Wash Arm Retainer Nut

The plastic parts on this spray arm assembly wear with time and the rotation wobble effect creates a wave action in the pool of water at the bottom of the dishwasher. This waves the water onto the front door and forces a leak outside the unit. Replace the lower arm assembly, washer, bearing and nut. They all wear. Also remember to tighten the screws on top of the pump assembly. They loosen and aid in the wobble. Good Luck!

I noticed the upper bushing washer was worn thin. this caused the lower spray arm to rise too high and wobble during all the wash cycles. Also the rotation of the lower spray arm was wearing grooves in the lower bushing.

I removed the retaining nut and simply replaced teh defective parts. While I was at it I figured equal wear might be evident on the upper spray arm so I bought a complete rebuild kit to bring all rotational parts back to new and equal preformance that was achieved by removing the ss screw and removing the upper spray arm, bushing and clip then replacing them in the order of removal. Noticed a huge difference in the quality of the washed dishes!! Thanks Parts Select 100% to yoru company!!

After reading the diagrams and other readers' repair stories, I found that the plastic nuts and rings had worn out. The arm-spray wobbled excessively.

I simply twisted off the spray arm bearing ring and removed the other parts. The arm-spray was covered with mineral deposits that cleaning did not remove.

I received my parts overnight and replaced them according to the diagram. It's like having a new dishwasher!

This gets a little lengthy... but it explains where Cascade Dishwashing Powder came up with its brand name - it's been a cascade project.
I started by replacing the Middle Wash Arm Tube as the old tube developed leaks. As others have stated this is a new design but directly replaceable and easy to do.
This didn't solve the cleaning issue so reading the experiences of others on this site realized I also had broken parts in the Upper Spray Arm Assembly and the Upper Wash assembly. I replaced these and the dishes were suddenly much, much cleaner. These were very easily replaced.
I did find that I did not need the Mount for the upper spray arm (PS402277) as a redesign of the Upper Spray Arm Mounting bracket no longer required it - the bracket simply clipped in -the diagram was out of date.
Everything seemed to go well for about 3 loads when the dishwasher started leaking heavily out of the bottom of the door. I then noticed that the lower Wash Arm Bearing Ring and the Seal, Lower Spray Arm had disintegrated so I replaced those but this didn't affect the leaking. Someone had stated that if the lower wash arm assembly had too much 'wobble' that it cause 'waves' that would leak out the front door... mine had some wobble so I added a nylon washer from Ace Hardware that reduced wobble but still leaked.
I then replaced the Door Seal Kit - this was by far the most difficult part as the door needed to be removed and it was somewhat difficult - and it seemed apparent after we had removed the door that these parts weren't the problem but we replaced them anyway.
Also, someone else had noted that they had to attach the door seal (this is NOT the gasket that goes around the door opening) with a sealant - I had the same problem; the original seal fit tightly with friction but the new replacement required an adhesive - I used silicone. Still leaked.
From here on I can't guaratee any useful information: I took the strainer screen out of the bottom of the dishwasher and found one slightly loose screw holding what I believe is the 'pump outlet' according to the diagram. I had also read that the water fill is controlled not by the float at the bottom of the washer but by the electronics and it was suggested that I disconnect the DW from the power to 'reset' the timer, this I did and hit the 'Cancel' cycle a couple of times to make sure that all programs were cancelled. Whether any of this made a difference I have no idea - except that the dishwasher suddenly stopped leaking and hasn't leaked a drop for at least 20 washes. So I don't know, for sure, why it leaked or how I fixed it, but it's working and washing great now - except the tines on the lower rack are beginning to rust out and breaking off. The rack is pretty expensive but so far I've saved a lot of money and my family thinks I'm a dishwasher genius.

Once I removed the wash arm from its base and figured out what had happened I ordered the repairs I needed from PartsSelect.com. It was extremely easy to see what was needed.
I had to have them sent overnight, because it was three days before Thanksgiving and the arrival of 7 extra people on Wednesday evening.
The package arrived Tuesday afternoon, I opened it, removed the old spray arm bearing ring, put the new one in place, placed the wash arm bearing ring on the bottom of the wash arm, set it in place, and tightened all of it in place with the new wash arm retainer nut. Started the dishwasher and I was in business!! It took longer to open the package and unpackage everything than it did to make the repair AND no chapped and cracked hands doing Thanksgiving & weekend dishes.

