responding to
http://www.homeownershub.com/mainten...io-228602-.htm
biguggy wrote:

I know it is an elderly thread but it is still, in my opinion, a valid
subject. To my knowledge Sears were still selling machines with the same
part number inner tub and spiders in May of 2010 as the ones sold in 2001.
So the same failures can be expected to keep occurring for a while yet.
Assuming that you have a ‘Kenmore’ 417 or 970 (the Canadian variant), or a
Frigidaire, or even a GE (the same machine was marketed, with minor
differences but the ‘guts’ were/are the same by all three companies).
For my two cents worth, if I were you I would get at your machine before
more damage is done. The more the bearings ‘wear’ the greater will be the
‘run-out’ of the inner tub with respect to the outer tub. This will allow
the screws securing the baffles or vanes in the inner drum to score,
perhaps to perforation, the outer drum. Additionally even if your spider
currently has little or no corrosion it is likely to be ‘toast’ because
the sleeve on which the shaft seal runs is likely now scored or grooved to
such an extend that it would be a very unwise to re-use it with a new seal.
A cheaper repair for you, should you have access to a Sears parts
warehouse in Canada is to get the ‘tub kit’, part number 970 134453200 for
C$229.00 (last quoted to me in March of this year) plus S&H plus taxes,
which includes inner and outer drums complete with spider, seals, bearings
and pulley. Sears at the same time quoted me C$259.00 for just the inner
tub and spider, go figure. Unfortunately the ‘tub kit’ is not available in
the USA.