Maytag Atlantis Out of Balance Spin

[kenmore_elite]

I picked up a free Maytag Atlantis, MAV6200AWW, sitting half full of rain water beside a hardware store that I go to frequently. I cleaned it up, pumped the water out, replaced the lid hinge bushings and the lid switch. I moved it inside my house and ran two cycles through with no clothes in it. I noticed with no clothes, as the spin cycle wound down, it would vibrate like it was out of balance somewhat, but not terribly. Then I tried a medium load of clothes--mostly T shirts and sox and one pair of jeans. The washer really vibrated on spin, especially as most of the water was pumped out. I tried lifting the lid and repositioning the clothes--that helped a little. But it still vibrated. I removed the single pair of jeans, and that also helped. What else can I do to decrease the out of balance condition? Would dry or damaged bearings cause this?

 

[thatwasherguy]

I’m going to guess that the plastic snubber ring is failing. These machines use a milk stool suspension setup much like a Speed Queen or a Helical Maytag, with a plastic ring that serves as the bearing between the pivoting metal surface and the stationary one. Replacing them is a little bit of a pain for a few reasons. The first one is that you have to decompress the brake spring. I would recommend removing one screw at a time from the brake assembly, and replacing them with ones long enough to run out the couple of inches or so that the spring needs to fully decompress. IMO, the worst part of this job is the suspension springs, which proved to be a pain to reinstall when I replaced the pinion gear in the Atlantis I had. I would suggest either buying a tool to re-stretch them, or getting some metal electrical backboxes, and slipping the coils of the springs into them to keep them stretched until you’re done. The transmission pulley is also a pain to get back on, as it uses a VERY tight fitting E-clip to hold it in place on the end of the pinion shaft. However, the part (#WP21002026) is very inexpensive, and still readily available. Hope this helps,
Thatwasherguy.

 

[combo52]

Probably a broken or oily snubber ring, they don’t really wear out however but if they’re broken, they have to be replaced.

When we see this problem of excess vibration on these machines, it’s usually an oily snubber ring from a transmission oil leak if that’s the case, you can try to clean it all up very thoroughly and you might get it to work for a while until enough oil gets on it again to be a problem.

This is the likely reason this machine was sitting outside the hardware store. We don’t attempt to repair this machine with this problem any longer. They’re too old to be worth it machines are not that durable in the long run.

 

[cfz2882]

another thing to check with these is buildup of corrosion between the aluminum basket hub and basket causing wobble of the basket-remove basket and scrape off corrosion so basket runs true again-when i fixed this condition with one of these,also had to repair hole worn i outer tub from wobbling basket rubbing.Wobbling basket from hub corrosion can also happen with SQ "Marathons"

 

[kenmore_elite]

Thanks so much for the replies. Checking Youtube for tips.

 

[kenmore_elite]

Wow. The first video I looked at on YT has the sequence. I LOVE AW. Thanks guys. I'm ordering a new snubber ring.

 

[kenmore_elite]

Just ordered an OEM snubber ring. $13.35 on ebay including shipping. Not too bad.

 

[kenmore_elite]

And thanks ThatWasherGuy for the tips about the springs. I've done enough brake jobs over the years that I've learned to get those puppies off and on without too much blood and gore.

 

[goatfarmer]

I did one about a month ago. On that one, the pulley did not have to come off, it fit through the hole in the baseplate.

 

[kenmore_elite]

In the video above, that pulley didn't have to come off either.