Old Maytag Gas Washing Machine Engine

[travelover]

That looks like an old briggs & stratton flat head. Not a 2 stroke.

I think you are right.

 

[ERD50]

That looks like an old briggs & stratton flat head. Not a 2 stroke.

Hmmm. So it looks like this is not a Maytag engine at all, but a B&S, and maybe not that old.

I did another search, and the Maytag engines all look like the one in post #2 - no head (one piece head/cylinder/ports), no place for valves, so those must be 2 stroke.

This site says the B&S aren't that old:

https://www.smokstak.com/forum/threads/need-a-washing-machine-engine-history-lesson.55874/

1956 Briggs & Stratton model WMB. In1952 Maytag quit making their 2 stroke washing machine engine and turned to Briggs to supply engines.

That video of the B&S looks like Streets, but a little hard to compare.

Either way, very interesting.

-ERD50

 

[Koolau]

I'm not going to go any further with restoration, anyway not at this time. The interesting thing to me is, since I retired I have tackled more projects, then I would ever have dreamed I could.

Heh, heh, I had a friend who used to "complain" that he didn't know how he had time to w*rk. Once retired, this poor guy had way more to do than he could keep up with!

Oh, and by the way, one place to make "contact" with folks who are into such engines as you found: At least around the midwest, there are whole "shows" centered around old powered devices (steam tractors, small gas engines, etc.) from around the 1910s and up. Usually these shows have names like "Steam and Gas Power..." Here's what you might see.

 

[street]

That looks like an old Briggs & Stratton flat head. Not a 2 stroke.

Yes Sir!
Briggs & Stratton Model WMB (Washing Machine B), they call them kick start, hit miss gas engines.

Koolau, thanks for that clip.

 

[street]

Hmmm. So it looks like this is not a Maytag engine at all, but a B&S, and maybe not that old.

I did another search, and the Maytag engines all look like the one in post #2 - no head (one piece head/cylinder/ports), no place for valves, so those must be 2 stroke.

This site says the B&S aren't that old:

https://www.smokstak.com/forum/threads/need-a-washing-machine-engine-history-lesson.55874/



That video of the B&S looks like Streets, but a little hard to compare.

Either way, very interesting.

-ERD50

Here is what I have:
https://www.jensales.com/content/pp...mb-washing-machine-motor-operators-manual.pdf

 

[Jerry1]

Here is what I have:
https://www.jensales.com/content/pp...mb-washing-machine-motor-operators-manual.pdf

I like those old manuals as much as the items they’re related to. So much detail. I had an old Troy Built roto-tiller and found the manual. It was amazing at all the information that was in the manual. One of the regular replacement items were the seals around the axels. The manual even directed you to the right size of pipe and a washer to use to hammer the new seal in evenly. Worked like a charm.

 

[Koolau]

I like those old manuals as much as the items they’re related to. So much detail. I had an old Troy Built roto-tiller and found the manual. It was amazing at all the information that was in the manual. One of the regular replacement items were the seals around the axels. The manual even directed you to the right size of pipe and a washer to use to hammer the new seal in evenly. Worked like a charm.

When I was perhaps 4 years old, my dad bought a Troy Built tiller. I was with him and was fascinated by the contraption. I'm sure it was used. It was barn red as I recall. Dad used it in his half acre garden. When I was maybe 8, he began teaching me how to use it. Looking back, it had the weirdest way to engage the drive/tines. You pulled this lever which pulled the whole engine maybe 8 or 10 degrees from its neutral position. This pulled the drive belts taught, engaging everything.

When I was perhaps 20, one summer, home from school, I took the engine apart and replaced the piston rings. It actually quit smoking after wards. My dad was impressed though he had bought a much bigger tiller by then (a real man killer - he ended up with a double hernia fighting with it one time. For some reason the name "Essex" and from "England" sticks in my mind, but I could be wrong. It started like a model T - with a crank.) IIRC DW eventually sold the Troy Built for $100 which I'm sure was way more than my dad had paid for it 40 years earlier. Hadn't thought about those tillers in years.