Do-It-Yourself Story

To start my Maytag MAH8700AWW started making a thumping noise and was eating at the door boot seal. I started doing research and found some folks changed the shocks and springs but had no luck so I thought I would wait it out to see if it would get worse. Sure enough it started to get so loud I thought it was going through the wall. At this point I decided to tear into it. Come to find out the main shaft assembly had broken two out of the three arms that are the main supports for the inner drum. I believe the first thumping noise was when one broke. This was very hard to diagnose because their wasn't any noticeable play in the inner tub to determine if it was bearing related. It would just rotate a little unevenly when you would spin it. But when the second arm broke that's when it was evident that their was a major internal break. After purchasing parts which was the Shaft ($180.00) Door Boot ($109.00) Replaced outer drum seal as precaution ($30.00) and Six Flange Bolts that hold the shaft assembly to the tub ($50.00). Side note: After stripping the bolt heads after using a six point socket to try and get the bolts out I ended up having to cut the Shaft Assembly out with a angle grinder and a cutoff blade. You may be able to avoid this if you heat the bolts up to break the seal from the locktite that is used on them. Total cost of project was close to $400.00 with shipping. And not the easiest of jobs by yourself. I had to winch the tub up to get the springs off. This post is a little more in depth than anything I read going into my project so I hope this helps! GoodLuck!