Good appliance brands to buy used....

[bilbo]

Definitely rebuild the gearcase, because if you have a good spare around it will never fail!

 

[19Walt93]

I've had best luck with Maytag and Whirlpool, Frigidaire is crap. Our current Maytag washer and drier have "made in USA" stickers on the front of them.

 

[Rick W]

Kenmore. When we buy properties, as the appliances go bad, we always use Kenmore. It’s my understanding there really is no “Kenmore,” they have all their stuff made by Whirlpool, GE, etc., but Kenmore sells 10 times as many machines as anybody else. So, like the old Chevys and the old Fords, the parts are made forever because so many people have them. We also learned only to get the top loaders. The side loaders might be pretty, etc., but when they go out it cost more to fix them then they cost new.

I don’t know where you are, but you may also want to hunt around for a used appliance shop/mom & pop repair guy. We have a guy in Northeast Atlanta with a pretty nice store who services all the stuff for landlords, but he takes the scraps that are halfway decent and reconditions them and sells them for like $150. He also keeps good used parts. And I swear the old ones are more solid than the new ones, and they all wash the clothes just the same!I

My 2cents, Hope it helps

 

[wildbill23c]

A basic Speed Queen set will get you through many years, skip the newer push button electronic crap and the washers with no agitators. The old Maytag stuff from the early 2000's and older, Kenmore, Whirlpool stuff from the 80's through early 2000's all hold up great and completely rebuildable. We used to get old Whirlpool/Kenmore washers and dryers in and go through them and resell them for $500/set. Great machines, easy to work on, parts are cheap, and can be rebuilt over and over again. The Speed Queen stuff is pretty good too and seems to be pretty reliable, just skip all the fancy electronic control panels is a big thing on all brands. My next washer/dryer will be a Speed Queen. You pay more up front but you get a much better machine, and their basic washers don't have the stupid water saver crap where they won't fill all the way, these fill to the top when you have it on the highest setting. The Speed Queen dryers use a higher velocity blower which cuts your drying time down considerably as well. I'd settle for an older Whirlpool/Kenmore set though if you want to save a bit of money. No belts to replace in the washer, and no shift motors, etc. The dryers have a 2 or 4 roller drum with belt and idler, usually less than $25 for a service kit for a Kenmore/Whirlpool dryer. Washer uses a coupler that is easily replaceable and protects the motor if something jams it'll break the coupler and not burn up your motor, and the drain pump is drive off the same motor as the wash/spin motor and is very easily replaceable as well and usually $10 or less for a drain pump. Whirlpool used to build appliances for Sears/Kenmore for decades, then recently maybe about 7-10 years ago Sears broke away from that decades old handshake contract and went with LG and well you can see how that's gone, many issues with LG appliances sadly.

 

[wildbill23c]

I worked at the whirlpool dryer plant in marion. whirlpool, maytag, amana, roper, kenmore are all the same for the most part. I may have forgot a brand or two. Switches are made in china, the motor in mexico. alot of other foreign sourced parts. The “made in usa” sticker cracks me up. Its assembled in usa, but very little of it made here.

I think those brand names are still all the same if I recall.

GE makes Hotpoint, Frigidaire, Haier, Electrolux, and a couple others I cannot think of.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I've had best luck with Maytag and Whirlpool, Frigidaire is crap. Our current Maytag washer and drier have "made in USA" stickers on the front of them.

Our year old Maytags just say “America” with a flag graphic and “an American company for over 100 years”... in three languages.