[Nolken]

Okay so i've been fighting this washer for a year now and it's been fighting me back. It runs great, very solid, but the agitator is killing me. It keeps slipping. I get a new one and within the next month it starts slipping again. There are no dogs, just 3 cylinders that work like dogs provide friction against the sides in one direction (see pictures). I've thought about just going and getting a brand new front loading washer and dryer, but i don't really have $1500 right now to spend on that. Every time it clicks it bugs the heck out of me. Is there something else wrong or as there a way to fix this without buying a new $50 dollar agitator every couple months? I've even considered buying an agitator dog set with the housing and finding a way to put it in the top piece. Any help VERY much appreciated. Click of photos for full size image.

[sidfink43]

Boy it is almost impossible for us to tell what the problem is. Here is a link to a service manual

http://www.emaservicetips.com/pdfs/488_3.pdf

but I don't think it will do you much good. I can only speculate that something is wrong with the agitator shaft.

[Nolken]

Thank you for your reply. My thought is that maybe it is a bad design? the agitator shaft seems perfectly fine and solid. The shaft rotates fine, as does the base of the agitator itself. just the top, the part that is supposed to agitate, will just click and not move after it has worn out.

I took apart an old one that I have to give a better idea of what is on the inside.

Any experience with this type of agitator assembly?

[sidfink43]

I don't know (an honest but rather unhelpful answer). I have not seen this problem before and I can only speculate that something has happened to the shaft.

[phuphan]

I have the same problem with the same part. On my 3rd. Took the second one out and set it aside planning to take it apart at some point and see what was inside. The 3rd one started "clicking and slipping after only two washes, went out to garage and picked up the 2nd one that had failed previously and, in my hands, it worked fine!!!

Reinstalled it and it worked fine for two loads of laundry and then started to slip again!

So what can fail, and then when set aside for a few weeks, repair itself?

And then work for a period and fail again?

A thought!!!! There is a soap dispenser above the "dogs". They are protected by a cap with a rubber seal around it between them and the dispenser. Could it be that the dogs are slipping because they are getting wet and slippery because the seal is old? Then, when put in the garage, they dry out and work until they get wet again in the washer. I know its crazy, but I plan to buy a seal and see if it changes things.

[phuphan]

To close the loop on my reply - dried out the dogs with a heat gun and reinstalled the agitator I had previously junked because it was slipping. Then I FIRMLY (with hammer and block of wood) reset the protective cap above the nut that releases the agitator.

Been ten wash loads now and no slippage at all!!!!!

So, my idea remains that failure to FIRMLY seat the protective cap back in place allows slippery soapy water to contact the rollers (dogs) and allows the agitator to slip under load.

My washer only developed the problem after I had to open the cap to remove the agitator to replace the transmission. Since then I have been through 3 agitators, but never got out a hammer and block of wood to FIRMLY reseat the cap - should the problem develop again I will post.