Kenmore 500 series washer agitator woes

[SilentType]

I was washing a load of towels and near the end of the wash cycle the machine started making an abnormal sound. When I opened the lid the towels were wound up very tight around the agitator. This has never happened before and it took a minute to free up the towels.

The problem now is the lower agitator is barely turning. Motor is turning and spins and drains just fine. I removed the agitator assembly for inspection, nothing seems to be broken. Didn't get a good look at the splines but will pull and check closer. Is it possible those splines could be partially stripped? The whole assembly is plastic.

After I put it back together I filled with an extra small load of water only and let it run. Since the machine stops when the lid is open you have to look fast at the water but the agitator was clearly moving a little. A small load of clothes brings it back to a halt.

Another thought would be the motor coupler, but if was broken then I'd get no movement at all correct?

 

[Nukeman7]

The agitator's "dog" cams are stripped. Not a difficult or expensive fix.

 

[hemitom]

Most likely stripped agitator . Nukeman beat me to it

 

[CleanSump]

What @Nukeman7 shows. We had one do the same thing. New dogs fixed it for years.

 

[SilentType]

Sorry I should have said the drive dogs are fine. I am referring to the lower agitator that sits on the splined transmission shaft. I put new dogs and other parts in it 2 years ago. The upper agitator 'ratchets' properly still.

 

[repairman54]

If coupler was broken it would not agitate at all or spin.
Pull the agitator off and check that the shaft splines are not rusted out as that will strip out the agitator splines. If good then trans. may be bad. I've seen the trans. only rotate in one direction in agitation in the past. Not very common but I've seen it.
Your machine may have the hidden lid switch so by bending the lid down some on the left side you can still trip the switch and peek in on the right side.

 

[SilentType]

If coupler was broken it would not agitate at all or spin.
Pull the agitator off and check that the shaft splines are not rusted out as that will strip out the agitator splines. If good then trans. may be bad. I've seen the trans. only rotate in one direction in agitation in the past. Not very common but I've seen it.
Your machine may have the hidden lid switch so by bending the lid down some on the left side you can still trip the switch and peek in on the right side.

I took a closer look the shaft splines and agitator splines look good. This machine has other issues also so we'll be looking at new washers, leaning heavily towards Speed Queen. Do you have any advice on current day washers to look for?

 

[hemitom]

Speed Queen has used electronic control boards for a few years now ! not sure if they are the reliability champ that they once were ?