Hi. I have purchased and am trying to replace the agitator repair kit (dogs, short cam, bearing) for my whirlpool lsq9549lw2 washer which was just six years old last month. I had no problem removing the bolt, and the entire agitator assembly easily came out of the washer. Only problem is, now I'm stuck... I can't get the top half (the mover) to pull away from the bottom half (the agitator) so I can do the replacement.

I read somewhere to put the whole assembly on the floor, step on it, and just pull upward. That might work for a big, strong, fella but I'm not big nor am I a fella, and I guess I have about average strength for a five-foot-nothing, 50 year old woman. Anyway, I've tried and tried to pull this thing apart, but I just can't get it.

Is it safe for me to try to leverage in between the two parts with a screwdriver, or will I only break it that way? Would a mallet do me any good, or just do damage? Is there some sort of trick to separating these parts??

I'm out of work, caring for a bro who has Down Syndrome, living on practically nothing, so calling a repair man is out of the question, and I have no neighbors I can ask for help (no one in the neighborhood left who speaks English), so Im really on my own, need to rely on this wonderful forum so that I can complete the repair on my own. PLEASE -- anybody have any suggestions? HELP???!!!!! Thanks!

Hi, and thank you so very much. I got it!

Before hearing from you I tried oiling it; repeatedly banging the blasted thing (as someone else online had suggested); almost pulled my guts out trying to pull it while standing on it; tried to find something to sit inside the hole for leverage in hopes of just pressing down forcing the top off; practically beat it to death with a mallet; and attempted countless bodily contortions to achieve leverage that, had someone been filming, would surely have made it to the finals on Funniest Home Videos.

In the end, it took a combination of (1) soaking in extremely hot water for a few minutes which I think not only loosened the gunk but probably also expanded the plastic and (2) realizing that what was on top of the four little divets (little snap tips) on the cam (?? is that what they call the clear/whitish part that the dogs sit in??) was not fabric softener build-up but rather the tiny tips had somehow been melted down, effectively sealing the two parts together. Still can't imagine how the little tips could have been melded together like they were -- it looked almost like a heat gun or chemical of some type had caused it.

At any rate, were it not for your suggestion to try hot water, I suspect I'd still be trying (I'm part Scottish, so I don't give up easily). Have to admit though, I almost got to the point that I was going to return the agitator kit and simply order a whole new agitator assembly. Even if I had done that, it still would have cost me significantly less than paying a repair person.

By the way, should I have applied grease to any part of the agitator assembly? I thought I read somewhere about greasing some part, but I'm not sure exactly what and wouldn't have known what type of grease to use.

Well, now it's time to start the laundry, so I'll leave you with another thank you, and God bless you for coming to my rescue.

~ Bernadette

What can I say, at 69 I can remember the time when I rebuilt car engines not because I wanted to but because I had to. Now some of the smallest things try my patience but THANKS to you guys, I ran hot water over my two piece agitator and pulled like heck and to my surprise it came apart.
My situation was like the lady above, the retaining tabs appeared to have been hot welded on preventing an easy removal.
I then used the parts I bought from you guys and WOW, my clotheswasher is working like NEW!
Somehow a simple THANKS doesn't seem like enough but you can bet in any future repairs, I'll order the parts from you and then look over the many answers as how to replace the parts.
This is a FANTASTIC service you offer the public expecially in these times when money is short and hopes for the future may not be much better.
THANKS,
Dewey ( a long time fix it myselfer who was stumped by this repair)

Volunteers, that's fantastic!
What a great way to share the obvious vast knowledge you have about appliances.
You can bet the next time I have a failure, I'll know where to look.
Thanks again-

Do all whirlpool agitators come apart the same way ? Mine is a ultimate care 2 model# LSB6200KQO and it does not want to come apart