Our Washer Won’t Agitate

This is probably one of the funnier things that’s happened in my life recently. I can’t believe I’m actually writing about it because I feel a bit silly, but hey, if I can help out someone who’s having similar difficulties, then I’ve done my job as a human.

We’ve been living in this house for about six and a half months now. We’ve done, oh, I don’t know, thirty wash loads. I’m totally guessing here. Could be more, could be fewer. The number of loads really isn’t as important as the fact that each and every wash we’ve done so far – the washer wasn’t agitating. The bottom part of the thing in the middle was moving, but the top, “spiral” post thing wasn’t moving at all. No wonder my gis would have weird smells to them. Only in certain areas though. The areas that were sticking out of the water when I put the clothes in, and the areas that were still sticking out all the way through to the first spin cycle. Ugg.

I found out we had an issue after doing a bit of research. I had a gut feeling – or perhaps Laura had a gut feeling that something was wrong. I put a load in, closed the top, only after taking notice of the clothing arrangement. I’d let the washer run for about a minute and then look at the clothes again. It didn’t take long to realize the the spiral post wasn’t moving one iota. I wondered what could be wrong.

I brought my quandary to the ever expansive internet and punched in the proper keys. Just a few moments later, I learned that my dogs were bad. That’s right – my dogs. Did you know there’s a part in your washer that someone has named, “dogs?” Here’s what they look like:

These little suckers fit right into the cap area of the center agitator. Don’t worry, I have many pictures to show you just what I’m referring to here. What I want to share with you before I post them is that right after I realized we had a problem, my very first thought was, “Oh, we need a new washer.” I almost jumped at the chance to head out and spend hundreds of dollars. I’m not quite sure why I do that, but I do. After relaxing and considering what was going on for just a few minutes, and after I did some searching on none other than Amazon.com, I decided a better and more reasonable route would be to order the $4 part and fix the washer myself. Yes, that’s right – $4. I want to impress that upon you. The part was only $4. I fixed it myself. Do you see what I’m saying here? I was going to buy a new washer, but after thinking for a while, I learned that I could really do this myself and make everything right in the world. I’m repeating myself because I’ve got pride jiggling all over the place. $4. I can’t believe it.

Anyway, I took some pictures during the repair, so if your washer won’t agitate, check these out. It’s such a simple operation.

First, I took the agitator out of the washer. It was only one bolt. I think it was a 12 millimeter. Use a socket.

All right. I now that I had the agitator out, I looked at it. I saw that the center portion could be removed as well.

And then I noticed that the center part came apart as well.

Well, would you look at that. The washing machine dogs were worn out. I told you. You can see the edges of the little yellowish pieces have rounded edges. There are supposed to be teeth there.

Okay, pop the little plastic cover off…

And then switch out the old dogs for the new ones.

Then pop the plastic cover back on.

After that, I put that center part back in the agitator.

And then I put the agitator back in the washer.

Lastly, I popped the plastic over back on the washer agitator and ran the first load.

I’d have to say I did a perfect job because once the washer was full and the clothes started moving around, I noticed that the ones on top were being pulled down to the bottom like they were supposed to. What a miracle. Thank you internet!