Off balance type of problem in spin cycle only. Extreme off balance. Where do I look for problem? I have it torn apart and any photo you would like to see I can insert it here. I have tub with liquid in it, not ring. Also saw 3 nail like parts around 2" long and have a hole in it. Should these be connected to skid plate as they do line up exactly. this is not a tight fit, only keeps skid plate oriented in right direction. I have not seen one diagram with these parts in it. I do not see any leaks, any shavings, any worn spots anywhere and I have it completely taken apart. Where should I look as this is so extreme off balance that it moves across the floor and when I put pins in, it was even worse. Cannot be used. Any suggestions? Any photos you would like to see?
I did replace bottom pads, upper pads look good.
The pins are shipping pins and normally fall into little plastic cups when a strap is pulled to release them when the washer is first set up. You can toss them out. Make sure the washer is perfectly level. I would replace the upper pads. They may not appear to be worn but may be. Compare them to photo’s of new one. Check for a worn drive block. Make sure the 3 suspension springs are in place as well as the counterbalance spring in the rear.
By the way, I put machine back together, and for some reason, when putting in the long stem that is attached to what looks like a clutch of some type, as it has a spring in it and some pads, I am not sure how that plastic attachment goes back together. The plastic part is the part that is on the bottom of machine. If you take out the long stem, it comes out with another section that has another pad lining in it, and this plastic part has to go into that pad. How does this go back together? I will edit this and try to find the part I am referring to.
yes, all springs have been checked, and I did clean off alot of grime off mating surfaces of bottom pads. Looked like dried black dirt or grease, but not oily. this may have contributed to problem but now when I put the machine back together the agitator won’t turn either way, so I evidently have put in this shaft and mating plastic part in wrong.
This is the other mating part on the stem at bottom. It is just a spring and pads around it. This plastic part in above post goes into this one and I evidently got it wrong as agitator will not spin.
I now have it hooked to one end of this spring that you see behind the rod. That plastic end that has the slit in it snaps into one end of the spring below, at least that is what I thought. I installed it that way and it is locked as I said. Maybe I put the plastic part on wrong or that metal oblong part under it on wrong, but I can check against the photos I took prior to taking it apart, but it looks right. Why won’t the agitator move when I install it? Has to be put together wrong with these two parts. Please help here as I have no idea what I did wrong.
The plastic piece in the first photo is the brake cam driver. Grab that, rotate it CCW to release the brakes and rotate the basket. Push while doing this to make sure the basket drive is all the way up. The other part is the gearcase with the clutch on top of it. When reinstalling it, line up the spring on the clutch with the spring on the brake. Don’t worry about any alignment with the brake cam driver and clutch band. When the washer goes into spin, the clutch will come around and engage the tab on the brake cam driver properly. You say the agitator won’t turn either way. Is that by hand or with motor running? If by hand, that is normal if the gearcase is in agitate mode.
The drive block is what holds the basket to the basket drive. With agitator off, you can inspect the top of the drive block. Make sure the slots in the block are intact as well as the tabs on the spin tube and that they are fully engaged and locked. See photo.
I have it reinstalled and when I put it back together, I reinstalled the agitator and when tightening it down, I noticed I didn’t have to hold it to tighten it. maybe that is the way it is supposed to be, as you have to hold it to loosen it, but now I forget which way is which. In other words, I put it together, and tightened down the nut on agitator, and now it will not turn either way by hand. I have not started it yet, as I was sure I had those two parts mated wrong. If you turn the second photo, or bottom part that has motor attached, it will click into a cetain spot on the spring, due to that first photo’s plastic slot in the pointed tip. Should I leave it at that stage of the cycle, or what? If I do , the agitator will not turn by hand, but maybe it doesn’t make any difference, I don’t know. That is the question. As for now, if I put the bottom section with the motor on with shaft going through that first part, it will either turn freely or engage in that slot. Should I just leave it at that and put it back together or will it break something? If you can see that little slot, that is what engages in the spring part below. I think it engages in one end of the spring end where the metal protrudes out. That is what is happening when I turn it. It engages and stays there.
yes, my top part of agitator rod looks just like that. I have not messed with that other than taking off spanner nut. It is that bottom section that has me puzzled. So you are saying just line up the two springs when putting back together, press in and tighten the bolts down. Put all back together and retighten spanner nut and put back on agitator. Should I hold agitator from turning when tightening so it does not move? will it engage in this slot again if I turn it, (the agitator)?
I originally had this terrible off balance shaking in spin cycle. I believe that now after I have torn this machine completely apart looking for worn out parts that may have show excessive wear, there was not any. I did clean up around the new bottom pads I put on around the bottom base skid area. The metal that this was riding against was not smooth, but soiled and sticky. Had I not torn it apart, I would not have caught this, and it may well have been the problem. Now I took photos before taking apart, but it was impossible to see how these mated together. If all I have to do is align the springs, I will do that tomorrow and see if it turns freely by hand. If it does, should it only turn one way? If it doesn’t should I do it again until it turns freely or just go ahead and restart at this stuck mode? Or will this break the machine if I do this? I’ve torn this apart so many times I can do it pretty quickly. Only problem is each time it is wrong. I just had to see if this was the fix to this, as everywhere i read pointed to the bottom pads as the fix for this. Unless the top metal it rides against isnt’ smooth, I doubt it would work, but I am pretty sure drive block is in good condition and this will fix it if I only get this together right, but I think I understand what you are saying about aligning springs and put together.
thanks for getting in on this as I was ready to give up as I had no idea how this worked at this stage and didn’t see it anywhere. I haven’t fixed it yet so please stick around. I am dead tired or would try again tonight, but have given it a day for now. I will start in morning and try it again and see what happens. If you can add anything else about this hand spinning when put together please do as I am still not clear on that.
