I have had this softener in my home for around 5 years. Last week our water pressure dropped significantly. At first I thought that it was a neighborhood thing but when I bypassed the softener the pressure went back to normal. Btw, I removed the little gear thingy from the exhaust port, thinking it may have seized, but no change.

Has the tank gone belly up? What am I to think?

 

Sounds like your resin is fouled and cutting down on the flow through the brine tank. You could have a problem in the bypass or the lines going to and from the softener.

How hard is your water? Any iron or manganese in the water?
Has anyone been doing routine maintenance on the softener?
How long has that softener been in service?

You may find some help here... follow the menus to "troubleshooting"
http://www.systemsaver.com/morton-website/instructions/index.html
or...
http://www.kenmorewater.com/website/animations/product-animation/index.html

You have to "copy & paste" as HTML is turned off on this forum.

Without knowing more about your water condiiton and the service history of the softener it's hard to help, but 5 years is about the service life of a pre-built box store water softener. The cost to repair it might be close to the cost of a new industry standard (and more reliable and longer lived) water softener.