Kenmore 110-28102 ate the shaft bearing yet again BUT...

[dartman]

OK, I have been fighting with this thing since we got it about 2014. Some of you may remember my battles after the first set of bearings went out after it was about 4 years old.
I bought a cheap Chinese kit with everything including the bearing installation tools. It was junk and lasted a month but the tool is fine, got a whirlpool OEM kit and it installed fine and didn't leak or anything and was done after a little over a year.
The last set was a Chinese set but had a lifetime warranty which they appear to be willing to honor but the machine now is also throwing a UL unbalance code and the bolt underneath still seemed tight when I checked it again.
I don't want to throw another shaft/seal/bearing set in it again then have to chase a balance issue on top of things.
I don't want a old school Speed Queen because our water rates are super high. Has Whirlpool fixed the issues they were having with the seals and bearings like the machines from my washers time were having or does somebody else now make a reliable HE top loading machine that will last and can be self serviced reasonably like the Whirlpool based machines used to be.
Thanks for any suggestions guys, getting pretty frustrated here. I don't mind replacing parts as they slowly wear out but doing this almost every year is getting real old.

 

[combo52]

I take it it’s not spinning properly and shutting down?

Have you installed a new strut kit in this washer, the struts get weak and the thing can’t spin properly.

Definitely get an OEM kit if you’re going to do this it’s easy to do it may solve your problem.

Best long-term washing machines are frontload machines very best frontload you can get is a Speed Queen easy to work on and will last a long time.

The day of top loading washing machines is over. Unless you’re willing to put up with high water use and high utility costs detergent etc.

John L

 

[DADoES]

 
I've always been curious about those short-life bearings on WP machines of that ilk.  The five F&P toploaders that my family has had in use ranging from 13 to 22 years all have the original bearings.

Dartman, bad suspension rods are a cause of off-balance issues as John says.  I have changed them on both of my F&P HE/impeller models.

 

[dartman]

I bought new rods for it when it was starting to do it worse just before I put in the last new shaft and bearings etc. It hasn't seemed to help so I'll have to pull it out enough to see if one of them broke or something popped out of place.
This machine is supposed to use 8 gallons of water on a typical load and I did put a Whirlpool oem shaft and bearings in it after the first try failed and it worked well for a bit over a year and got noisy again and I tried getting just new bearings and a seal thinking I still had a decent shaft to reuse but it wasn't as good as I thought but still ran ok for another year. So seems, at least for me, even using original parts it just doesn't last as long as it should.
Guess I'll pull it away from the wall and pull the rear cover and see what's up.

 

[maytagneptune]

reply #2

That's because Fisher&Paykel Machines have high quality seals and they have SKF bearings.

 

[dartman]

Replacing the machine

I'm giving up on it and buying a new washer. Sure I could do the shaft and all that again and I have used the OEM or very high quality bearings before besides the cheap kits out there and they still start leaking after a year or so probably because the seals don't hold up and take the bearings with them.
Going to try a LG 7900 from Costco with the Costco 2 year warranty, plus a extra 2 years for using their credit card to buy it so I have 4 years before I have to worry about it again, at least having to fix it myself.
We both are getting decent refunds so try something new and cross our fingers but MOST of the reviews, even long term, are good.
I did contact the seller and we'll see if they send me another shaft kit before the new washer arrives the 15th of March. If not I'll baby it along till the new one shows up.
When the bill shows up we're just paying it off and we'll use it IF we buy anything big from Costco to get the extra warranty coverage.

 

[dartman]

Might have figured out how to get it to balance.

I've been fighting with the old machine still refusing to balance at the end of the spin till the new one gets here. Today I tried all the spin speeds and finally tried holding the front up as it got to the point it always errors out. It wobbled a bit but made it to the end of a medium spin and stopped. According to the level on the top of the lids glass it's pretty much perfectly level so I raised the front legs till the bubble was about an 8th out towards the front and it made another medium spin all the way to the end. Maybe the basket isn't really plum in the machine anymore but it is working for the moment and hopefully will continue till the new one shows up. Might be something to try if anyone has similar problems down the road if everything else seems fine.

 

[dartman]

New LG 7900 delivered today

The new washer was delivered today while I was at work but sister was home and they set it up and took the Kenmore.
It's much quieter then our old one, bigger, more features, and seems to wash the clothes better so far. It does make noises when buttons or zippers rub on the basket or impeller and is pretty low to the floor but I haven't raised it up to let the old drip tray slide under yet.
Folks were complaining it's too loud etc but compared to the old one it's very quite, even when spinning. I can watch TV in the living room with it and the dryer running in the laundry nook in the kitchen with no problem. When the bearings got bad on the Kenmore it was like having a jet taking off. When it was good it was noticeable but fine.
Sister took some pics with her phone she sent me so here they are. So far we really like it and it has all kinds of bells and whistles and works great, hopefully for a long time.

 

[dartman]

Update after a few months use

Well so far it seems to clean better then the old Kenmore, it's still basically quieter, and it holds a ton of laundry.
I has some weird clanks that are probably the transmission shifting modes with mostly stainless parts and it does a warning beep sometimes when you add a cycle for a minute, I guess to remind you, then continues to do it's thing. Seems to add plenty of water when needed but still low water use and has a ton of options we're still figuring out. Haven't been able to get it to hook to Bluetooth yet but might be user error plus older phones.
So far very happy with it and it really looks nice too, plus the end of cycle music is kinda fun and not too nasty to listen to.

 

[dartman]

Got the Bluetooth working

Like it says, got it hooked up with the new Pixel 6 phones we picked up. You can add custom wash cycles and it announces on the phone when a load is done or something goes wrong or it needs a cleaning cycle, stuff like that.
Not absolutely vital function but it's nice to have and semi useful when it works.
It even ties into the Bluetooth hearing aides my sister recently got after she realized she wasn't hearing very well anymore after years working as a prep cook.
Still happy with it and still washes fine, nothings really changed, just does it's job.

 

[dartman]

Update, still working fine.

Well just over a year and it still does its job fine and is quiet. Almost never gets unbalanced and even if it does it keeps going and rebalances itself slowing down for a second to slosh the load around till it's happy but 95 percent of the time it's good. Very happy with it so far and it can even wash the large padded bathroom mats we love. You have to wash them a few times to get the dirt moved around but it deals with them ok other than that.
have 3 more years of warranty before it's my problem it something breaks too

 

[dartman]

Update, still working like new and cleaning well. Still probably have a year left on the Costco extended warranty. I think my old Kenmore/Whirlpool had ate the first set of bearings by now. Just happy I haven't had to fix anything yet.

 

[vacerator]

Update, still working like new and cleaning well. Still probably have a year left on the Costco extended warranty. I think my old Kenmore/Whirlpool had ate the first set of bearings by now. Just happy I haven't had to fix anything yet.

Our son has that washer and also likes it still after at least 4 years.

 

[dartman]

When I did my research even the technicians said it was a good machine that was reasonably easy to work on and the setup was sort of modular so if the shaft bearings go bad you get another complete setup and swap it out and go.
you don't have to try and reassemble the whole setup one peice at a time and hope you got everything right.
Now I have all the special tools to rebuild the whirlpool setup and a lot of dead bearings and shafts out in my shed.
Obviously I don't mind rebuilding something, but when I had to do it once a year it just got old.
Glad to hear your son likes his and I never would have considered a LG but the reviews don't lie.