Replace or Repair Speed Queen Top Load Washer

[combo52]

Non-spinning, 2016 Speed Queen top load washer

It could certainly be clothing caught between the tubs, it could also be a bad transmission drive pulley or the cams right above it, when you took the front of the cabinet off, did you see any signs of water leaking from above the transmission or rusty stains inside the cabinet that might indicate a bad top bearing and bad seal ?

In any event, I would pay the authorized Speed Queen dealer to inspect the machine, it’s always best to use an authorized service or especially if you suspect it’s something serious.

If the first people were wrong, I would ask for the service call cost back.

John

 

[kc27]

@paulg - $150 labor to install the transmission in your washer was a deal compared to the $370 labor the shop quoted me. The shop said the transmission installation will require a tub seal kit, which adds $280 to the cost.

 

[combo52]

The transmission comes with the seal and bearing if the transmission is actually needed, labor costs have gone up. I would expect to pay with the service call between 200 and $400 to have a transmission replaced in a Speed Queen top load washer today.

John

 

[repairguy]

Thanks for the second video. It’s now clear that you need the part referenced in my reply number 5. The next step will be to figure out what caused that to happen. Could be something between the tubs, could be the bearing. A trained speed queen tech will be able to solve that for you. On the one that I will repair next week the hub broke that the wash basket is secured to which means the bearing/seal assembly will have to be replaced. The speed queen I’m referencing is an AWN412 that is 15 years old and this is the first repair. Can’t wait to hear the end result of your machine. Thanks for sharing with us.

 

[henene4]

Again, the transmission kit does include a tub seal kit.
It explicitly states that in the description of the transmission kit AND shows it on SQs part website. Them claiming that's 280$ extra just is either blatant ignorance or trying to fraud you.

And 370$ in labour - as much as it is - sounds reasonable.
2h of work perhaps, plus way charges.

Your second video appears to show the lower part of the transmission to move around - which it clearly shouldn't.
That could be a lot of things having gone wrong there, but the transmission is most likely damaged aswell. Maybe a bearing just gave out entirely, or some mounting hardware said goodbye, but that's hard to say not having the machine right in front of you.

The transmission is indeed involved in both spin and agitation - it's just that most parts don't really do anything during spin.
The transmission splits power to the agitator shaft and the basket drive hub. If driven in one direction, the basket remains stationary and the actual "transmission" part makes the agitator move back amd forth.
In the other direction, all the parts causing agitation no longer do anything really - the basket drive hub and agitator just get driven at the same speed as the input does.

That means agitation might be just fine - but spinning isn't.
I wouldn't be surprised if the transmission was heavily involved in your situation, but I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't your only major issue.

If you think 380$ is worth it, go for the repair.
I wouldn't hesitate to guess that you'd get the same time you already did get out of it again after the repair.
Especially if you'd just get another TL anyway.

But 400$ is also like 40-50% of a really decent new FL - which is more efficient, cleans better in most cases, spins dryer, etc.[this post was last edited: 6/7/2024-16:17]

 

[kc27]

"...when you took the front of the cabinet off, did you see any signs of water leaking from above the transmission or rusty stains inside the cabinet that might indicate a bad top bearing and bad seal?"

Everything in the cabinet and bottom of the tub looked clean and dry, no signs of rust or water seepage. The white helix had a coating of oil residue (see photo).

A technician from an authorized Speed Queen shop will be looking at the machine next Thursday. I will update this thread with whatever he finds.

 

[kc27]

@henene4 Thanks for your ideas on this. I am thinking at $500 the washer is still worth getting repaired. And if I knew for certain what went wrong, I would do the repair myself.

I did get a quote to replace the transmission from another authorized Speed Queen repair outfit. The $280 Washer Kit - Hub & Lip Seal, part #766P3A was NOT part of their quote. Their quote did include:

Trip Charge $160
Transmission Remove and Replace $300

That outfit said they only have one technician for my state, and he is currently booked 4 weeks out. I have another Speed Queen authorized technician coming next week. He sounded pretty knowledgeable, and would not commit to any service until he got to inspect the washer himself.

 

[kc27]

The Speed Queen authorized technician said the transmission is fine. I need a new drive pulley and helix. He said the water pump drive was somewhat worn, so he replaced the pump. He did not have the pulley, so he will be returning to complete the job. He said otherwise the machine was in great shape. When I spoke with him on the phone he seemed to know his stuff re: Speed Queen repair, and the same when I met him in person.

I appreciate the advice of getting an authorized technician to look at the washer. The first technician, who is a senior tech with local appliance repair firm that has very high online customer reviews, did not seem to be up-to-speed on Speed Queen repairs. His company lists Speed Queen as one of the brands they service. Maybe they are well versed in just light repairs with Speed Queen units.

