Do-It-Yourself Story

The agitator stopped functioning and there was a squeaking sound occurring in agitation mode. I found that if I cranked down on the agitator cap, screwing in as hard as I could, the agitator would work briefly, then the cap would loosen and agitator stop moving. I removed the agitator cap, along with which came the agitator stud cap and a rubber washer/seal which was jammed up into the underside of the cap. I lifted out the agitator from the drum and inspected it and the hub best I could. Everything looked okay. I looked up the parts involved on AppliancePartsPro and concluded I would replace the cap, stud, hub and the washer/seal (the last of which APP didn't have so I sourced from another parts supplier). The parts were shipped to me quickly. Using a stout screwdriver and hammer I tapped the old hub out from the agitator. It came out fairly easily and fell out in several pieces. Apparently it had cracked long ago and was just held in the agitator as one piece from friction. The transmission drive spindle that fits inside the hub has a beveled edge on two sides. The beveled edges are designed to lock into corresponding bevels inside the hub. The old hub bevels were completely worn away, thus allowing the spindle to spin inside the hub, and squeak, but not engage. With the agitator out I took the opportunity to remove lint from the screening at the bottom of the tub around the transmission housing and I cleaned up some corrosion around the top of the spindle drive shaft. I placed the hub onto the top of the drive shaft aligning the beveled edges, slid the agitator back on being sure to properly align the fluted ridges in the agitator to align with the flutes in the hub. The hub package came with a flat washer, which wasn't part of what I removed or in the APP diagrams. I placed this washer in the top hole of the agitator, into which it fit nicely, which then rests on the top of the hub. Inserted the cap stud long side screwing down into the spindle top and tightened just snug with a wrench. Placed the rubber washer/seal over the top of the stud to rest on the top of the agitator with the flat sdie down and rounded side up. Screwed on the new cap and I was done. This resolved the problem and the washer is now operational again. All told this was about a $100 fix on a 7 year old stack-able washer/dryer which may well run another 7 years.