New bearings couldn't fix the broken spider arm...

[Lou D'Ambrosio]

Hello,

First, I’d like to say that your repair video was very well done. I
have watched many web repair videos and yours was very good. I also
appreciated the quick service when I ordered the bearings.

Unfortunately, while the bearings needed to be replaced, the spider
arm was broken in three places. Upon seeing the condition of the
spider arm (not only completely separated in 3 places but also
corroded and pitted) the cause for its catastrophic failure was
obvious.

The spider arm is made of aluminum and is directly bolted to the
stainless steel drum. As any 10th grader chemistry student will tell
you…you never put two dissimilar metals in direct contact with each
other since they will corrode each other away. Stainless steel is the
king… it is notorious for corroding any other metal it comes in
contact with. This corrosion is not instant but takes between 5 and
10 years for the results to show. My machine is 8 years old.

I have learned that Kenmore / Sears have known of this design flaw
since the late 90s and have done nothing to correct this fatal design
flaw. The stainless steel drum is warranted for the life of the
machine but, that does not include the connected spider arm, even
though you can’t buy just a replacement spider arm. Sears / Kenmore
will only sell you both the spider arm and stainless steel drum as one
piece, even though they are simply bolted together. Cost for that …
$400 + shipping.

The total cost of this repair does not make sense economically when
compared to the purchase of a new machine. During the holiday sales
of this past week, I was able to buy a comparable Samsung washer for
$550.
My suggestion for anyone doing this repair…once you get the drum
disassembled…and assuming the spider arm is not broken…take it to a
marine service shop and ask them to coat it with a marine sealant.
You could maybe also take it to an auto body shop and ask them to
shoot with a few layers of clear coat. This way…when you reinstall
the spider arm there will be some coating between the two dissimilar
metals to keep them apart. You can probably get a few more years out
of the spider arm / stainless steel.

As for me…unfortunately I need to ask about how to return the bearings
I bought and kindly request a refund…of course less the shipping and
the restocking fee.

Thanks for your help.

Lou D’Ambrosio
CEO, Sears Holding Company

[amark...@hotmail.com]

Yeas you can send back to the address below, Sorry we could not do
more for you. And thoughs are some good ideas you had to save the
spiders.

HomeTask.com
23932 SE 238th St.
Maple Valley, WA 98038

On Dec 2, 12:23 pm, "Lou D'Ambrosio" <mryankear...@optonline.net>
wrote:

[outboard guy]

I had the same problem and called sears,they sent out a tech.to look
things over and found out my wash tub had wear spots from the wash
basket hitting it.Due to the spider was broken.I showed them my owners
manual and showed them that the parts were still under warranty.I
beleive it said the wash tub was 5yrs and the stainless wash basket
was lifetime.they ordered all the parts and they were installed and my
portion of the bill was 132.00, for labor,my new wash tub did come
with a new spider.YOU MUST HAVE THE OWNERS MANUAL TO SHOW THE TECH. TO
GET WARRANTY.IF YOU DO NOT HAVE ONE GO ONLINE AND DOWNLOAD ONE.ALSO
MY MACHINE WAS 5yrs at the time of
repair.