What's That Noise?

[cabinetman]

Our clothes washer and dryer (about 8 years old) have been great performers. The last 2-3 loads in the washer do fine until the high speed spins, and then there's a constant loud rumbling noise for that cycle. It doesn't shake or jump around...just noisy as heck.

We don't overload the washer. So, before I call the repairman, what could it be. If it's a simple fix, I may give it a shot. Thanks for any suggestions.
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[billwmeyer]

Washer trouble

I am no expert, but it sounds like a bearing. If it is in the transmission, which I would guess, you may have problems. I would think that if it was in the transmission, there would be grease leakage. You might pull out the washer and look for grease.

Good Luck.

Bill

[Uncle Cracker]

I'm with Bill on this one... sounds like the tranny. Sometimes a good cleaning, lube and visual inspection of belts, pulleys and idlers will correct something like this, but often, it's not good news. My neighbor got an extra two years out of his when it started rumbling, but he had to get used to the noise.

[Tom Miller]

Is it a motor sound, or the sound of the tub clanging around? If the latter, you might check for a broken or disconnected "hold-down" (not sure what the right term is, but they're the flexible retainers that keeps the tub centered).

Regards,
Tom

[rnelson0]

We don't overload the washer.

Stupid question time. Some washers have a dial to set the load size. If you set it to small and put a medium load in there, it has problems (guessing it drops the gear ratio or the motor output based on this) and turning the dial up to 11 always works fine. Hope it is something that similar for you.

[Uncle Cracker]

Stupid question time. Some washers have a dial to set the load size. If you set it to small and put a medium load in there, it has problems (guessing it drops the gear ratio or the motor output based on this) and turning the dial up to 11 always works fine. Hope it is something that similar for you.

I think on many washers (including mine), the load setting only affects how much water is used on the wash and rinse fills... Spin rate seems unaffected.