PROBLEM:
Topload washer won't spin. Fills at various levels, agitates and drains great. Just won't spin. I can't differentiate between upper/lower bearing trouble or brake not releasing.

Looking from underneath washer, the tub pulley turns freely in CCW direction (CW if viewed from above washer). I can turn the tub pulley CW but it appears to wind up something within half turn and engages the tranny and tub and tries to spin the entire apparatus but then the whole apparatus gets too stiff to turn without hurting your fingers that are pressing against the pulley. It is very stuff and difficult to turn the transmission with both hands but it can be done but very stiff. Trying to turn the tub from above by grabbing its top is next to impossible but from below via direct grab of Thd transmission is stiff.

Again, the machine agitates fine and during agitation the tub does rotate about one degree CW (viewed from above) each back and forth cycle of the agitator which I've observed for 20+ years.

REPAIRs thus far this wek
Pump now spins free as I replaced the original one that worked but was not smooth. Motor is fine and turns in both directions. Belts have been replaced as they were 10yr old and the tub belt was worn bad due to stiff tub not want to freely turn. Lid "check" switch replaced too as it failed at same time 1A fuse blew when I manually pulled motor in nits track to force tighten the belt. Other lid switch continuity and operation ok. Timer working and checks ok too.

Replaced the brake package tonight which fixed the problem. My hypothesis is the brake package's slow failure mode transfered excessive vibration into the pump (which was stiff and not smooth but not locked) and upon final brake failure caused the belts to wear prematurely. The second of the two lid switches failed when I caused excessive motor current by manually moving the motor to tighten the belts in my original looking into the machine's problems.

So the tub bearing and tub seal (which were replaced 10yrs ago due to leaking) will I trust provide many more years of service and surely the new pump and brake package w/belts and check(lid) switch will do the same.

Thanks for the response.

PS -- to help differntiate between a bad brake or bad tub sleeve bearing, I noticed the stiffness in rotating the transmission in the spin direction was not in the same position. In other words, the 6 hours of stiffnes (relative to a clock) would sometimes start at the noon position and sometimes would start at other hour positions. Sometimes the super stiff range would be 8hrs or less than 6 hrs from a clock face's perspective. Those further tests led me away from the bearing and more towards the brake as the culprit.

I also noticed during the brake replacement that just taking the pulley off and back on reduced the range of stiffness somewhat. However, I was so far into the repair I was in no way going to NOT replace the brake at that point.