Quick history - at times I've smelled a faint hot rubber smell from the washer, but opeartion seemed normal. Other times (rarely) I have found a small puddle in the washroom, but never could find a leak. Sometimes I have heard strange clicking from the washer during a spin cycle. I knew something was going wrong, but couldn't find the problem.

Finally something has broken - The wife pointed out that the tub wasn't spinning at all, and won't agitate. Motor is running, and the pump is pulling water out normally. I couldn't reach in and spin the basket by hand in either direction, and the agitator won't turn manually.

I popped the front cover off hoping the belt had popped off or broken, but it was still on the pulleys - although very loose. There is a ton of black rubbery powder in the bottom of the unit. I can't make the trans pulley rotate more than a few degrees either direction. My guess is either the brakes have locked down solid, causing the belt to slip and burn away like an eraser, or the transmission itself is broken and needs replacing?

Anyone have other ideas?

I worked on it some tonight - removed the agitator and tried to get the locknut off using a pipe wrench (that I had to cut 1" off the end of the handle for it to fit in the basket). In the process of straining on the locknut (Yes, I know it's reverse threaded) I managed to get the basket to rotate a little - then it felt like it freed up. I ran a batch of water to trigger an agitation cycle, and sure enough it worked in that mode, then when it drained and switched over to spin, the basket spun, but it made a lot of loud clicking, and jerky movements in the process. The clicking is coming from the transmission it sounds like. Some times it won't turn, the whole assembly binds resulting in the slipping belt - but if I leave it running and try to spin the basket by hand (takes a good bit of effort) it will usually spin up, again with the loud clicking and excessive jerking until it gets fully up to speed.

I'm thinking something in the system when the transmission is trying to lock down and spin the basket isn't engaging completely?

The belt is fired, and loose - as this model doesn't have any belt tensioner. I'm going to try and pick up a new belt tomorrow from a local parts house, and see if that changes anything. I'm still wary of the transmission being what hurt the original belt in the first place. I can get a new one online here obviously, but I'm not 100% sure how to get the locknut off the agitator shaft to drop the whole assembly. Even then I'm not sure I could get the assembly out with the clearance of the tub. Does the entire tub need to be removed for this?

In order to remove the tub nut you have to use a special tub nut wrench and a hummer. It happened two times to me when I could not remove it even using a good hummer.

Most likely the problem is a bad transmission and yes, you do have to remove the whole tub to replace the transmission.

Gene.

correction....after looking at the breakdown being a GE you do have to remove the whole tub. Sorry I should have looked at the breakdown first.
Personally, I'd recommend just getting a different washer! The cost of that tranny would be more costly than a good used washer or about half the cost of a new one.