Maytag refrig. icemaker

[Bill]

Orig. icemaker is a flex tray. Book says a MHIK7989 will replace this icemaker. Customer was told bya parts store that he could sell him this icemaker but the cresent cubes would not go through his in door dispenser. Is this true and if so can the dispenser be modified to make it work.
Thanks, Bill

Model RB18FA-3AW

[JWWebster]

why not just buy a new flex tray?

[Repair-man]

Hi Bill;

Maytag made this change 15 years ago. The small cubes on the flex tray were originally designed with a much smaller dispenser chute. The flex tray was made by Admiral and the motor heads were problematic. Maytag finally began making these obsolete and went to the common Whirlpool design of modular icemaker with a heated mold.

The cubes are only slightly  longer than the old style and may fall thru fairly well, although there is more chance for jamming. All in all, it is an improvemnt over the flex-tray design which attracts mineral deposits.

[JWWebster]

The flex tray becomes stiff and hence will not "flex" anymore and drop the cubes properly, when the water comes in to fill the tray the stuck cubes make the water cascade over the flextray and cause ice to stick in the bucket. The flex trays are around 20 bucks and simple enough for anyone to replace.