I worked for Shears, four weks and two days. I was horrified
by what I saw. I'd not want to buy anything from them.
Sadly, they do make nice Craftsman tools.

I got a call last year, from some folks with a noisy front
loader. The part at the parts house was about $300 and I
didn't know it was a two man, all day job. As with John
Deere "permanant lube" joints and knuckles, someone came out
with a grease gun syringe needle device. I'm sure some one
will come out with a lube system for these.

Sorry about the shipping braces. Typical Shears service.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"Percival P. Cassidy" wrote in message
...

This a rather old thread to which you are responding, but
I'll throw in
my 2 cents' worth...

We've had ours for about 9 years, averaging two or three
loads a week,
and it's been noisy for the last several years. When it was
still in
warranty the controller failed and was replaced free, and I
asked the
service guy about the reports I had heard of bearing
failure. He said it
was usually caused by using non-HE detergent and that
replacement of the
whole drum assembly was a 2-person 4-hour job -- no bearings
available
separately -- costing big bucks. I have since read that
bearings are
available but not from Sears. If ours quits I may still try
to fix it
myself, as we have the dryer stacked above it and that dryer
might not
fit a different washer.

My major gripe concerning this washer was that when it was
delivered
they took the shipping braces away with them although the
user manual
says to keep them in case the machine needs to be moved
again -- and
when we did move I had to *buy* a new set of shipping
braces. I
mentioned this to our friendly Sears person in our new
location, and she
said not leaving them behind was common practice and that I
probably was
the only person who had ever read the part in the manual
about keeping them.

Perce