mvjess

Hi. I have a Kenmore 158.18033. I just brought home from a consignment shop. It was a bit dirty, but cleaned up nice and had all the bells and whistles for attachments, cams, monograms, button holers, etc. I was hoping to use it as my permanent button-holer machine. (and the attachments on my other 158 models.) Here is the issue: The power to the machine works. I can see things moving under the carriage but the needle doesn't raise and lower unless the hand wheel is turned by hand. I removed the hand wheel and side panel to see what was going on as I thought there was a belt broken, perhaps. THe 2verticle tractor-like treaded belts are intact. The lower one moves readily but the upper one is less reliable when pressing on the foot pedal.
Even when it does get cranking around it does not turn the horizontal bar that goes to the needle bar, to raise and lower the needle. Anyone have an idea as to what may be the fix for this dilemma? Is the changing of the upper belt something I should be able to handle myself, if that is the fix? Thanks for your input! Cheers, Cathy vJ in MA