@tracehae, THANK YOU very much for your post, if you ever see this again. More than 4 yrs later, your fix still works!

I don't usually reply on forums, but this really worked to fix our Kenmore Elite HE, about 5yrs old. And it only cost us $8 (small wire brush, CLR cleaner and silicone lubricant) and several hours of gritty work. It's an amazing sense of accomplishment and satisfaction when that first load of laundry finishes.

I would only add a tip for #11, removing the tub - pull straight up on from both sides, with two people if you can. We were having a hard time getting the tub off of the gear shaft. One person had been tugging and pulling for quite a while. We let it soak in 6" of hot water and CLR. We tried to hold the gear shaft still with a wrench to wriggle the tub up little by little back and forth. Maybe all that loosened it, but in the end, we got two people grabbing the top of the tub and just yanked straight upward.

where did you get the information about the recall on the electronic control module? Do you have the recall number/info?
I have searched ********************, kenmore, and the US Gov recall site and find no recall on this module. Please provide me more info.

I've modified to help even more!!!

1. Unplug the power cord
2. Lift the top of the washer up, to do this there are 2 latches in the seams between the top and the bottom sections. These latches are about 6 1/2 inches from the right side and left side of the washer. You need to insert a small screwdriver (be careful not to scratch the paint) and push the latch while lifting the top section.
3. The top will actually fold back leaving the inner tube fully exposed. Support the glass lid so it doesn't get damaged because it is very heavy and will fall open when you flip the top back.
4. Remove the plastic top of the tub. There is one hose connected at the back and there are several snaps around the outter edge that hold it on. Remove the hose and unsnap the snaps and set it aside.
5. Remove the cap covering the very center of the agitator. It is just snapped in place and can be pryed off with a small screwdriver.
6. Remove the center screw under the cap.
7. Remove the agitator, this is easiest if you rotate it gently back and forth as you begin to pull up by the fins upper most edge. One loosened you can use a flat head screw driver to lift from the center shaft area. (use a tab hole)
8. Now you need to pull the basket up and off of the shaft. This is where you might have problems because the basket might be corroded to the shaft. If you got the basket off skip to step 9 NOW.
8a. So you can't get the basket off? If you want to try this it is more advanced however it will make tub removal MUCH easier. You must follow these next two steps PRIOR to doing the "agitator active removal" 8d step.
8a. Remove the 6 phillips screws in the middle holding the plastic top gear in place. Be very careful you don't drop one of the screws because it can fall through the slots in the basket and be lost below.
8b. Remove the plastic top gear.
8c. Pull the plastic lower gear off of the splined shaft. It should pull right off.
8d. You can plug the unit in, enter diags mode (spin button 3 secs, release, 3 secs, release, 3secs) and press START once you see "88" then 00 should appear briefly followed by 08. This is "manual agitator" mode. Pull on the basket as the agitator is moving back and forth and it will come right off.
12. Once the basket is off you will notice there is liquid inside of it. That is factory sealed in there so do not worry about that, it is normal.
13. With the basket off you will be able to see that the shaft is probably corroded and the inside bushing on the basket is corroded. If you have a dremel (rotor tool) I would recommend that with the wire brush head for the shaft and the sanding wheel for the basket. Clean these both off very good and check to see if the basket can easily go back on the shaft and slide up and down without getting stuck. I had to sand and file the shaft a little bit to get it totally cleaned up. The inner bushing of the basket is plastic so it is pretty easy to clean with light sanding.
14. Reassemble in the reverse order and your done. Check to make sure the basket can easily float now by pulling up on it from the top inside lips.

I took your post and also since I could NOT get the basket off, another post (this one http://appliancejunk.com.../index.php?topic=13828.0) User LOWSL2 posted the advice about agitator, although he didn't specify HOW to get that mode. I just figured it out luckily.

Hopefully this will help more people who may have been stuck on these instructions…

Responding to direction 8c.:
I can not get that plastic gear off of the steel spline!!!
Stuck.
trying lubricant now.....