I have an old Hotpoint/GE dishwasher. The lower spray arm (the only
spray arm) has a very thin paper-like seal at the bottom that looks to
be Teflon. It's held in place by a gear-shaped nut.

My old one was half worn away, so I decided to replace it. I did my
best to put the new one in like the old one, but it doesn't seem
right--the spray arm doesn't turn freely (it's dry now, though).

The way I have it now is with the seal AROUND the spray arm shaft (held
in place by the gear-shaped nut) with the inner seal edge "crawling up"
the spray arm shaft. Is this right?

The only other way I can see doing it is to have the whole seal beneath
the spray arm assembly, which would be the way it would have to go if I
installed the gear nut and paper-like seal before I installed the spray
arm.

Thank you,

Mike