Washer Agitator WP8543666

Washer was leaking -- in part from hoses that had loosened over time due to unbalanced loads and age, and partly from a worn pump -- and not agitating/spinning properly. Fixed hoses, replaced pump and clutch. Unfortunately, when I pulled apart direct drive to replace clutch, the drive shaft started leaking because old seals worn and compromised on disassembly. Have to give credit where due -- YouTube invaluable here -- pulled and disassembled drive shaft, removed old seals, replaced and reassembled. Time consuming, but if you keep track of where things go, not too bad. 3 things I wish I knew in advance: (1) for an old washer you definitely need a spanner nut wrench (like 15-25 bucks online) to remove the spanner nut so you can pull the basket and get to the seals -- no wrench/pliers/vise substitute will do the trick; (2) the shaft seals have metal washers inside the rubber/plastic -- when you're removing the old seals, you might need to chisel (hammer and small flat head screwdriver) the old seals out instead of just pulling out the corroded rubber which will leave the old metal behind; (3) if your time is valuable, try to diagnose all the likely sources of your problem and buy the parts to repair at once rather than doing piecemeal like me. Took me 2 weeks and two complete tear downs to finish a repair that should have taken me an afternoon. I love my local Appliance Parts guy -- he's knowledgeable and usu. has what I need or can get it fast and I like supporting local brick and mortar -- but if time is important to you, taking advantage of online companies that allow you to return what you don't use may save you time.

My unit is 12 years old and this is the first issue I have had with it "Whirlpool washing machine". Repair was very easy and simple. The only problem I ran into was the agitator bolt head had came into contact with water. The head had rusted and crumbled witch made the repair take longer than normal.
I had my daughter time the reassembly witch took 8 minutes. I strongly suggest using name brand parts over aftermarket, wither you get them from PartSelect or elsewhere I don't care. Try the repair yourself, you can do it.