I had started a load of laundry, and the machine was going through a spin cycle. I had noticed a few days earlier how loud it seemed, but I wasn’t positive. I could be imagining it, right?
Well, here’s your sign.
That Man said, “Well, do you want to buy a new washer?”
Oh, no. I’d REALLY rather not! But, another unplanned project - oh, joy.
So I powered up the computer and Googled “Whirlpool Cabrio washing machine loud spin cycle.” I read some articles (most described the sound as a jet getting ready to take off) and watched some YouTube videos and eventually bought a repair kit on eBay. It included a drive shaft, upper and lower bearings, a seal, adhesive, grease, and installation tools. They would arrive by the end of the week.
 |
| The old drive shaft |
The following Sunday, immediately after church, we began.
I pulled up a couple of YouTube videos and we watched guys open up the top of a washing machine. Not the lid, mind you, but the entire top of the machine. One guy, in what was supposed to be a training video, working on an obviously new, pristine machine, took a putty knife, slid it into the narrow crevice of the machine top, released the catches (one, two!), and popped the top open - voila! Like magic! So easy! Another guy, obviously working in his garage told us the catches were hard to release, and to not use the standard flexible putty knife, but to use a stiffer putty knife or a flat screwdriver to get at those stubborn catches.
He was right.
The top was eventually opened, the ring around the top of the tub where the detergent, fabic softener, and bleach dispensers are was removed, and the sorta-kinda agitator bump in the bottom of the machine was also removed.
Now all we had to do, according to the training video was to reach under the lip of the tub and lift it out - easy peasy!!!
We worked at that for a couple of hours. HOURS. Yes. Hours.
That Man periodically asked me whether I wouldn't rather just buy a new washing machine. But by now, we were committed, by gosh! We are not quitters! That stupid machine was NOT going to win!
I went to the garage guy’s video. He said he had trouble getting the tub out.
No! Surely not! You’re kidding, right?
But he had a solution, involving a car jack and a piece of 4x4 lumber. We worked at that for a bit, using the jack from one of our cars, and a scrap piece of 4x4, but got nowhere because of how the jack’s base was shaped. That Man retrieved a bottle jack from the garage and we tried again.
Oh. My. Gosh.
It was like magic! The jack and 4x4 got the tub released from the drive shaft, and out came the tub, just as easily as the training video showed. Then we turned the washer on its side so That Man could knock out the drive shaft and bearings. There was more to it than just that, but by that point of the process, it went pretty smoothly.
One thing about the garage guy’s video - after he got the tub out, he said he could hear water sloshing around, apparently trapped inside the tub walls. He couldn’t figure out how to drain it, so he intended to DRILL SOME HOLES IN THE TUB to get the water out! NO! NoNoNoNoNo! That water is part of how the washer balances the load during spin cycles! I hope he didn’t do it. All that work, and then to ruin the machine.
Anyway, back to us. The reassembly went well until it was time to install the seal. It wasn’t the same on both sides! All right, which side goes which way? I looked at more videos and examined the old seal and drive shaft closely, and figured it out to MY satisfaction. So I got the dubious honor of greasing and putting adhesive on the seal and installing it. According to That Man, that’s so if it had been done incorrectly and the washer leaked all over the floor, the fiasco could be blamed on ME!
After getting it all put back together, one of the videos said not to run a load through the washer for 24 hours. I waited two days. Oh, the suspense!!!
I ran a short cycle with no clothes to test it out. It was quieter and no leaks! But it was just sloshing water around. I needed a real world test - jeans. So I loaded it up and ran a normal cycle. I stood there and watched it during the first spin cycle.
It was quiet. There were no leaks. It powered through the whole cycle and worked like a champ!
It took us about eight hours to do what is supposedly a four-hour job. But we did it ourselves, and we saved a ton of dough! Instead of buying a comparable new washing machine for $700.00 or $800.00 (MSRP of about $1,100.00) on sale at Lowe’s - yes, that’s JUST the washer - I checked, we paid less than $76.00 for the repair kit. And if we’d had someone come fix it, we still would have probably been charged about $400.00 for the repair.
Yes, our time and effort are worth something, but we learned some things, got the satisfaction of doing it ourselves, and saved $325.00 to $725.00 to boot!
It WAS worth it!
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