Recently, my wife noticed the Whirlpool washer agitator not agitating properly. This is an older Whirlpool washer with a ratcheting agitator…I guess that is what one might call it. Anyway, as the video below shows, the agitator looked like it was not performing as it should be. I decided to take it off the washer and see if it was repairable.

After noticing a slot in the side of the top where the cap pushes down, I was able to remove the cap with a screwdriver. Now I was able to look down inside the hollow two-piece agitator and see a plug type cap. This cap was easy to remove by just pulling up on it with my fingers. Just below this cap was what is called dogs, which are supposed to catch on the side of this two piece agitator. However, my dogs were worn down to partially nothing.

I removed the 7/16 bolt in the center of dog configuration, and was able to pull the whole agitator assembly completely from the washer tub. While holding the bottom piece of the agitator with my feet and at the same time pulling straight up on the outer agitator piece, I neatly removed both pieces from each other. After cleaning all of the pieces, I then installed the dogs into the old holder as the new replacement holder had stops that would not allow the dog retaining washer to properly slide down for a snug fit. In hindsight, I probably could have forced the retaining washer and maybe the stops are designed as locking retainers. However, I did not want to take a chance on breaking the washer, and there was no mention in the instructions about this issue.

Finally the parts were assembled. The outer agitator just pushes down over the inner one when the dog container is properly aligned with the lower agitator groves. It is a turning and feeling process to align both agitators. Once properly aligned, the outer piece is pushed down into the inner piece while holding the dog container. I found the outer agitator a bit wobbly, but by more pushing down on the dog container piece allowed a much tighter fit, and the ratcheting effect was now performing properly (see video).

I reinstalled the repaired assembly back into the washer by pushing it down over the splined washer shaft. I then reinstalled the 7/16 bolt, dog cover cap (for lack of a better description), and the agitator assembly top cap. The Whirlpool Washer Agitator now performed as new!