Do-It-Yourself Story

We initially thought the issue was the gasket at the base of the tub, but that ended up being okay. We replaced it just in case. In order to even get the agitator off, we had to drill through the agitator bolt. The thing had completely rusted through. inside that basket drive rod we could see that the seals were in poor shape, and the liquid sprayed at the top of the shaft was getting through. We assume this was how the water was getting dirty. We replaced both shaft seals (which meant also replacing the oil in the transmission), the upper transmission shaft seal, the tub gasket (just in case), and the agitator bolt we had to drill through. I recommend buying several of the shaft seals and upper transmission shaft seals- the fit is tight and they're very easy to damage. Double-check the shaft before you try to put them in too- our shaft had some damage and the gouges inside the shaft were keeping the seals from seating properly. We were able to use a razor blade to scrap it clean enough to go in.