clothes washer shredding clothes

 i've recently had my washer (top-loading Sears
Kenmore/Whirpool, i think ~1999) suddenly
start ripping clothes up, i mean literally shredding them.
It's happened so far
to two thick towels & a pair of pajama bottoms... they
look like you put them
thru a strip-cut shredder & you see some holes in them,
like they got caught on
something & then yanked.

i got something flat & stuck in underneath the agitator to
see if it would catch on
anything, but no luck... so how do i remove the agitator
to see what the problem
is?  i can't seem to pull it out.  Or should i just call
Sears tomorrow?  This has been
a reliable washer up to now, never a problem.

  I wouldn't call Sears for anything, they're as big a ripoff as
Firestone.

Friends of mine called Sears out to see about having their cabinets
refaced; the cost to reface (just change the fronts) on 10' of cabinets
(base and above-counter) was $8,000.  For that they could have replaced
the complete cabinets 3 times.

 If you have one at hand you could use a nylon stocking to wipe the
whole drum and see if there is something sharp in the drum. If not
there might be some other possibilities like pants with a zipper that
you didn't close, a new piece of clothing with something sharp. Another
possibility is that you have changed something in the wash process,
like doing bigger loads or using a different detergent. And last but
not least it's also possible that you only notice now what has been
going on for a longer while. Kenmore toploaders are well known for
their harsh agitation, they are also known as Ripmore.

Just my $0.02

Louis

 i actually did look for something sharp, cannot find
anything...
i want to remove the agitator & check underneath, but i'm
not sure how
to get it out.

i know it's not a zipper or anything, as the first
indication something
was wrong was two very thick shredded towels in a load of
nothing
but towels.  Detergent & load size haven't changed...

i think things are sliding under the agitator & getting
caught on something.
I had a pair of pajama bottoms be the latest casualty, &
there were places
in them with holes, like it caught on something & then
yanked it repeatedly.
It ended up looking like it had been run thru a strip-cut
shredder.

this is very new, never had anything like this happen
before, but it's happened
twice now in the last half-dozen or so loads.

 

I'd start by looking online at the appliance repair sites.  If nothing
there helps, might as wel get a new washer.  New ones will be more
efficient anyway.  Check out www.greenerchoices.org for options.