Maytag Washer MVWC300VW1 Agitator Drive Shaft Spins Freely

[Bob_Dole]

Model Number

MVWC300VW1

Brand

Maytag

Age

More than 10 years

My agitator is not working and spins freely so I went through the checklist of stuff I could find on the forums and here's where I'm at:

1. It's direct drive, no belt to fail
2. The teeth between the top of the shaft that go to the agitator itself are not worn (they're actually metal), manually spinning the agitator in either direction actually spins the drive shaft in both directions (see photo 1+2)
3. I have disassembled the transmission and manually turning the main gear appropriately turns the agitator gear back and forth, but it appears the drive shaft itself is spinning freely from the agitator gear that's supposed to be turning the agitator back and forth (see photo 3)

What I'm wondering is if the agitator drive shaft should be spinning freely at this point? I don't think it should be, but I'm not 100% sure if disassembling it disengaged something that would normally prevent this behavior. Please and thank you.

Photo 1

Photo 2

Photo 3

 

[Jake]

What I'm wondering is if the agitator drive shaft should be spinning freely at this point?

No, it should not spin freely, you are correct.

Here's the transmission for your model:
3360629 Neutral Drain Transmission


Rick explains it here:

WTW5200VQ2 Whirlpool Washer will spin, but wont agitate.

I have been going deeper and deeper into this washer for the last week, each trip to the parts store seeming to take longer than the last. The unit will not agitate. I mean, it baby-agitates moving about 1/8 inch either way. the action is very weak. I replaced the agitator dogs.. they make...

www.applianceblog.com

 

[Bob_Dole]

No, it should not spin freely, you are correct.

Here's the transmission for your model:
3360629 Neutral Drain Transmission


Rick explains it here:

WTW5200VQ2 Whirlpool Washer will spin, but wont agitate.

I have been going deeper and deeper into this washer for the last week, each trip to the parts store seeming to take longer than the last. The unit will not agitate. I mean, it baby-agitates moving about 1/8 inch either way. the action is very weak. I replaced the agitator dogs.. they make...

www.applianceblog.com

I took the whole transmission apart and came to the same conclusion last night. What I can't figure out is what is causing the cam follower to not reengage. Based on inspection it seems like nothing is broken or worn. I'm going to look at it again tomorrow and see if maybe it just got jammed in the disengage or was even somehow assembled incorrectly to begin with. Based on messing with it last night it seemed like if the top and bottom halves of the cam follower weren't aligned precisely you could have it could lock engaged or lock disengaged instead of being able to flip between the two as designed. Maybe it's a small realignment of that piece and that's all I need.

Thank you for the help.