The internets are wonderful, saves $$$

[sammyg2]

My kenmore (whirlpool) washing machine started making grinding noises during the agitation cycle and then eventually stopped agitating. It's an older machine and I had to replace the coupler a while ago so I told the wife it's prolly time to buy a new one.

I did a quick search and found this is a common problem. the agitator dogs are made of soft plastic and simply wear out. I even found you-tube videos on how to replace them.
I found new ones on E-bay for $2.95 for a set of 4 with free shipping.
I figure I can afford 74 cents each.

[GH85Carrera]

Big spender!

How will the economy ever recover? You are supposed to throw the old one away and buy new!

It is amazing what Google can find. My 20 year old lawn mower is still working great. I found a PDF file of the entire repair manual on-line and fixed one little issue with my mower.

We have a scanner here at work that is very specialized. The bulbs from the company that makes the scanner were going to cost over $500. We looked around on-line and found the exact same bulb for $75.

[pete3799]

I can relate.
Our front load Kenmore started making bad sounds/vibrating.
Did a quick search and discovered many bearing failures as the cause.
Sourced the parts locally for $147.50
Interestingly sears wants to sell you a new drum for 500.00 some odd......think not.

[LakeCleElum]

Good for you Sammy....I called Sears out to my house to look at the fridge in my garage. $65 service call. He says it needs a new fan motor. Has one on the truck, can do it for an additional $277......WTF, he already has the back off. I can see its an easy job.

I say, sell me the motor, I'll put it in myself. Nope, can't sell parts off the truck. I pay the $65 and send him on his way.

I spend $38 and buy a motor off the internet. It doesn't have the plug like the Sears motor would, so I have to splice a few wires. Total time, start to finish, under 25 minutes.....Never calling Sears service again.