Plastic parts on this Kitchenaid dishwasher suffer repeat wear problems from heat and chemical detergents. The retainer nut on the bottom wash arm split horizontally int the thread area, and during operation, the wash arm would rise up and hit the bottom of the lower basket so there was a worn groove in the wing on top of the nut and the dishes weren't getting very clean. Simple replacement, just screw the nut down. Also decided to replace the bearing ring right under the wash arm because it was getting pasted with white crust-like material from hard water and chemical detergent residues. I've dealt with PartSelect twice now, and they are fast and efficient. The online parts breakdowns are easy to follow.

Removed the rest of the broken retainer plug. Part number was on the top of the plug. Went to Partselect.com looked up the part and ordered it. The right part (important) arrived in a few days. I put the arm back in place, screwed in the new retainer plug and we were back in business. Cost of part about $5.00. Price of not having to share in cleaning the dishes, priceless. Any future problems with any of my appliances, this is the first place I'll look for the needed part.

Replaced the lower washer arm retaining nut,bearing ring.and seal in about 3 min.The retaining nut had broken off inside - make sure to remove the broken piece-I used needle nose pliers.
The dispenser took about 35 mins. Removed all the screws around the inside of the door and removed panel.Removed screws holding the dispenser and replaced.I took time to give the dishwasher a good cleaning(inside edge).
Now my wife is happy.

Uncscrewed the lower washer arm retaining nut and replaced it along wint the 2 washers. Cleans like new.

Unscrewed the front panal from behind. Removed the inside vent covering. Unscrewed the handle screws and removed the handle. Replaced the handle and screws but not before gouging the back of my hand ( I had a needle and thread) and then reattached the panal and vent cavering. The blow-up diagrams you all have are a great reference. Thanks

I simply unscrewed the remainder of the wash arm retainer nut, removed the wash arm bearing ring and spray arm bearing ring and replaced them; No tools were required. At the same time I decided to replaced the upper wash arm with a kit from Part Select. This did require the use of a philips head screwdriver. The job was real easy and accomplished within 1 hour.

Screwed on a new one. The real story is getting the part. I called about noon one day and the part was dropped off at my house by FedEx the next day. Unbelievable. And the lady I talked to found the part number etc that I needed in a few minutes. Great service at a fair price.

First of all I've got to say that when the Wash Arm Retainer Nut broke off I had no idea that it was fixable and for a couple of months my poor son (who's been washing dishes by hand for about 8 years before we got this excellent used dishwasher) had to go back to washing dishes by hand for about 6 weeks while I tried to figure out my alternatives....a new dishwasher was ridiculously expensive. Then....while surfing the web I found Parts Select,read the reviews and realized that I could probably fix the problem with a very inexpensive part. When it arrived in the mail I unscrewed the broken part of the nut, no other parts needed...put it all back together as before in less than 5 mins. and to our joy it worked!!!....thanks to all the people that took the time to write reviews....couldn't have done it without you and thanks to Part Select.......I even decided to check and see if Part Select had a Door Shelf Retainer Bar End Cap for my old fridge.....and found that part too...took 1 min. to install...no tools.....thanks again to all.....my son is very happy now and so am I!!.

I put the bearing ring on the washer arm and then screwed on the retainer nut.
Easy to order the needed parts

You'll have to excuse me, but I'm a women and don't know the exact names for the parts.
Since my nut broke off in two parts, I had to remove the screws on top of the drain screen to get the other half. I just used a philips screwdriver and removed the 7 screws. Took out the broken part, and that was it. Put back the screws, put on the spinning water arm and put in my new part to keep it in place. Thank you. This saved alot of money for a repair person.

The repair was simple except for removing the thread portion of the old retainer nut from the lower housing. I had to remove the lower housing and separate the male threads of the old plastic nut from the female threads in the lower housing. That took 25 minutes since I did not want to ruin the female threads. Once removed, the new parts went into place easily.