilling a hole in the top center to add some penetrating oil seems pretty solid to me, so if it still won't let go I may do that as well to help things along. Unfortunately I'm heading out of town for a couple weeks and won't be able to try this out until I get back. In the mean time, maybe Dan is willing to try it out on his and let us know how it goes.

I am going to bet your expanding rubber device will work, I would also consider Dans idea of drilling a small hole and putting penetrating oil in, we have done that trick and it has worked.

John L.

Considering how much experience you have working on these things, that's encouraging.

The good news is the expandable plug worked like a champ. The first photo shows my complete set up. For the slide hammer I used a rather large and heavy cast socket. Unfortunately, as I tightened up the expanding plug I went too far and blew out the the plastic barrel towards the top where I initially placed it. The damage is seen in the last photo. Trust me when I say this made me feel like an absolute blithering idiot. I believe there are adhesives specifically made for this type of plastic. If so I'll try to repair it. The break is pretty clean and closes up really tight, so I'm hopeful. It's also in an area that's under no stress during use so hopefully once a repair is made it'll last.

Photo 2 - The plug is installed down towards the bottom of the barrel (where it should have been in the first place) and nicely snugged up. Learn from my mistake and don't over tighten. As the rubber plug expands the outward pressure it exerts can be enormous.

Photo 3 - The rest of the assembly is attached. At this point about a half dozen medium blows with the socket popped the agitator off clean. In fact, once it was correctly placed and installed this otherwise immovable agitator was easily removed. This method is well worth considering for anyone else dealing with this problem as long as you don't over tighten the darn plug.

Photo 4 - As for the agitator shaft, I think many of us have seen far worse posted on this site. Now I can finally get on with the rest of the overhaul.

Photo 5 - The damage. Again, I'm really embarrassed by this totally preventable situation. I should have been more cautious as I tightened up that plug.

So I soaked it in Mouse Milk overnight. (photo 1)  This morning it started moving with the second tap of the hammer and came off easily.

Photo 2 - The inside surface of the outer tub has a little bit of rust to deal with, but is in pretty good shape overall, especially when one considers the age of this machine.

Photo 3 - Ready for a good cleaning. I plan to leave the outer tub installed the way you see it until I finish cleaning it up. The little wheeled platform makes moving it around a breeze.

Photo 4 - Initial cleaning of the outer tub inner surface completed. Now the rust is clearly visible. It's being treated with a rust remover now. We'll have to wait and see how that goes.

Ben - I was pleasantly surprised by how well and easily that expandable plug and slide hammer idea worked as well, so no payout is necessary, LOL. Hopefully the idea will prove useful to others as well.

Can anyone tell me if this cracking is unusual or rare?

For its age, no. I usually see this with transmissions where the top shaft/bearings are nearly or completely seized up. This is why I always strongly recommended replacing them back in the day, especially since they were available and cheap back then. Hard to locate a new one these days.

How is the upper shaft and bearings in your transmission?

Good progress David, Its looks like there was some water in this transmission from the rust on top of the gears, it would be ideal to find a better top half for this transmission rebuild to find one that never had any water in the agitate shaft area.

It is interesting that these nylon pinion gears are failing with time, back in time even through the 80s we never saw one of these gears fail, but all things [ especially plastic ] will fail in time and while all appliance makers have troubles with plastic and rubber parts deteriorating Maytag was particularly bad when it came to their quality of plastics and rubber parts.

John L.

First, thanks for the compliments and the encouragement. It's been slow going lately due to things that are quite stuck and uncooperative. I want to do this right, and after breaking my agitator I figured I'd better slow down some and be a bit more cautious. Your comments and advice have been very helpful. With that in mind I have a few more pictures for you.

Photo 1.  This is how the damper and tub supports looked once removed. I initially thought the damper wash shot, but thanks to advice from Joseph (Hobbyapocalypes) I decided to try cleaning it up.

Photo 2. The damper and other parts after bead blasting to remove corrosion.

photo 3. The inner surface of the damper was then polished up using a small high speed buffing wheel and compound. It came out much better than I thought it would and will be reinstalled.

I'm still wrestling with the drive gear on the agitator shaft. I have a new shaft that I'd like to use on this machine, or at the very least send the old one out for plating, but so far I've been unable to get the groove pin out that holds the drive gear in place and I'm afraid of breaking something. I've been thinking of drilling into the end of the pin to hollow it out a bit, but that could risk damaging the other parts if I'm off by even a small amount. Any thoughts?

My sister the dentist has a DC Maytag that I talked her into buying 30 years ago.  The best washer she had, but her Maytag repairman has retired.  Now it is making a roaring noise on spin.  Her laundry room is up a hill and steps and hard to get to, but I could get it out of there if the washer could be restored.  Should I try to save it?  Kind of have to make a decision, as she has to do laundry and I would have to tell if it should not be taken away.  Thanks, Bob.

Roaring spin noise is a bad tub bearing or brake package bearing. We'd need a vid to confirm.

Both are easy to replace. Installing a new stem and boot seal kit will need to be done if replacing the tub bearing.

All had the light colored plastic filter area, only the 906 & 806 filters had the SS top section.

John L.

I'll bounce that off the machinist when he gets to that point. Right now he has all of the parts and will be machining a new upper agitator shaft bushing/bearing for the upper transmission housing. There was noticeable play there versus the lower one. Once the steel pinion gear was removed and he got the agitator shaft out a fair amount of corrosion was found between its two bearing journals. That corrosion had to be forced past the upper shaft bearing and may very well have done additional damage to it in the process.

As a side note, I have a question for anyone with knowledge on the subject. There was no wicking material between the two bearings in the upper housing. Is it worth installing some? If yes, what would be the best material to use? If no, what's the best lube to apply to those bearings upon reassembly to keep it going for another twenty years? I'll need to deal with this issue soon.

Wicking between the agitator shaft bearings?

I have thought about this since I read your post the other day and can not decide whether it would help or not. On one hand it might keep the upper bearing better lubricated but on the other hand if just a few drops of moisture get past the top bearing and seal it might hold the moisture in that area and harm the shaft and bearing sooner.

When you look at the entire design of a MT helical drive transmission it is really amazing they worked as well as they did.

Having an oil seal at the bottom of the input shaft where metal dust will cause seal wear is never a good idea, then having no oil delivery to the top agitator shaft bearing and no vent in the transmission so any moisture can evaporate out.

While many other washer designs also had significant design problems as well this all really goes to show how low stressed a washers driveline is, you certainly could never design airplanes this crudely and have then stay in the air very long.

John L.

Thanks for your comments, though I notice both of you shied away from making a recommendation. The comment about the oil gallery raises a question in my mind. During the spin cycle, wouldn't the oil in the transmission be flung to the outer edges by centrifugal force, away from the agitator shaft and the oil gallery? Is this gallery small enough that capillary pull is drawing the oil up instead? The transmission is at the machine shop at the moment so I can't have a look at it, and I don't recall noticing the gallery before. But the mention of it is intriguing to say the least. If I were to install a wicking pad, what material would be most suited for it? I'm considering a bit of industrial wool felt.