Whirlpool direct drive top loader runs and spins properly but has started to clunk (or bang) while agitating. Doesn’t always clunk in wash cycle but always does in rinse. I suspect it’s not going back and forth properly once the noise gets really bad. I’ve had the transmission out and completely apart. Nothing looked broken but everything is a bit worn. After reassembly nothing changed. Could it just be a worn clutch?
Thanks in advance
OK, so I’ve added some washers to increase the clutch preload and run a couple of loads without the sheetmetal installed. I see now that if the clutch was bad I wouldn’t get a full speed spin which I do have, so the clutch is fine. At this point I’m quite sure the problem is inside the gearbox. I’m still at a loss as to what would make the loud knock (and possible skip) at each direction change of the agitator. The neutral drain clutch has three dogs, and the plastic dog without a spring has a really worn pivot hole so it flops around on the pivot pin. Could this be it? Could the agitator engagement splines on the bottom of the main shaft be skipping? My wife loves this washer so we’re hoping to save it. We’re trying to decide now if we should take the plunge on a new gearbox.
Well call me stubborn, but I prefer persistent. I couldn’t let this washer get the best of me so I took the gear box out one more time (now less than a 10 minute job for me) and tore it down again. This time I disassembled the agitator engagement clutch at the base of the output shaft and discovered that the splines were quite worn. It was obvious the sector gear was hanging up in the steps that had developed in the shaft splines and this allowed it to jump out of engagement when the agitator was worked hard. Replacement parts aren’t too handy at 12:30AM so I ground the worn step off of each flute of the agitator shaft using a pneumatic cut-off wheel and blended the rework with a wire wheel. I couldn’t do much with the internal teeth of the sector gear other than knock down the tips of the wear with a hand file. I reassembled everything with an extra washer to add a bit of preload on the sector gear and it fixed the problem. So far so good. Total parts cost zero, although I may install a fresh agitator shaft in the future if it starts to act up again.