Thread Number: 13488
Kenmore Progressive direct drive pedal repair 		[Down to Last]

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Post# 143311   7/15/2011 at 03:44 (4,661 days old) by gmerkt (Edmonds WA)        

On another thread (#13284, below) we were discussing the broken handle release pedal. This plastic part has a built-in spring to maintain tension. When this tab-like spring breaks off, the nozzle will just flop around on the handle and won't lock in when you want it to.

When you were a kid and wanted to cut off a length of wire and didn't have any wire cutters, what did you do? Please don't say, "I went and got my mom's favorite Wiss sewing shears and cut it." Some of us might've done that and gotten a good paddling as a result. The correct answer is, we bent the wire back and forth enough times to wear it in two. Well, that's what happens to the so-called spring on this pedal. It's only a thin but springy extension on the molded plastic pedal and eventually it has just reached the end of its wiggle time and breaks off.

One of the Kenmore (Panasonic-made) Progressive direct drive/beltless uprights that I've gotten recently had the broken handle release pedal. I looked it up online at the Kenmore repair parts site and the part was $9.-something, might as well say $10. Plus shipping of course, which just for this single part was around $8.00.

It's a funny thing, but if you order a half dozen parts from Kenmore at the same time, the shipping isn't much more than for one single part and they seem to mail each item separately. I've wondered if they might be taking it in the shorts doing that, but maybe they get huge shipper discounts that I can't get.

Anyway, I'm a tinkerer by nature and have a reputation for pretty good Rube Goldberg solutions. I decided that rather than send Sears $18 for the plastic pedal, I would think about a repair solution for the broken part.

Plastic isn't quite as non-repairable as you might think. More often than I'd like, I find myself repairing plastic stuff. I use screws, pins, epoxy liquid, epoxy putty, and anything else that I think might work. In the case of this pedal, I came up with a solution that involved a short length of clock spring, two each screws, nuts and lock washers, and some epoxy putty.

Some of our younger readers might say, "What is clock spring?" Well, my dears, a few decades ago if you had a clock, it might commonly be a wind-up Westclox or similar, that was powered by a spiral spring made out of flexible, flat, thin but rather brittle steel.

The pictures below tell the story. The first picture is of an unbroken, intact handle release pedal as viewed from below. The spring tab is on the left, rubbing against a flat on the nozzle. Tension on the spring tab holds the pedal up and locks the handle in place.

Post# 143312 , Reply# 1   7/15/2011 at 03:45 (4,661 days old) by gmerkt (Edmonds WA)        

This picture shows the broken pedal. You can see the wear marks on the flat on the nozzle to the left where the spring has rubbed.

Post# 143313 , Reply# 2   7/15/2011 at 03:54 (4,661 days old) by gmerkt (Edmonds WA)        

Now this picture shows the repaired pedal. Note the length of clock spring held in place by screws and nuts. The voids in the bottom of the pedal where the screws pass through I've filled with epoxy putty for stability. Fortunately, this pedal is very easy to remove and replace. The bit of spring overhanging the access hole for the hood screw isn't a problem because the pedal comes off so easily.

You cannot drill holes through clock spring with ordinary carbon steel bits, nor even the bogus "titanium coated" ones. The metal is too hard. You make the holes with a Dremel tool and diamond cutter bits. You just kinda burn a little hole through with the cutter.

If you like to tinker and don't already have a Dremel tool, you might look into getting one.

I've got a life-time collection of what is called bench stock. That is, nuts, bolts, washers, screws, cotter keys, roll pins and what have you. I have a box full of various springs of all types. Compression, pull, torsion, and yes, clock. I never throw stuff like this away and once in a while I even use a piece of it here and there.

Anyway, here's the repaired pedal:



Post# 143338 , Reply# 3   7/15/2011 at 10:58 (4,661 days old) by whirlsonicmore (South US)        

That'll do it. Nice fix.

When I worked at a Sears service center, we saw alot of Kenmore uprights with worn pedal catches on the main body. Common problem especially with the Progressive uprights. There was a fix we made for them using the thin sheet metal from the fans of bad motors.

And then one day, surprise surprise. The main bodies started coming in with a metal covering on the catch, much like what we were doing.

Post# 143374 , Reply# 4   7/15/2011 at 20:34 (4,660 days old) by gmerkt (Edmonds WA)        

Yes, I've noticed that the pedal catch starts to kind of, well, erode after while. I haven't yet gotten one that wouldn't catch but the time is probably coming. Can you describe your fix in a bit more detail? Thanks.

Post# 143462 , Reply# 5   7/16/2011 at 11:48 (4,660 days old) by whirlsonicmore (South US)        

Here's sort of a 3D view representation of what I'm talking about. Note that some of the main bodies won't have the small hole for the screw. You have to carefully pre-drill and countersink for this.

Post# 143574 , Reply# 6   7/17/2011 at 01:43 (4,659 days old) by gmerkt (Edmonds WA)        

Many thanks. I'll file that one away for future reference. I know I'll use it eventually, as I've seen some quite worn.


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