Finally tracked down the spin cycle vibration on my Speed Queen

Ran into the exact same issue on my 2014 AWN432 a couple of years back. The worst part for me was just getting the old bell hub off—the galvanic reaction had practically welded the aluminum to the steel transmission shaft. I rounded the edges on a cheap spanner wrench before soaking the spline in PB Blaster overnight and applying some heat around the collar with a propane torch to break it loose. When I installed the replacement assembly, I brushed a very light coat of nickel anti-seize across the mating surfaces. Some old-school techs warn against putting anything on those splines, but three years later I had to pull the inner tub to retrieve a stray wire bra underwire, and the hub slipped off cleanly without any white powdery crust.

One thing I'd add is to be careful with the torque on those four hex bolts securing the stainless basket to the hub. I used a small torque wrench to get them evenly down to about 80 inch-pounds in a cross pattern. If one side pulls down tighter than the others, you can introduce a faint rhythmic thump on medium spin loads even with a fresh hub.

I was terrified to take a torch anywhere near mine beacuse of the upper transmission seal—those neoprene lip seals melt if you look at them wrong. When I did the hub on my 2011 AWN542, I rented an 8-inch three-jaw puller from AutoZone instead. Put a sacrificial nickel over the shaft dimple so the puller’s forcing screw wouldn’t mushroom the steel, cranked it down tight with a 1/2-inch ratchet, and gave the hub collar a single sharp smack with a brass punch. It popped free instantly with a loud crack without risking the rubber components below.

My bigger focus was making sure that galvanic rot never came back, expecially since we have hard well water that eats metal for breakfast. When I seated the new cast hub, I slathered the splines and the mating face where the stainless tub bolts down with marine Tef-Gel. alot of guys use standard silver anti-seize, but the aluminum-to-stainless junction realy needs a dedicated isolation barrier that hot water and detergent won't wash away after fifty cycles. Pulled the agitator two years later just to check, and the metal was still completley clean with zero white crust.

Seen this ever since Raytheon built 'em under the Amana name forty years ago. Everybody reaches for torches or big pullers nowadays, but our old shop trick was just a couple kettles of rolling boiling water poured slow over the hub collar. Aluminum expands at almost double the rate of steel, and 212 degrees won't cook your top seal like an open flame will. One thing to check while that basket is sitting on your shop floor: give the liquid balance ring on top a good shake. If you let a wallowed-out hub bang around for months, those plastic baffles inside the ring take a beating.