My old Estate by Whirlpool direct drive top loader started having agitator issues about a month or so ago. Every other operational aspect was working perfectly. So I replaced the dogs with no improvement and then yesterday I actually pulled everything from underneath and replaced the clutch and some other minor parts and that didn't help either. The old parts were still in good condition so I was thinking this wouldn't help and I was right. I came to the conclusion it must be one of the gears inside the transmission.
In the process of all this I got tired of spending too much time on repairs so found a local place that sells used appliances. He's keeping his store closed except for appointments right now and has ads in the local CL, which is how I found him.
He met me this morning at his store - just he and I. We chatted a bit about repair stuff and general washer mechanics and he agreed it was probably my transmission. He had a back room with spare used parts but was reluctant to sell me one his transmissions because he wanted to save them for his repairs, which I understood. I will probably snag one off eBay.
But in the meantime I got a pretty good deal ($200 cash) on this Kenmore direct drive top-loader with the see through lid. I told him it looked like something designed by NASA.....lol.
It went through the first load and worked perfect. A little quieter than my old one. It also has the double rinse option, which is nice.