My 8-year-old GE front-loader (6800) has started making the loud regular-spaced banging sounds that usually seem to be associated with a cracked spider, or possibly a bad rear bearing.

However, when I check for play or movement between the inner tub/basket and the outer tub, there is none. I've checked this at all positions/rotations of the tub, and it seems rock solid. And there are no unusual noises when rotating the tub by hand.

The four shocks all seem to be moving equally, and the one I disconnected seems fine.

I have heard that it is possible for either the upper or lower weight on the outer tub to come slightly loose, and maybe this could cause knocking/banging. I haven't checked that yet. But are there other things I should be checking or looking for?

Could the spider be cracked, and yet still seem quite solid? In most of the videos I've seen, a cracked spider seems to show obvious signs when you try to move the inner tub, at least in one direction/orientation, so I am puzzled....

Later add: It also seems that another possibility might be that the drive pulley is loose. Would this cause a reglarly-spaced loud banging during the fast spin, but be totally quiet at other times? I haven't had the belt come off, and would have thought that a loose pulley would throw the belt.

Later, later add: I now think it is indeed a cracked/failed spider. Even though things are still pretty rigid, there is a bit more play/flexing in one direction, and also there is a rattle sound when I bang on the edge of the inner tub/basket with my fist, that varies with the location around the rim that I hit. So I think one of the three arms is cracked/broken. (Also, the pulley is solid.)

That's the question all techs would like to know. The answer probably lies in planned obsolescence and the engineers that designed most front loaders.
Cast aluminum and stainless steel equals electrolysis!
Aluminum is decomposed when in extended contact with stainless steel just as zink on the hull of a ship.
Therefore we have to replace spiders or our customers buy new machines.
Simple commerce 101.