Yes, just line up the two springs. There was no need to remove the spanner nut to remove the gearcase. The clutch and brake cam driver have no function during agitation. They are only used during spin. In agitation, the agitator shaft is driven directly by the internal gearing in the gearcase. If the washer is stopped during agitation, you cannot move the lower agitator by hand. If it is stopped during spin, you can as the agitator shaft is free to rotate while in spin mode.
The main thing when reinstalling the gearcase is to ensure that the spring in the clutch housing does not go up against the tab on the brake cam driver. By lining up the springs, you are assured that the tab on the brake cam driver is in the clear. When the washer goes into spin again, the clutch housing will rotate and the tab on the clutch band will come around and engage the tab on the brake cam driver properly.
I will give it a go tomorrow. I hope my original off balance problem was corrected by installing new pads and cleaning up area around them. Not sure, but if not corrected, I will post tomorrow and see if I should look elsewhere or just buy another. As I said, this has been off balance for some time, and I tried to fix it over the weekend by just looking it all over. I did not see any other areas that had shown any undo wear or friction that would have been suspected in such a long off balance spin that this machine has did. I hate to buy a new one, as this has been very dependable save the off balance spin problem. I will post by results when it is back together and running again tomorrow.
thanks again for helping out, as i do appreciate it.
I can’t seem to get the brake to stay released. I see where turning it CCW releases the pads against the lining, but it keeps going back to tight. I tried taking out the gearcase and turning the brake loose but it doesn’t stay unlocked. It goes right back tight. Do I have to keep it loose by means of the agitator or put the gearcase back close while turning the plastic piece CCW?
The brakes only stay released while your rotating the brake cam driver. During normal operation in spin mode, the clutch hub is spinning continuously which means the clutch band is also spinning continuously which drives the brake cam driver and clothes basket. The agitator shaft has no function with regard to brake release or driving the spin tube.
Yes, just be sure (as I said before) to rotate the basket drive CCW by hand and push at the same time to make sure it’s all the way in, otherwise the gearcase won’t go up against the gearcase mounting studs.
what is basket drive? Is that the long stem that agitator screws done on? I broke that tiny piece of that plastic piece in photo 1. Do you think this will hold if I glue and epoxy it back on? Not sure how much pressure is on it, as it is very thin piece to begin with.
I would advise that you replace that broken brake cam driver. It only comes with the clutch or clutch band kit unless you try to find it elsewhere. Part number is 64194.
The basket drive is the brake and drive tube assembly. It drives the inner tub (basket). The brakes, brake cam and brake cam driver (your broken plastic piece) are part of this assembly.
Well I ordered the parts for this. It was a stupid thing I did that broke that ear off, my fault, which had nothing to do with original problem I was having. Live and learn I guess.
I hope I corrected this off balance vibration situation but won’t know until I put in new parts.
Can you think of any other areas I might want to check while I have it apart that would cause excessive off balance type vibration and walking all over during spin cycle? I do not see any bad parts that are obvious and head area by spanner nut all looks fine that you showed in your photo. I saw no areas of wear anywhere. I replaced pads under skid plate and didn’t get a chance to try it again. Just wondering, but for now, I will have to wait until these parts arrive and I will post here the results. Tnanks for your help and will get back and let you know what happens.
The only other thing would be loss of fluid in the balance ring. This is the top part of the inner tub which has chambers filled with fluid. You should be able to hear it sloshing around when moving the tub around. Only way to check would be to remove the tub and inspect for holes or cracks in this area. Still hard to diagnose and only repair option is to replace the tub.
I can hear the fluid swishing around in the tub. I have to assume it has no holes or leaks in it, as I have had it upside down and nothing has come out. Can a black smudgy, area that contacts the pads that I replaced have caused this? I noticed when I tore the skid plate off, that on each area where these pads rub or skid, the plate was smudged very badly. When I cleaned this off, it was hard to come off, but I finally got it off. What I noticed that this area was sticky and could have caused the tub from balancing if it was sticking on this area, or more clearly, not skidding easily across it. It is not very clean and slippery. That was my thought that it could be the reason for this very bad unbalance. I did look at upper pads and they were like new, no wear, no smudging, very slick. I left them alone but cleaned them off. After looking at how this operates and realizing that everything relies on this skid plate, I can now see why this is so important in off balance situations and those pads have to be slick and clean. What is your thinking on this? I rubbed my fingers on these smudgy spots and it was only where the pads were rubbing, and they were definitely sticky, and not slick. We will see shortly if this fixes that off balance situation and interesting to see if ever so slightly an imperfection in this area can cause this. Again, I will let you know and others who are following this thread for older style washing machines.
Just wanted to let you know I have it all back together, got the new part I broke in one day, put it on, and it no longer shakes or moves as if off balance. It is running as smooth as can be. As I have said in previous posts and also to alert others having this same extreme off balance spin issue, I did replace the bottom pads and put back together and it still shook badly. I then tore it apart looking for excessive wear parts, and with Eric’s help, got it back together. In the process I broke a plastic piece that had nothing to do with this off balance. What I found was that when I did tear it apart, that the upper metal skid plate that bears against these pads was very marked up, and black, where it was constantly riding on these pads. I did not notice how smudgy they were when I replaced pads originally, and that is why it was still off balance and shaking. I cleaned these areas off. Got the surface really smooth and clean, also cleaned top pads off. Now it is spinning very smoothly. My only thought on this is that it is hard to believe that just the tiniest speck on these pads, or opposing surfaces, can cause so much off balance spinning. Although mine was all smudgy, it was that, and had I not torn it apart I would have never seen this. thanks to Eric for all his help and Appliance parts for very fast shipping. I was actually ready to get a new washer, as I figured it was shaking so bad it literally was walking across the floor and totally not repairable. Go figure.
