When I had my portable Whirlpool the plastic wore through on the start button so I cut a piece of clear plastic just a little larger than the button and super glued it in place.
...I never could get the inner tub out of the WW. No amount of heat or hammering would do it.
Below is a link of the proper way to do it according to Repairclinic.com.
I think where I messed up is that I removed the saddle block screw completely. That was wrong. I should have loosened the screw, tapped out the saddle block, then tried. I didn't do enough research.
However, I would imagine the techs that have spoken in this thread would have pointed that out -- so I'm going to take relief in standing by their advice. If I had the experience working on washers as many of you have, and this information, I would have tried. But then I could have possibly run into other issues.