Maytag Model A606 Washing Machine. Sometimes, when the machine tries to
kick into the spin cycle, you can hear the motor strain as it starts to
rotate the tub. And then CLICK - and stop. (I suspect the click is
overtemp, because as the motor cools down, you can hear it reset with
another click.)

I thought perhaps some kind of brake might be stuck (like, when you open
the lid during spin and the tub stops rapidly), but I can pull on the
belts and everything is mostly free. I can easily rotate in the non-spin
direction. Sometimes it'll feel like something is binding when I pull in
the spin direction. When I get through that by hand, it usually fixes
the problem for that spin cycle, but not always.

I pulled the top water cover off the motor, and there's some kind of
relay/switch on top of the motor that appears to be actuated by a pull
in lever. (Is that a start capacitor type thing with some high torque
phasing?) When all works properly, the pull in lever pulls in very
quickly during motor start, but when there's a spin hang, the pull in
lever does not pull in. Pulling the lever by hand when the motor is
staining as it starts the tub in motion does not cause the tub to reach
full spin.

You can tell by sound that the motor isn't going to reach full spin -
not only does it sound like it's straining, but there's a distinctive
difference in the sound of the motor. (No normal whirring.) The motor
will try for a few seconds and then stop. (In overheat, I presume.)

One other variable to mess up the analysis: When we're in this "won't
spin mode" sometimes the timer will keep going right past "OFF" and into
the next cycles (Perm Press and Soak), although the washer won't
actually perform those cycles. Is the timer somehow getting feedback
from the motor?

I could shotgun and replace the motor and timer, but don't want to spend
all that money if there's a simple fix.

Any ideas or more data I can gather?

Thanks,

Mike Palmer