Feed Dogs on a Lady Kenmore 89

A few weeks ago, I found a Lady Kenmore 89 (516.891) at a thrift store. The machine was in a beautiful cabinet, came with the proper little hollow bench, and had the owner's manual and all the original attachments plus all the available (at the time the machine was made) optional attachments and the manual for those attachments. After making sure the machine itself was in decent shape, I decided to “think about it.” The minute I got home, I realized there was nothing to think about. It's a Lady Kenmore 89, for cryin' out loud! The next day, I was at the thrift store the minute it opened and bought the machine as soon as the cash register was up and running.

When I was cleaning the machine, I discovered the feed dogs wouldn't lower, which affected the machine's ability to make decorative stitches. There's a knob on the front of the machine which the owner's manual says is used to raise and lower the feed dogs. You push in the knob to lower the dogs and then you turn it to lock them in place. I could push and turn the knob, but the dogs didn't move. By peeking into the slot which contains the stitch length regulator, I could see the knob is connected to a small cable inside a housing. The cable runs from the knob, past the motor, and along the rear edge of the machine. The cable is connected to a bell crank which actuates a piston. The other end of the piston is connected to a cam follower which raises and lowers the feed dogs.

Once we saw where the cable ran, we could see what ought to be moving between the cable and the feed dogs. Even though I'd already oiled the machine, we oiled everything between the cable and the feed dogs again, making sure not to miss anything, and we let it sit for a day. No joy. We thought perhaps the cable was stuck inside the plastic housing, so we drizzled some oil on the top and bottom ends of the cable, pushed the knob in and out a few times, and let the machine sit for a couple of days, exercising the knob a few dozen times during those days. Still no joy. Nothing was moving.

We decided it was time to bring out the Kroil. If you haven't ever used Kroil, you might want to do a little internet research and see what you find. (We bought ours directly from Kano Labs because they were having a two for one deal online.) We put a few drops of Kroil on the top and the bottom ends of the cable and a drop of Kroil on the mechanical pieces between the cable and the feed dogs. The next day, the cable was moving inside the housing and the bell crank was moving, too. The piston, though, was still stuck.

E took a couple of wrenches and very slightly loosened the nuts on each end of the piston housing and the piston started to move, so he put a drop of Kroil on the piston either side of each nut, tightened the nuts again, and . . . . . Ta Da!!

The feed dogs now raise and lower with no problem. The machine sews beautifully – including all twenty decorative stitches.  Happy sewing, everyone!