Neutral Drain Replacement

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blockeight88

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 11, 2021
Messages
643
Location
Northwest, IN
I did my first neutral drain replacement yesterday. I did not drain the original oil, as it looked pretty good. Only issue I ran into was being unable to remove the hex screw on the metal plate. So I ended up leaving that in there, but replaced all the other pieces including spin gear with the new one. I still haven't tested anything, as I am letting the seal dry 24 hours. Will I run into any issues?

The picture below is right after I popped the lid off.

Thanks

blockeight88-2024040710470402282_1.jpg
 
Installed, everything works great. Fingers crossed it stays that way. I'm just glad I was able to preserve the original gearcase this time.
 
Wear

They weren't that bad. This washer neutral drained about 75% of the time. I've had some that won't even neutral drain after running on 14 minutes of fast agitation.
 
Nice work!

I just had to replace the one on my 92 Kenmore 70 series. Originally last year, I had replaced all the parts in mine except for the spin gear. Didn't think it looked too worn out, but then upon having run it with the new neutral drain parts mixed with the old spin gear, it was way worse than before. Sometimes even a full 14 minute wash, it would wait a moment in neutral drain but then would slip once it was getting close to emptying the water all the way out.

So a few weeks ago, I took the machine out to my shop and replaced all the parts again with a brand new kit (I had two on hand, one of them already spent the first time on the same machine unfortunately). This time however, I replaced everything in the kit, including the spin gear, put a new one in so that now it should work correctly with all fresh new parts. And it does now.

Well, ended up putting in an oil that I didn't initially realize had a limited-slip additive and so it would absolutely STINK of gear oil everytime you ran it. It also was a thinner oil than what Whirlpool normally recommends--75W-90. So it sounded differently from what a direct drive should normally sound like. So just this past week I took it out again and put 80W-90 gear oil from a different brand that had no limited-slip additive. Now it works perfectly with no smell, haven't actually listened though to hear how it sounds, but I imagine with the better viscosity oil in there, it should be back to normal now.

Good luck with your machine!
 
^

Are you Lizboz from YoutTube? I watched one of your newer videos and remember you referencing that, about the spin gear. So far mine seems good. Probably will need a good 4-6 minutes in the morning using extra slow. I'm sure if I would have changed the gear oil, it would be perfect, but that stuff is like $60 a bottle now from WP.
 
DDFan82 did you find an alternative 80W-90 gear oil that does not stink like rotten eggs?

There is no way I could stand to have that nasty rotten egg gear oil stench in my small laundry room.
 
Matthew: Yes, indeed that would be me.

Ron & Matthew: The oil I had first put in was Valvoline brand 75W-90 w/ limited-slip additive and I'm pretty sure that was what caused it to off-gas. I then ultimately replaced that with NAPA brand 80W-90 which is close enough, and it has no off-gasing of any kind even under normal heat or load of any kind. About $10 for a quart bottle. I also used it in my 1986 Kenmore 60 series' transmission when I replaced the clutch seal in it, and there were no issues with smells of any kind when it ran. I've sold that one now.
 
I know all about the smell of gear oil, almost smells like a combination of natural gas and gasoline fumes.

However, the next belt drive transmission I am going to rebuild is going to be packed with John Deere corn head grease. Just want to experiment to see what will happen.
 
Oil smell

Before I learned how to do all this stuff, my 2002 Kenmore Elite (w/o the dispensers) had a rebuilt transmission and the gear oil stunk so bad. The best way to describe it was rotten eggs. Baffled me because I had no clue what it was.

If only that OEM whirlpool oil wasn't so expensive, I'd stock up.

Btw Steven, I love your videos. I liked that 1986 DD you had which resembled the old BD control panel. I'm sure it went to a good home.
 
Thanks Matthew. Indeed that machine went to somebody who was putting in a new camper and his father in-law is an appliance guy so any repairs needed in the future shouldn't be an issue for them.
 

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