I got a call from a friend today who said the washer in a house he rents stopped agitating and spinning although it would still drain. He thought it was an Estate (read, Whirlpool Direct Drive) so I bought a Whirlpool Drive Coupler and headed over for a quick swap out. To my horror, I discovered it was not an Estate that awaited me, but a lower-end plastic-tub GE!
I know very little of these machines, tending to fancy Filter Flos myself, but I've read quite a bit. Much of what I've read includes phrases such as: "Sucks out loud" and "Craptacular." I pulled the front off and found the problem to be that the pulley on the clutch (mounted beneath the motor) had broken. The lower flange just sheared right off like a flat steel doughnut. With no lower flange, the belt slipped off and caused the no agitation or spin. The pump is a separate device with its own motor.
We went down to my favorite appliance parts store to see about a new clutch. In speaking with my favorite employee there, he informed us that a new clutch was over $100.00. GE's preferred fix, however, involved a whole new motor, clutch, and wiring harness. He said this was the result of a very high rate of failure of the clutch pulley and that simply replacing the clutch would not guarantee the same problem wouldn't return in the foreseeable future. While what to do is determined, we moved a Whirlpool Direct Drive in place of the GE so the tenants can wash their laundry.
The clutch replacement doesn't look too horrifying, but is the original clutch design really that flawed? Is the machine worth the cost of repair parts or should he krush the GE? Why, specifically, is this design of GE so bad? (After having used my mother's, I know the GE Adora front loaders are trash, but I have no firsthand experience with the top loaders that replaced the Filter Flos).
What's your opinion?
Dave
I know very little of these machines, tending to fancy Filter Flos myself, but I've read quite a bit. Much of what I've read includes phrases such as: "Sucks out loud" and "Craptacular." I pulled the front off and found the problem to be that the pulley on the clutch (mounted beneath the motor) had broken. The lower flange just sheared right off like a flat steel doughnut. With no lower flange, the belt slipped off and caused the no agitation or spin. The pump is a separate device with its own motor.
We went down to my favorite appliance parts store to see about a new clutch. In speaking with my favorite employee there, he informed us that a new clutch was over $100.00. GE's preferred fix, however, involved a whole new motor, clutch, and wiring harness. He said this was the result of a very high rate of failure of the clutch pulley and that simply replacing the clutch would not guarantee the same problem wouldn't return in the foreseeable future. While what to do is determined, we moved a Whirlpool Direct Drive in place of the GE so the tenants can wash their laundry.
The clutch replacement doesn't look too horrifying, but is the original clutch design really that flawed? Is the machine worth the cost of repair parts or should he krush the GE? Why, specifically, is this design of GE so bad? (After having used my mother's, I know the GE Adora front loaders are trash, but I have no firsthand experience with the top loaders that replaced the Filter Flos).
What's your opinion?
Dave
