Raymond Cruz wrote

I have about a 5 year old KitchenAid (Whirlpool)
top loading, direct drive (no belt), washing
machine that rapidly progressed from vibrating
on all cycles to no tub or agitator motion at all.

I've found that the motor is fine but the three
plastic teeth of the coupling between the motor
and transmission are sheared off. The book
says this would typically be caused by
transmission lockup

The motor couplers on Whirlpool direct drive washers can break for all
sorts of reasons, not necessarily due to a transmission problem.

Is there a way for me to evaluate transmission function?

Replace the $10 coupling and see if it happens again.

Whirlpool 'direct dive' washer drive coupler:
http://tinyurl.com/35m96

Would an appliance repair shop do this for me?

Not likely... especially if you planned on removing the transmission
from the washer and only taking it to them. If they performed the
service on the washer in your home, they probably do the same thing as
i suggested. The once it was running again, look for possible causes.

Is it possible that I need do nothing more than
replace the coupling because shear force from
repeated stops and starts simply caused it to
break?

I would say that's the most likely cause (if not overloading, basement
too cold, excessive vibration, among other possibilities) although if
you find that it's "vibrating on all cycles" again, you should have
that looked into *before* it causes more damage this time. Although
the couple could have been the cause of that.

JMO

Dan O.
-
Appliance411.com
http://ng.Appliance411.com/?ref411=Whirlpool+washer

=Ð~~~~~~