[Parker Lewis]

Hello, thanks in advance to anyone who can give me advice.

I've been wrestling with this washer for a few days now. Here is what I did:

Started up a load of laundry and the Washer would agitate just fine, then when switching to the next cycle (the motor reverses spin direction) the motor will hum and then shut itself off. I assume this is the thermal-fuse protection since the motor was experiencing some excessive resistance. So, I tilted the machine back and inspected the belts, the pump belt was worn and burned in a couple spots, so I changed both belts (belts 11124 and 11125 from the appliance parts repair store - not Maytag branded belts but approved replacements specific to the Maytag washer) and adjusted the belt tension (1/4" gap on pump belt when squeezed between fingers at belt midpoint). The washer now worked fine through all cycles, but in the spin mode when the motor drive belt is supposed to be slipping along the motor pulley, there is friction and it starts to heat up the drive belt and it smokes badly and starts melting the drive belt (11125).

The glide springs at the base of the motor seem fine, the motor has about 1" to 1.5" of travel along the slider and it is very smooth, the motor will glide just fine and when no belts are installed the glide springs snap it right back to its resting place. However, when the drive belt (11125) is installed, the motor does not have much range of travel on the sliders, maybe 1/2" total travel range. Is this normal, or does this tell me my replacement drive belt (11125) is too short?

My question: when the motor is spinning in the direction in which the drive belt is intended to slip, should the drive belt be slowly spinning, or should it be static with very minimal contact on the motor pulley? When my washer is in spin cycle and the drive belt is supposed to be either static or slipping or barely turning, i can look underneath with a flashlight and there is still some friction between the motor pulley and the drive belt, this is what is melting the drive belt. So, should the drive belt come loose during the spin cycle so as not to touch the motor pulley at all? If that is the intent, then I think my replacement belt 11125 is slightly too short since when this belt is mounted the motor does not have much range of travel on its glides, therefore when in spin cycle the motor pulley to drive belt interface has excessive friction.

So, my main question is: When in spin cycle what should the drive belt be doing? Should it be 100% limp and not at all contacting the mating surface of the motor pulley, or should it turn slightly? I have burned up 3 of these drive belts so far, I was thinking my pump belt tension setting was affecting the drive belt, but I keep adjusting the pump belt tension and it is not helping. Any advice would be helpful to me.

Also, I removed the motor pulley (two pulleys mounted to each other). The larger pulley had a huge build-up of burned up belt/rubber. I lightly ground the pulley grooves with a wire wheel and the pulley now looks like new and had a very smooth finish. I figured now the whole set-up would work fine since maybe the gunked up pulley walls were chewing up the drive belt, but no luck, it ate through another drive belt just like before because while the spin cycle was running the drive belt to pulley surface has too much friction i think, it starts to smoke and melt and fills the room with rubber smoke. The surface of the pulley is smooth, there are no chips or burrs that could cause excessive belt wear. Could it be that I need a longer drive belt so that when the motor slides toward the drum (during spin cycle) there will be less tension on the drive belt?

Sorry for a long post, but I need some serious advice and all the burnt belt smoke has gone to my brain! Thank you.

[bettyboop]

Sounds like your spin brake needs adjustment, and not entirely relising the brake. Remove the belt, remove the rubber cap that covers the brake adjustment(center of the pully) turn the pully till the brake relieses. The cam gap should be 1/8th-3/16"" gap if more or less, remove small phillips screw pop off little wedge shaped stop, move it a little and try it again if you went the wrong way move it the other till you are satisfied with the gap, problem should be solved

[Parker Lewis]

Hi Bettyboop, thanks for the advice, but I don't think my Maytag has a spin brake. The pulley has no brake attached to it, and no rubber covers. I believe the drive belt tension changes as the motor slides to or from the transmission pulley (the motor is mounted on a gliding base that is held in place by two springs).

Does that make sense? I appreciate any more help you or anyone else can offer. Thank you.

[bettyboop]

Does your washer have 2 belts? are the belts under the washer? is the motor on the left front,and the pump on the right front? Above the pully, is there a silver cone shaped thing,that looks like a spin brake? does the motor slide on a base with 2 little springs to keep the belt tight? if not you have a different maytag than I have worked on for over 40 years. Sorry I advised you on the wrong washer.
Betty Boop!!

[Parker Lewis]

Hi Bettyboop,

I was looking at the motor pulley while thinking about your response posted here and it did not make sense to me because there is no rubber cap on the center of the motor pulley. Now I am thinking that you are referring to the transmission/drum pulley. I will inspect this pulley closer and look for the spin brake.

Thanks for the tip!

[kcarpent]

Hey parker did that fix the problem?

[Parker Lewis]

Hello Kcarpent,

Well, i realized that Betty Boop's suggestion referred to the transmission pulley, and not the motor pulley like I thought (I'm still learning here). so, i adjusted the brake very slightly (it was not too far out of adjustment, probably was fine). I did remove the drive belt and turn the drum by hand and there was a lot of resistance to spin the drum in the direction that the pulley would spin while the machine was in spin cycle. It would turn fine about 1 or two revolutions, then it would bind up and be hard to spin which i conclude is why my belt was slipping on the motor pulley while the machine was in spin cycle.........so, I took advice from this forum regarding drum bearing issues on a 8-9 year old machine and I ended up buying a new washer. there was not anything trapped between the inner and outer drum so the resistance the drum was seeing was internal and from what I've read on here it's an expensive repair, so I bit the bullet and bought a new machine.

thanks to all for the advice, I look forward to visiting this forum and helping out anyone else if I can. I did successfully repair my gas dryer and my GE dishwasher so I can offer a little advice on those.