Small Hinge Hampers Maytag

With considerable trepidation, I signed on the dotted line and loaded a beautiful red Maytag washer/dryer into my pickup. The appliance came with three-phase computer-controlled motors and a dashboard as complex as a 777 glass cockpit.

My wife loved it, but I stashed the old squirrel cage Kenmore in the shed for backup. There are too many electrolytic capacitors on that computer board to suit my technophobe taste.

After about 10 months, the door got so stiff that it was perilous to open. So I removed it and took it to my morning "Cultural Club," a neighborhood coffee klatch of us old retired guys. We usually discuss pickup trucks and deer hunting.

The guys leapt right onto the double-articulated hinge design. It is something right out of an "Ingenious Mechanical Devices" reference library. We drove out the hinge pins as gently as possible. The soft metal of the hinge had developed corrosion against the anodized pin, so what should have been a slip fit was interference all the way -- not to mention that the friction when opening the door was stressing the assembly to near elastic failure. I sanded the pins smooth and cleaned up the hinge pin holes with phosphoric acid and a .17 rifle bore brush. I used Ospho from the hardware store -- I use it everywhere.

Next, I drilled small holes perpendicular to and intercepting each hinge pin hole for future application of white lithium grease by spray can with nozzle. I reassembled the door with lubrication and the washer door is still silky smooth a year later.

Seems odd that a problem would occur so quickly in a new appliance. I also didn't think it was our problem alone. I searched the Internet and discovered lots of people have broken the hinge on this appliance and replaced it at great expense.

This entry was submitted by Jim Hardy and edited by Rob Spiegel.

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