 

[kc27]

Here is a photo of the parts that were replaced in case it helps someone who might have a machine with the same symptom.

 

[kalanikaau1]

parts

The replacement and updated drive pulley is aluminum, however the helix mating piece is nylon, Alliance part # 204886.

Just installed mine yesterday in a machine I am presently overhauling.

 

[kc27]

A plastic pulley doesn't seem to fit the sturdy reputation of Speed Queen. Maybe it was designed to be a "break-away" part in order to prevent a more expensive part from being damaged?

 

[cfz2882]

was the pulley broken as shown,or did the tech do that for some reason? Plastic pulleys are found in couple other 1990s-newer appliance designs,including MT Atlantis and Neptune.

 

[combo52]

Speed Queen plastic main drive pulley

Was plenty sturdy and was not designed to break away to prevent damage, but the problem it did have because Speed Queen uses the belt as a clutch. It did not allow the belt to cool enough. It made the belt run hot so they switched to an aluminum pulley about five years ago, which will help dissipate better.

In the 15 years we’ve worked with Speed Queen as an authorized seller and servicer. I have never seen a case where they have cheapened the machine. They have only increased Quality and construction quality of thier washers and dryers.

John

 

[qsd-dan]

Sometimes I'll gaze at a design and marvel how that came from a human brain....like an automatic transmission. Other times, I'll stare at a design and ponder "WTF were they thinking?"

Using a plastic pulley in a slipping clutch design serves as a "WTF were they thinking?" moment.

It took Speed Queen just 5 years ago to change to metal pulley what Maytag figured out 70+ years ago?

REALLY???

 

[kc27]

The technician told me the pulley was broken - and it looks damaged in the video I linked in Reply #17 of this thread. I do not know if he damaged it further when making the repair.

Many of you who responded to this thread seem knowledgeable about these washers. Is there any maintenance I should be doing? The owners manual mentions wiping down the control panel and cabinet, keeping the lid open, and checking the filters in the fill hoses, but that is it.

 

[combo52]

Required or recommended maintenance on automatic washers

That’s really all you need to do is keep the thing clean. I’ve told hundreds of people when I installed a new washing machine for them that the most important thing they could do is when they added detergents and bleaches and other additives not to pour it all over the machine to put it in the washer

There is no necessary routine maintenance on a washing machine. It’s not An airplane that your life depends on if something does go wrong and something will go wrong eventually, but you won’t be able to prevent most failures without going to heroic efforts.

The plastic main drive pulley on the transmission was used for over a decade and over the past 15 years. We’ve probably replaced 10 of them. The failure rate was very low mind you they were also used on commercial machines that are run all day long with a very low failure rate.

By contrast, Maytag made plenty of mistakes they used to stamped steel pulley to drive the pump belt in the early 80s almost 100% failure rate over the useful life of the machine in the 80s are used to stupid dual lid switch system which used a micro lid switch which probably had more than a 50% failure rate in the life of the machine and one of the worst faults was using polyester material for a damper pad when that failed it totaled the washer by contrast, Speed Queen damper ring will probably never fail in the life of the machine if it does it’s a simple repair. Every machine has its faults and manufacturers learn from their faults and correct the things to Maytag credit they mostly tryed to repair things, but certain faults remained throughout the life of the product

I’m not just picking on Maytag whirlpool belt Drive and direct drive machines were full of design faults that could’ve easily been corrected, but they chose not to do it.

John

 

[qsd-dan]

Yeah, every manufacture tries to save a penny or 2 here and there but a plastic pulley is quite insane in a slipping clutch application. There's just too much heat generated in that design. I'm willing to bet that plastic pulley was at least one of the reasons they ate up belts at a faster rate than they do now.

I never had a pulley failure on my 412 but it does occasionally happen. Usually when the machine was well over 20 years of age. I guess it depends on ones view of what the lifespan of an appliance is. Same goes for damper pads. I'm sneaking up on 16 years on my HA806 and damper pads feels exactly the same as they did when I cemented and lubed them 16 years ago. Lube the pads every 20 years and they'll last forever but they'll easily go beyond 30 years before damage occurs in a typical 4 person household. Most people don't keep a washer that long, at least, anymore.

 

[kalanikaau1]

Here's

the old, intact pulley from my machine, a TV2000WN.

I agree that it looks flimsy, not at all in keeping with the robust construction the rest of the machine is renown for.

The basic operation of the machine is very simple, it simply reverses rotation of the electric motor to achieve either agitation or spin modes.

Maytag employed the same principle of operation, I wonder who copied who?