[kcarpent]

Hi!

My question is..
What is the normal behavior of a properly adjusted and functioning maytag spin brake?

Assuming that the washer is unplugged and both drive and pump belts are removed first....

In the agitate direction (counterclockwise) it spins freely and without any dragging or grinding sound.

In the spinning direction (clockwise) it also spins freely or does it turn 180 degrees (1/2 turn ) and stop.

Is the turning 180 and stopping a sign of the spin brake not releasing?

Thanks.

[PS Staff - Sheila]

The agitate direction is clockwise and the spin is counterclockwise.

In both direction the pulley should turn freely.

When the pulley is turn clockwise the pulley rides down the helical drive shaft .

As it rotates down the shaft,a lug on the pulley comes against a drive lug which is splined to the helical drive shaft.

When the motor reverses for the spin the pulley will turn counterclockwise.

The pulley climbs the threads on the helical drive shaft overcoming the force of the break spring and lifts the brake rotor and brake shoe of the brake drum.

What is the problem with the washer?

Here is a link to your washer model A512.

[kcarpent]

Thanks here's more background info..

I've since replaced the springs on the sliding motor mount (and cleaned it up).

Didn't help!


Things I figured out so far.

I removed the drive belt put only the pump belt on filled with some water and set the washer on spin to see if the pump belt was causing the smoking, the washer drained as it should and didn't smoke. (pump belt OK).

I removed the pump belt put only the drive belt on filled with some water and set the washer on agitate to see if the drive belt was causing the smoking, it smoked on both agitate (a tiny bit) and spin (more smoke)!!! (Problems with drive line assembly somewhere).

Both the motor and drive pulley on the transmission seem to turn easily.
The belt seems to have good tension.

I went ahead and adjusted the spin brake just in case to see if it made any difference (I doubt it will help since it's smoking on agitate also.)

But anyway..

In the clockwise (spin) direction I never could get the brake to release, (as far as I can tell) ; ).
I heard a click but the pulley would stop turning at 1/2 turn (180) degrees as
before. (As it rides up the transmission)

When I started doing the spin brake adjustment it looked to be about 1/4" already, is this telling me that it was probably adjusted before?

I ran many tests on this... I changed the gap to make it smaller from as small as I could to larger than and larger and put the screw back in, counter clockwise (you can see the agitator move inside the washer) still seems to spin freely but clockwise (spin) still goes 180 degrees and is locked.

No adjustment seemed to help.

Here's the original post.

http://forums.partselect.com/washer-...area-7430.html


Thanks again.