My Kenmore front loader washes, rinses, spins ok until the final spin. It starts out fine but progresses to a loud knocking/banging noise. Any suggestions? The basket also moves more freely and "feels loose" when the washer is not in use.

There are no broken struts, springs, the outer supports appear fine. With the belt off the inner drum turns very loosely and makes a banging noise, there is also a scraping component to it. My husband believes it is the bearings. Does that sound correct? If so, how much is this kind of repair and can we do it at home?

Yeah, it is bad news. What causes this in a 6 yr old machine? Is this common? Any recommendation on a quality new front loader? Not sure that I would go w/ Kenmore/Frigidaire again?

This is a fairly common problem with Frigidaire front load washers. Why they designed it so the bearing cannot be replaced is beyond me. Engineers often think of themselves as infallable, and think their designs are infallable.

I cannot recommend any front loading washer, I just do not think the problems (like yours and with the microprocessor controls, the difficulty to repair, the cost of parts) are worth the benefits. The stress that a tub puts on a front load machine, both washers and dryers, eventually will cause failure, sometimes after one year, sometimes after ten years.

I would recommend a top load, no frills, no microprocessor machine. They will do about as good a job as a front loader, cost less, be less likely to fail and are easier and less expensive to repair. Take the money you save and enjoy yourselves.

If you do want to take a shot at repairing it, here is the service manual. I don't think it is a difficult job, just time consuming and other than this problem these are pretty good machines. I think most folks don't undertake the repair because of the fear of sinking that much money into an older machine. It is certainly not economically feasible to have a service tech do it.

http://frigidaireservicetips.co..._TumbleActionWashers.pdf


Good luck!