evaluating washing machine transmission

[Raymond Cruz]

I have about a 5 year old KitchenAid (Whirlpool) top loading, direct drive (no belt), washing machine that rapidly progressed from vibrating on all cycles to no tub or agitator motion at all. I got a book from the library titled "Washing Machine Repair Under $40" which is quite good -- I had used this series of books before for dryer belt replacement. I've found that the motor is fine but the three plastic teeth of the coupling between the motor and transmission are sheared off. The book says this would typically be caused by transmission lockup but the transmission turns freely in both directions by hand which the book suggests is indicative of the transmission being OK. So there's a gap in the guidance given by the book. Is there a way for me to evaluate transmission function? Would an appliance repair shop do this for me? Is it possible that I need do nothing more than replace the coupling because shear force from repeated stops and starts simply caused it to break?

Roger

[Dan O.]

The motor couplers on Whirlpool direct drive washers can break for all sorts of reasons, not necessarily due to a transmission problem.

Replace the $10 coupling and see if it happens again.

Whirlpool 'direct dive' washer drive coupler:

Not likely... especially if you planned on removing the transmission from the washer and only taking it to them. If they performed the service on the washer in your home, they probably do the same thing as i suggested. The once it was running again, look for possible causes.

I would say that's the most likely cause (if not overloading, basement too cold, excessive vibration, among other possibilities) although if you find that it's "vibrating on all cycles" again, you should have that looked into *before* it causes more damage this time. Although the couple could have been the cause of that.

JMO

Dan O.

- Appliance411.com

=Ð~~~~~~

[jeff]

Hi,

= new motor coupler time.

drive coupler.

Broken coupler is normally NOT a locked up tranny/gearbox. Soem wear and break on there own, some break from overloading the washer, some break from hard stops and starts of the spin basket.

Just turn the tranny post manually in each direction....one way is agitation, the other way/direction is spin...if this occurs the tranny should be ok.

If you brought them the tranny/gearbox, probably yes.

Yes :)

Happens all the time.

jeff. Appliance Repair Aid

[Raymond Cruz]

I bought a new coupler but before installing it I followed the advice of manually turning the transmission post in both directions. In the counter clockwise direction there is agitation but in the clockwise direction the post locks after about 10 turns. Could this be because the brake is preventing the tub from spinning or is it more likely a transmission problem? BTW, the parts store suggested that these transmissions have a 5 year warranty and I think mine is just under 5 years old but I need to search for my sales receipt.

Thanks, R.C.

[jeff]

Hi,

Comes to a stop?...or just gets stiff?...can you turn it any further?

Please see above.

That is true, should have a min of 5 year parts only warranty on the tranny/gearbox :)

jeff. Appliance Repair Aid

[Raymond Cruz]

OK -- you encouraged me to try harder. Now I see that with much, much more force than was needed counter clockwise to agitate, the tub spins with clockwise rotation of the shaft. I guess this means I should go ahead and reassemble with the new coupler.

RHL

[jeff]

Hi,

I would.

The agitation direction is fairly easy to turn and the spin direction starts to get stiff when pushing against the brake and the clutch is loading up to start the basket to spin.

jeff. Appliance Repair Aid