Originally Posted by
great white
Just so we’re all on the same page, “Kenmore” never actually made sewing machines. Kenmore is just the Sears house brand name. They purchased their machines from other manufacturers and relabelled them.
But, the 158.xxxx machines (being sourced from Japan, when they were trying to upscale the “made in japan” label, think: Honda) are widely regarded as high quality units. They’re all a fine purchase and well worth more than 100 bucks used. The market just hasn’t caught on so they can usually be had for very little money, or in some cases, free.
I have several Kenmore’s in my fleet and a later model “ultra stitch 12” is my daily driver… even with several higher quality Singer domestics and commercial models to choose from.
I agree with the one caveat is that there are a few 158.XXXX models that used at least one plastic gear. The 158.16900 is one of those. I don't know whether a replacement gear is available but one way or another, there are so many all metal Kenmores, that I would just stay away from any with plastic in them.
One day the market will wake up to the fact that the Kenmore machines of the 158 series were the machines that Singer wished it could make but couldn't. IMO, there's nothing wrong with the 148 series either. Kenmores of that vintage were brilliant.