Washer Agitator WP3951744

Removed top of agitator and undid the bolt with 7/16ths extended socket wrench. Took out the full agitator. Three plugs had to be removed one was missing. They were in ruff shape. You have to push in the plugs until they snap in. Put in the new agitator and put the bolt back in.

I removed the softener cup from the top of the agitator unit. The auger works separately from the bottom agitator. Remove the cap from down in the auger. There is a 7/16" bolt that holds the Auger and agitator to the center shaft. Loosen that bolt with a 7/16" socket on an extension from the ratchet wrench, and remove it from the bushing- I used a magnet. You will need to hold the agitator to loosen the bolt. Save that bolt. You will need it later. The entire agitator and auger can be lifted as a unit straight up out of the washer tub. There is a plastic bushing in the replacement kit. Slide it down over the center shaft with the small tabs up, then apply some Vaseline to the tabs as a lubricant. The new agitator can now be slipped down over the center shaft and seated on the bushing. Place the top auger onto the shaft down on to the agitator. Next, assemble the top bushing by placing the four cogs into the slots with the small pegs. The cogs must have the side with the raised area on the top of the assembly. Next push the plastic keeper down over the center of the bushing to hold the cogs in place and push it down to secure the cogs. Place this assembly into center shaft and line up the four rectangular holes in the top bushing with the four plastic prongs below. The top bushing assembly may be pushed down and secured by the four upright pegs below. If there are plastic tabs obstructing the rectangular holes in the top bushing , you can put the bolt back into the center hole and carefully tighten it down making sure the four holes align with the four pegs below. Tighten until the top bushing is securely in place. You will need to hold the lower agitator while you tighten the bolt with the socket wrench. Replace cap over the top bushing, then the softener cup into the top of the agitator assembly. The job is complete.

Replacement

I was emboldened after reading other reviews by how easy it was to replace the agitator in my Whirlpool, with comments like "it took less than an hour". Well, that might be true for some... The video also made it look easy, so I ordered the replacement part. I did not disassemble the machine in advance but I did enough troubleshooting to determine that the clutch was fine, but the agitator failed to spin during operation. When the part arrived I followed the video, but I was unable to loosen the retaining bolt. The failure of the agitator was a result of stripped gear on the inside of the agitator, so it just spun loosely or, during the wash cycle, not at all. Because the gear teeth failed to grip, I was unable to use the agitator to hold the shaft stationary while loosening the attaching bolt. My only option was to cut the plastic agitator away from the shaft using a rotary cutter, being careful not to damage the shaft or the bolt. This was a painful, time consuming job but, with patience, it can be done. Have a shop vac handy because you'll have to stop on numerous occasions to vacuum up plastic pieces and dust, so they don't slip through the small holes in the drum and clog your drain. The problem was compounded because during the initial installation they had used excessive amounts of Loctite and the bolt was glued pretty tightly to the shaft. Anyway, after approx. 4 hours of troubleshooting/repair work the washer is back in operation, and I still saved money on the deal, so I'm a satisfied customer..

Hi I took off the old one and put on the new one quick and easy

I just ordered the complete agitator kit since I didn't know for sure what I all needed, and it made my repair so easy replacing since it was all complete. I followed video which was a great help. Got it all done in 25 minutes. Very easy. Thank you...

Washer; I watched the repair video, and replaced the agitator. It was so simple I think that it took longer to watch the video. Refrigerator; I replaced the ice maker, and the solenoid valve. It was very easy to replace the parts, however it took a while to diagnose the problem. I found an appliance repair man that told me what contact points on the front of the ice maker would trigger the clock (so I didn't have to wait for an hour for the clock to activate). There is also a set of contacts that when jumpered will trigger the solenoid valve. It only took a total of 25 minutes to fix both the washer, and the dryer. If you take a piece of 14 Ga. solid wire about 6" long and strip the ends about 3/8" and bend it into a U you have a jumper. If you jump the contact points on the front of the icemaker letters T & H this will start the clock operation. If you jump letters L & V, the solenoid should open to allow water to flow to the tray. If water does not flow, the filter should be checked in the valve. If the valve sounds like it is opening, sometimes the inlet to the ice maker can freeze stoping the flow. In my case I found the solenoid valve was getting only a week signal, and would only function about 25% of the time.

It was very simple. Took one socket with extention, and slipped the new agitator on and but bolt back in the tightened and that was it.

I bought the cog kit. Nice directions on how to assemble but their were no instruction on how to disassemble the agitator. I wound up replacing the whole agitator for $60 vs $6 for the parts I needed. The agitator had only one nut (which you had to take off to get at the cog assembly anyway. The agitator is the way to go. The cogs are halfway down the top part of agitator with no way the get them out without a special tool or ruining the bottom part of the agitator as the clips are part of the bottom piece. If you need special tools they should be listed. If you need to be a trained technician that should also be stated. To give you parts in the middle of an assembly with no instruction on how to put them in the assembly is plain wrong.

Although this was listed as 'a bit difficult' and talking a bit longer than normal, this was because the agitator cap had leaked, and over time the agitator bolt had become completely rusted such that a socket simply couldn't fit. Due to the tight confines, I also could not get a needle-nose vise-grip to hold on to the nut, so attempted to drill out the bolt. This ended up being a problem, but it turns out that drilling AROUND the edge of the bolt and through the edge of the plastic allowed me to remove the top of the agitator, which then allowed a normal pair of vise-grips to be used to remove the bolt. Once the bolt is removed, everything simply fell into place, and the overall job 'should' have only taken a couple of minutes and been 'really easy', except for that rusted-out bolt.