Brake assembly
Ed & Peter -
Well, making a repair that doesn't involve lifting out the tub sounds appealing! My Maytag guy never looked at my washer, so he doesn't even know it's in a tight spot; he just thumbs-downed it, giving it his 'pandora's box' diagnosis based on its age. My kitchen is large and I can drag it out of the corner to work on it. I have to first move out a fully-loaded 4-drawer file and then my dryer to get to it, but I'll have plenty of room to work. I didn't want to do that until I was reasonably sure it doesn't have to keep on moving right out the door!
This leads me to what I'm sure everyone hopes is my last question -- do you think the noise that started a year ago was due to this spring breaking down OR the tub bearing (which was diagnosed by repairclinic.com when the noise was the only issue)? To recap, it started during the agitation (no noise on spinning), and would go away by the rinse cycle. It had just about disappeared completely during the past year, but recently it started up again, though not as bad as it had been initially. Then, the hang-up.
I guess since replacing the tub bearing would mean working on the other end of things, it wouldn't make any difference to replace the brake and then see if there still was noise, although moving it back in place and then out again will be a real bummer. The way you explained this helical thing, my money is on the brake/spring being the only problem - wishful thinking aside! If you guys concur, I might even be able to persuade a Maytag guy to do the job - wishful thinking NOT aside!
Ed, I look out my window at PA and the Delaware River. Any chance you're the Maytag guy in Wayne County?
Peter, I bought a different book (per the link) since it said 08's. But, I was thinking of buying the one you posted too so I could be twice as knowledgable!
PAT