Gas-Powered Antique Maytag Washing Machine [Restoration]

When you used the washer, you had two square galvanized steel tubs sitting besides the washer. They were arranged so the wringer would squeeze out the water back into the washer when you finished the wash cycle. Then you would add clothes for another wash load. The first tub was filled with hot rinse water and the washed clothes would sit and let the soap soak out of them. You would turn the ringer so that it would be between the two galvanized tubs, and using a short broomstick, pickup the clothes out of the hot rinse water and feed them into the wringer. The clothes would then fall into the next tub. That tub would be full of cold water, with bluing for whites, or hot water with laundry starch if the clothes were to be ironed. Doing laundry with this machine was a continuous process and you could do quite a lot of laundry in a short time. When you moved the clothes out of the final rinse, you used the wringer to drop the clothes into a basket to take them to the solar powered clothes dryer (clothes line). My mom had a Maytag electric washer, but two of my neighbors were gas powered. We were really wowed when my aunt got an automatic washer in the mid fifties. By the way, you adjusted the air fuel mixture to make it run smoother, but even with the muffler, they were loud.

My late mother-in-law was raised in a remote farming community that did not get electric power until the late 1940's. She fondly recalled washing day when she could hear the putt-putt-putt of the washing machines throughout the valley. She also reported that blue smoke from the gas-oil mix could be seen rising from each farm house porch where a washing machine was running. Most families converted from washboards as soon as they could afford the new technology. I found it intriguing that the entire community washed their clothing on the same day; Mondays.

Not gonna lie - in all of my 65 years on this earth, that's the first time I've ever seen anyone kick start a washing machine!

I love seeing these old machines from before the Plastic Age, where everything was made of steel and iron and everything was 100% mechanical.

in the early 70's, in my town - the old lady across the street STILL used one of these (and we lived in a City, NOT rural at all) I was in elementary school, and she got too old to start it and would call me over to kick it for her

Had to laugh at the bench press being used as a “portable” drill... love the videos mate. 22:20

I'm 67. My grandfather sold these when they were new. When I was 10 we had two or three of the engines still working. One year we used one as a very scary noise maker in part of a haunted house maze us kids made out in our barn. My oldest brother was 6 years older than me and two other brothers between us. Those were some good days.

Yo this man needs more subs that intro alone was more creative than half the big YouTubers

Wow, what a can of worms that project was. All those castings and machined parts, it would cost $20,000 to build that machine today. Well done! It looks beautiful and works surprisingly well.

"Honey, dinner is ready!" "Yes, babe, i'll be there in a second. I just need to finish doing the oil change on the washing machine."

I just love your restorations. No crazy music. Genuine items no pre-prepared items. Only explanatory text when needed. A little "crazy" feature sometimes in the movie. (A true animal friend who did not fire the spider when you used the gas burner when you heated the bracket.) And also shows how things work afterwards.

Gotta love the old-time ‘hit-n-miss’ engine! Coolest, “washing machine” that I’ve ever seen!! Man, they REALLY don’t make things like they used to! Imagine a washer from today in about a hundred years! It would be complete and utter trash after about 30 years or so (best case) . It’s so sad that we don’t make things in America anymore.. We really did make some beautiful things. Made to last. Kudos, Hand Tool Rescue, for resurrecting these amazing and beautiful pieces- keeping the history of America’s manufacturing past alive!

22:22 I would have never thought of using a bench drill this way, very innovative 😂

This is the type of restoration my grandfather used to do. Take something discarded, usually from the family farm where he grew up in the 1930s, and make it functional again. Fantastic work as always.

Great video. I helped my grandmother wash clothes 66 years ago with a Maytag which started out with a gas engine like that, but the gas engine was replaced by an electric one in the 1940s when rural electrification came along. We used home made laundry soap. The tub was filled with cold water from a garden hose, then the water was heated with a drop-in electric heater, with exposed heating elements. My wife learned to wash clothes with an electric wringer washer as well. We sure didn’t try to wring the water out of the clothes before running them through the wringer. There were galvanized tubs of water to rinse the clothes before they went through the wringer again, then got hung on the line. These washers did a great job and didn’t need repairs as often as modern ones.

One of those wringer washers is how my grandfather lost the thumb on his left hand. Helping his mom with the wash when he was 4, thumb got caught and went in with the fabric. Crushed it and they had to amputate. We got a lot of different stories about that thumb when we were kids, that it was shot off in the WWII (he was stationed in Utah), that he burned it off when he stuck it in a christmas light bulb socket, that he sucked it off as a baby, etc. Washer was the real reason, and we have a picture of him not long before it happened, and the way he's sitting displays that thumb very prominently. Didn't stop him from playing piano and multiple instruments and being an auto mechanic for decades. Neat washing machine!

I hope you sent this video to Maytag corporation. i'm sure they would love to see it!

The combination of humour, workshop noises, and technical know-how in these videos makes them thoroughly enjoyable. Well done!

Nice job. In the 50's we had a neighbor who used one of these (electric version), but she mostly used a washtub and scrub board. Her husband was a cheap SOB who spent the money on liquor. My friend grew up and his mother divorced the cheap skate. I don't know what happened to the washer!! You do good work and have much more patience than me. Thanks!

I love old machines like this. They built stuff to last back then, and you could usually fix it yourself when it broke down. As a millennial, I'm constantly amazed that someone can take a rusty piece of junk from 100 years ago and not only make it work again, but make it look brand new!