UH OH The set screw has chewed through the trans shaft

[MaytagA710]

So I while taking the A712 apart to replace the bearing and tub stem, I noticed something on the transmission shaft. I huge groove from the set screw eating through it. Occasionally when the washer would start to agitate, it would make a knock sound for about 3-4 seconds then go away. What is going on here? What can be done to fix it? I also have uploaded a video to YouTube so you can see better.

 

[bendixmark]

groove

All Maytags have that groove it is supposed to be there I used to wonder about it when i first saw it also.You just need to emery cloth down the agitator shaft and you should be all set.

 

[MaytagA710]

Oh geeze, I guess I take the cake for stupid post/question lol. Thanks for your reply. I went and looked through some other photos of transmissions and what not and that groove in the threads is there... Geesh. Woops.

 

[beekeyknee]

Uh Oh

Uhh...Kevin, is that your washer you've been using all along or did you get it from somebody else?

Somebody's been washin' with hard water, cold washes, and no phosphates. The bottom of that outer tub is really bad. I know you just started working on this machine and maybe it wasn't yours to begin with, but that's pretty bad. Everybody's got different standards, but I wouldn't want to wash in that. If you really want to restore your machine you're going to need about a gallon of CLR and vinegar, a scrub brush and lots of elbow grease.

If that tub bearing's not too bad off and it's the old style with the fat bottom that has the wicking inside of it, I'd try and reuse it. Don't wash it in water. You don't want water in the wick, if it has it. I wiped the outside of the rubber clean and wiped the inside of the bronze with a lint free cloth moistened with some kerosene. Then wipe it out again with a clean part of that cloth. It has to be perfectly clean before it's reassembled. I bought a new metal spin sleeve, gave the inside of that bronze a good coating of turbine oil and put the new spin sleeve inside the bearing to see how the fit was. If the bronze isn't too worn a new spin sleeve and a lot of turbine oil will restore the bearing. The old bearings are a lot better because when the bronze gets hot it sucks up the turbine oil out of the wick material in the bottom of the bearing. This type of bearing will way outlast the new style. Turn the bearing upside down and pull the rubber back away from the bronze insert. Stick the Zoom Spout Oil tube down in there and squeeze. You can watch the wick soak up the oil for quite awhile if it is dry. When it quits sucking up the oil so fast it's probably about full.

Follow Redcarpetdrew's thread #25520 in the forum archives to finish. If you don't have the old style tub bearing, I've wasted a lot of time telling you about something you can't do. If it's the new style just get another one. Since your washer's a 712 it's probably the old style. Hope it's salvageable. You can start on a lot of these things before you try your transmission rebuild in the spring. See if you can find an old agitator shaft seal. It will help.

 

[beekeyknee]

Bearing with new sleeve inserted.

 

[beekeyknee]

Transmission neck cleaned up and ready for sleeve.

 

[MaytagA710]

Hey Brian!

Thanks for your advice. I have taken the "elbow grease" approach to all the hard water crap built/stuck onto the bottom of the tub. It is coming off fairly well, I have about 50% of it removed and I have only been at it for 2 hours. Yeah, two hours, whatever, in the quest of perfection, time is no object.

To answer your question, this was the LA712 I bought about a month ago, and the machine was used on well water all its life. The porcelain basket, if you can remember from my thread, was super gross orange from all of the iron content, but I managed to completely clean it off. I also am going to replace the water injector and clean out the solenoids too. I am making a video of the whole thing, and when it is complete I will post it. Thanks for your help though, I definitely appreciate it.

 

[beekeyknee]

Bearing put back in tub, tub lowered back on trans. neck with spin sleeve slipped over neck before hand. Drive shaft pitting filled with JB Weld and sanded smooth. Then spray coated with Rust-Oleum Cold Galvanizing Compound #7785. Long drawn out process.

 

[beekeyknee]

New O-Ring from Ace put back in chamfer between drive shaft and trans. neck. Can't tell you the size now. Will have to go back to Ace to find out. I bought extras. They were cheap.

 

[beekeyknee]

All parts installed. Ready for stem mount.

 

[beekeyknee]

Placed marks on tub where flutes in trans. neck are so I could miss them when I tightened the set screw. Agitator stop ring not on yet. More later.

 

[beekeyknee]

Yes, Kevin. I do remember that picture of that wash basket now. Glad you don't have that water.

 

[MaytagA710]

Thats a brilliant idea to mark on the tub where the channels are on the transmission shaft. I will have to use that when putting the machine back together! Thanks again for your help!

 

[beekeyknee]

Transmission Groove

I see what you're talking about now. I couldn't see your video before. I'm not sure. That set screw has to bite into the threads to lock the wash basket to the transmission. I suppose you could try a longer set screw. It has to bite into that neck but not bind the agitator shaft turning inside the neck. The set screw has to make a dimple in the neck so the stem mount won't move. Stress is put on that set screw dimpled area when the washer goes out of spin and the brake engages to stop the tub and when the machine is agitating, the tub is full of clothes and the brake is holding the tub to keep it from indexing.

When you got the washer did you put it into a spin and then lift the lid to see how quickly the basket stopped. If the break was getting dry it would stop the basket more quickly and put more stress on the set screw, especially if the stem mount and spanner nut were not tightened enough. This is usually accompanied by a loud squeal. When the brake gets dry from lack of oil it will squeal. Sometimes the stem mount will be tightened more or less to avoid those flutes on the side of the neck. When the stem mount is tightened less the set screw gets more stress than when it's tightened more. If the set screw wasn't tightened enough or it was too close to a flute and slipped over into the flute during a brake, I suppose it could spin around the neck and carve out a groove. But since the stem mount is reverse threaded and I believe self tightening it would probably be more likely to happen during agitation indexing, moving the tub further and further until it carved a groove all the way around the neck.

You can see me pouring some oil into the break on Thread #37873 (Avocado Maytag Set).

Maytag guys; am I right or wrong or somewhere in between?