The pins are shipping pins and normally fall into little plastic cups when a strap is pulled to release them when the washer is first set up. You can toss them out. Make sure the washer is perfectly level. I would replace the upper pads. They may not appear to be worn but may be. Compare them to photo's of new one. Check for a worn drive block. Make sure the 3 suspension springs are in place as well as the counterbalance spring in the rear.

Eric

This is the other mating part on the stem at bottom. It is just a spring and pads around it. This plastic part in above post goes into this one and I evidently got it wrong as agitator will not spin.

I now have it hooked to one end of this spring that you see behind the rod. That plastic end that has the slit in it snaps into one end of the spring below, at least that is what I thought. I installed it that way and it is locked as I said. Maybe I put the plastic part on wrong or that metal oblong part under it on wrong, but I can check against the photos I took prior to taking it apart, but it looks right. Why won't the agitator move when I install it? Has to be put together wrong with these two parts. Please help here as I have no idea what I did wrong.

I have it reinstalled and when I put it back together, I reinstalled the agitator and when tightening it down, I noticed I didn't have to hold it to tighten it. maybe that is the way it is supposed to be, as you have to hold it to loosen it, but now I forget which way is which. In other words, I put it together, and tightened down the nut on agitator, and now it will not turn either way by hand. I have not started it yet, as I was sure I had those two parts mated wrong. If you turn the second photo, or bottom part that has motor attached, it will click into a cetain spot on the spring, due to that first photo's plastic slot in the pointed tip. Should I leave it at that stage of the cycle, or what? If I do , the agitator will not turn by hand, but maybe it doesn't make any difference, I don't know. That is the question. As for now, if I put the bottom section with the motor on with shaft going through that first part, it will either turn freely or engage in that slot. Should I just leave it at that and put it back together or will it break something? If you can see that little slot, that is what engages in the spring part below. I think it engages in one end of the spring end where the metal protrudes out. That is what is happening when I turn it. It engages and stays there.

fairbanks56

I originally had this terrible off balance shaking in spin cycle. I believe that now after I have torn this machine completely apart looking for worn out parts that may have show excessive wear, there was not any. I did clean up around the new bottom pads I put on around the bottom base skid area. The metal that this was riding against was not smooth, but soiled and sticky. Had I not torn it apart, I would not have caught this, and it may well have been the problem. Now I took photos before taking apart, but it was impossible to see how these mated together. If all I have to do is align the springs, I will do that tomorrow and see if it turns freely by hand. If it does, should it only turn one way? If it doesn't should I do it again until it turns freely or just go ahead and restart at this stuck mode? Or will this break the machine if I do this? I've torn this apart so many times I can do it pretty quickly. Only problem is each time it is wrong. I just had to see if this was the fix to this, as everywhere i read pointed to the bottom pads as the fix for this. Unless the top metal it rides against isnt' smooth, I doubt it would work, but I am pretty sure drive block is in good condition and this will fix it if I only get this together right, but I think I understand what you are saying about aligning springs and put together.

thanks for getting in on this as I was ready to give up as I had no idea how this worked at this stage and didn't see it anywhere. I haven't fixed it yet so please stick around. I am dead tired or would try again tonight, but have given it a day for now. I will start in morning and try it again and see what happens. If you can add anything else about this hand spinning when put together please do as I am still not clear on that.

I will give it a go tomorrow. I hope my original off balance problem was corrected by installing new pads and cleaning up area around them. Not sure, but if not corrected, I will post tomorrow and see if I should look elsewhere or just buy another. As I said, this has been off balance for some time, and I tried to fix it over the weekend by just looking it all over. I did not see any other areas that had shown any undo wear or friction that would have been suspected in such a long off balance spin that this machine has did. I hate to buy a new one, as this has been very dependable save the off balance spin problem. I will post by results when it is back together and running again tomorrow.

thanks again for helping out, as i do appreciate it.

greg