Does any know about the Kenmore 500 washing machines?

[bjr]

Are these machines Electronic (computer board in it)? What years were they made? High capacity or entry level low capacity? Would parts from a 80 or 90 seriens interchange (like the motor pump drive couplers and the little wear tabs the tub rides on)? I need something high capacitt and simple to work on. I have some new parts left over from working on some ol' Kenmore 80 & 90 and something called Elite. If I can piece this thing back to together again I'd take as it kinda a give to me for free deal and I'm broke and need a better clothes washer machine. I've even had to use JB weld (epoxy glue) to hold the pump/motor couplings to the shafts as they were stripped off the flat spot that would lock to the coupler, so, you know I'm desperate fixer upper type person. Should I go for the Kensmore 500 or pass on it, the fellow says a bolt fell out and it make noise? bjr

 

[jeff9366]

Sear's survival is increasingly in doubt.

8/25/2016

Sears Holdings (SHLD) is in really bad shape as its earnings report shows, and as it prepares for the holiday season.

The struggling owner of Sears and Kmart reported a staggering second-quarter loss of $2.03 a share as it felt intense competitive pressures in businesses such as appliances and apparel from Home Depot (HD) , Lowe's (LOW) , J.C. Penney (JCP) , Best Buy (BBY) and Walmart (WMT) . A year ago, the company delivered a loss of $2.03 a share. Net sales plunged 8.8% to $5.7 billion.

The impact of yet another loss could almost be felt in the dishearted statement by Sears' Chairman and CEO Eddie Lampert.

"We continue to face a challenging competitive environment, and while we continue to focus on our overall profitability, including managing expenses, we reported a net loss for the second quarter," Lampert said.

Make no mistake, part-time hedge-fund manager Lampert has reason to be disheartened.

Same-store sales at discounter Kmart fell 3.3%, representing the seventh straight quarterly decline. Sales were pressed in some of Kmart's most important categories, such as pharmacy, groceries and consumer electronics.

As for Sears, it notched its eighth consecutive same-store sales decline as sales dived 7%. Weakness was felt across the board for Sears, with sales falling in home appliances, apparel, cosmetics and footwear.

Perhaps more concerning than the sales declines are the dangerously low cash levels for Sears as it gears up for the holidays. Cash and equivalents declined to $276 million from $1.8 billion a year ago. As a result, Sears was forced to accept $300 million in financing from Lampert's investment vehicle ESL Investments.

 

[teejk]

Are these machines Electronic (computer board in it)? What years were they made? High capacity or entry level low capacity? Would parts from a 80 or 90 seriens interchange (like the motor pump drive couplers and the little wear tabs the tub rides on)? I need something high capacitt and simple to work on. I have some new parts left over from working on some ol' Kenmore 80 & 90 and something called Elite. If I can piece this thing back to together again I'd take as it kinda a give to me for free deal and I'm broke and need a better clothes washer machine. I've even had to use JB weld (epoxy glue) to hold the pump/motor couplings to the shafts as they were stripped off the flat spot that would lock to the coupler, so, you know I'm desperate fixer upper type person. Should I go for the Kensmore 500 or pass on it, the fellow says a bolt fell out and it make noise? bjr

Kenmore...Sears merely marketed stuff that they got from various manufacturers. I think the newer top loaders are made by Whirlpool and are probably identical to those sold under the Whirlpool brand. As for the "500", looks like it was offered in several different levels from basic to hi-end. If a top-loader, a bolt should be easy enough to replace but "noise" might also indicate bearings. Something might have happened to cause that bolt to fail.

 

[kthompson]

Sears (like Massey) had not owned any plants if years if ever. For years Whirlpool made their washers and some of their other appliances but the product line did vary some over time who was making it. If the parts come in package with "FSP" on it then that is Whirlpool. Otherwise not. Years ago there was some overlapping of models with parts but certain things such as controls panel normally were not.

Frankly if Sears folded would expect to have some issues but not major issue to find parts. kt Warning, has been about 40 years since I did work on those machines and by far there have been many changes. But there are still after market parts maker. kt

 

[mddorange]

Sears has never made anything or had a factory. They have always put their brand name on products made by other manufactures. Their products used to be leaders in new innovations as they would do customer research and tell the company making their items what to incorporate in he next model and then the manufacture could put that in their models after 5 years. After Eddie took over, all that stopped and now they just rename low end stuff to keep the price down.