The drum started hitting the tub and from the friction was burning the plastic. Lots of smoke! I went on "youtube" immediately guessing there would be something there about this situation. There is a great resource! I commenced by taking the washer apart far enough to see what needed to be replaced. I ordered the parts I observed as needed. They arrived as promised. The videos provided by APPros.com were a very helpful addition. The model we have contains many more hoses and other items than shown in AP's model.
I spent a considerable amount of time cleaning the drum and other parts due to debris from the spider arm and biofilm along with mold that built up. This stuff is not visible without total disassembly. It explains why the smell would never go away no matter what we tried. The oozing mass of metal powder, biofilm, mold on the backside of the drum under what was left of the spider arm was something to behold. This is due to a bad choice of metal alloy by the manufacturer. The new part appears to be quite different.