I vaguely recall my wife saying something like "wow - look at this huge load of laundry I just ran through the washer." That was the second-to-last thing she mentioned about the washer. The last thing she said was "honey, something is wrong with the washer." It seemed that the spin cycle wasn't working -- the motor ran, but the tub refused to move.

Of course, the fact that we go through nearly a load of laundry every day (we have three kids in the house) probably put more stress on the washer than the manufacturer had in mind. Or maybe they did have it in mind, which would explain why every appliance store carries a good supply of belts and drive couplers. Belts and couplers are cheap (roughly $13), and are expected to wear out. One might suggest that they're designed to wear out, but only if one is a conspiracy theorist.

I only recently discovered that my washer isn't belt driven, but is rather a direct-drive system, where the motor connects to a transmission by way of a drive coupler. Until yesterday, I was unaware that direct-drive washers even existed, so when I peered under the washing machine to see what was going on, I assumed that I had a belt-driven washer. I was even more convinced of this because I saw what appeared to be a loose belt dangling down from the tub. However, after poking around for quite some time, I couldn't find anything on which the belt was supposed to attach.

I found a couple of forums online (applianceblog.com, http://applianceguru.com/[$5/year membership]) and figured that I might as well register and see what turns up.

According to user: applianceman18007260692 on applianceguru.com, the washer is a direct drive machine, and the drive-coupler is the cause of this problem "99%" of the time. Additionally:

This is a fairly easy model to work on. you literally need a pair of pliers and a screwdriver or 2 to work on this model.

flip the control panel,pop the hold downs and the case comes off this washer

once the outer case is out of the way it is a snap

The pump is held to the motor by clips and the motor is too. then the drive coupler is right there. just line em all back up and snap em back and ZIP....it is fixed

And according to user: Budget Appliance Repair on the same forum:

"That thing that you are calling a belt is just a sound deadening band, (wouldn't make a very good belt for anything - it's soft and mushy). It originally lived around the brake drum, (the stationary part just above the silver spinning clutch)."

So the belt isn't a belt. It's just a band to reduce the noise; it's only a coincidence that it isn't connected at the same time the coupler failed.

I looked around online and found an online appliance store that carries the part for $18, shipped. They carry and upgraded part (metal, instead of plastic), but it'll take 3-5 days to get here. I found a plastic one on eBay for $5, but that'll take even longer to get here, and the wife really wanted to have the washer running sooner than later. After making a few calls in town, it turns out that a local appliance shop carries the part for $13, and they have some available. When I got there, I discovered that they also carried an industrial coupler for just two dollars more, which made me wonder why they didn't just charge people the extra $2 in the first place for the beefed up part.


Here's the beefed up coupler.

When I got home, I figured I'd get online and do some more research and figure out how to actually get into the machine to change out the part. After a bit of reading, I figured out how to take the washer cover off (two screws up top, two clips, one screw in the back, and pulling the plug on the lid switch), and then how to pull the motor away from the transmission (two screws, four clips). After pulling the lid switch, I had to use some electrical wire to use as a jumper, so the washer was tricked into thinking that the lid was closed.


I changed the coupler out, only to find that the stock coupler was in decent condition.


Just to be sure (I have no clue what the actual tolerances on these things are), I threw the commercial grade coupler on and flipped the machine on.

No change. But at least I know that the coupler isn't going to fail any time soon.

...

I did some more reading to find out what else the problem could be. While I was digging around, I came across this handy page that had a fantastic exploded diagram of the washer (you can hover over the image to see the parts in detail).

And with a little more reading, I quickly ruled out the transmission as the problem:

Remove the cabinet and jumper the lid switch. Put the unit in spin and watch the shiny metal clutch disc that is on top of the transmission where the shaft comes out. If the machine starts and runs in spin, check to see if the disc is spinning. If it is, then problem is in the basket drive or the tub drive block.

I ruled out the basket drive after pulling out the agitator, and went to scope out the tub drive block. It's more expensive, but it comes in parts which be purchased more cheaply than buying the whole drive system.

In order to get to the drive block, I had to drop the transmission down (three bolts on the bottom, one bolt from inside the agitator).


Up above on the tub itself, the drive system itself looked just fine.


Down below on the transmission, it was a different story.


Apparently, the sound deadening band got pulled into the lower clutch system, which turned it into powder and goo (that dark sludge in there), causing the clutch ring to free spin inside that disc-shaped casing.


I pulled the ring out and tried to clean it and the inside of the casing, but I couldn't get it to stop slipping.


I ran out and picked up a new clutch assembly ($36), swapped it out with the old one and bolted it all back together. Here's the shiny new clutch assembly.

I now have a working washer. Hooray!