One of the biggest reasons the Herrin and Searcy washers were heavily produced is money. There was a bit of talk about Govt. energy standards and using materials that cost less energy wise to produce but the main reason was still money. It costs less to make a machine out of lighter metal and lots of plastic.
The Searcy Amanas (SAV's) were a problem child to begin with. The biggest issue being the poorly milled upper transmission shafts that spun out of round and knocked that crappy triple lip tub seal around. This, of course, cased leakage which trashed the tub bearing and also the spin bearing in the milkstool support. I've killed many SAV's for this as the repair entails replacing the transmission, tub seals and bearings and the whole milkstool tub support (this was later changed by making the spin bearing available separately) and STILL there was a possibility that the problem would reoccur (and frequently did). Also seeing quite a few go bye bye due to the milkstool support assy breaking at the spot welds due to light metal didn't help. This is the washer that helped kill Maytag's reputation in laundry but that's what you get when you buy a company and then demand that the cost to manufacture, per unit, be reduced by $30 - $70. The demise of a once proud line was assured.
That being said, I don't have a large problem with the Herrin built Magic Chef/Norge laundry. It did what it was supposed to do. Fill a niche. Provide a machine with decent capacity, a range of features from basic to super fancy, and be available to consumers who may not have a ton of money to burn in their budget. Repair wise, they didn't have a abnormal amount of issues either. The thrust bearing/transmission pulley (which was upgraded to a new kit with only 2 moving parts for more reliability), the pumps (also upgraded and a better design) and the occasional bad transmission. As I always say, it's the devil you know...
