Whirlpool WP3949550 Agitator Bolt Washer OEM Part

I replaced the washer plate and new screw/washer part. Easy fix and back up and running in ubder 10 minutes.

Replaced agitator and washplate bolt and washer. Normally this would have been a 5 min job, however the bolt wouldn't come loose. The teeth on the agitator were worn down and the shaft the bolt screws into would turn with the bolt when trying to loosen it. I had to cut out the agitator using a dremel and hold the shaft in place with a vise grip in order to unscrew the bolt. Once the bolt was out I used WD-40 to help get the agitator off the gears. Job took much longer than normal, but I was still able to save money doing it myself. I didn't end up needing the drive block or tub wrench

The plastic ridges on the inside of the washplate were stripped. New washplate solved the problem. This washer is barely 3 years old, so I guess I can expect to be doing this again, but better than buying a new washer.

I started by removing the old agitator, which was more difficult than it should have been because the head of the bolt had rusted badly. A 7/16" socket would not grab the bolt, so I had to use the next smaller metric size to remove it. Taking the agitator apart revealed several suspicious parts so I decided to just order a complete replacement. It only took a few minutes to replace the agitator, now that I knew how to remove the old one. I have one suggestion for AppliancePartsPros to consider. All of the parts arrived in a box but the replacement agitator has a few parts at the top that fell out of the top and were loose in the box. Fortunately, nothing was lost, but something bad could have easily happened. I suggest putting a wad of paper in the top of the agitator in the future. This should keep the loose parts from falling out. One thing that was not a pleasant surprise for me was how expensive the agitator grease is. A small container is almost $27. It seems to me that this ought to be $5 or less, but perhaps this is an area where the manufacturer makes some big bucks. Anyway, dealing with AppliancePartsPros was easy (I have done it before) and I would recommend them to everyone!

Removing the agitator bolt can be difficult, if the agitator is loose and spinning freely on the shaft, as there will be nothing to hold to, to keep the shaft from spinning, to loosen the old bolt. If you have access to a small battery operated impact driver, this can usually be done simply. If you do not have access to a small impact, it may be necessary to use a Dremel, and cut the old agitator, to gain access to the agitator shaft. The replacement of the new agitator is very straight forward, install the new one onto the splined shaft and secure with a new bolt, and accompanying rubber washer.