It's a Magic Chef W206K -- I think it was made by Maytag.

After years of good service, it's suddenly started "walking" around the laundry room during the spin cycle. This isn't an unbalanced load -- it's every load, twice; even when it's run through a wash cycle empty. The machine is level; the floor is level. It just started "walking" like this 3 weeks ago.

I've opened the top, removed the front panel and looked around inside. Everything seems to be where it's supposed to be; no sign of missing parts or anything broken. I ran it through a cycle empty with the front panel off and everything seems to do what it's supposed to do except for the violent ending to the spin cycle.

Could this be a problem with a "floating" counterbalance that got locked into place by rust?
Shot springs?
What should I check to figure this out?

Thanks.

I think its time to call th maytag repair man!

Check the suspension(tub centering) springs. Sounds like one is broken. I believe you should find 3 on this

Check the suspension(tub centering) springs. Sounds like one is broken. I beleive you should find 3 on this

There are 3 springs and there all there; none broken, none disconnected; all in place. Could they have lost tension and become too "soft" to do their job?

If the springs have tension they should be fine. Try this. I had a call similar to yours. This machine was level, however, all 4 of the leveler legs where screwed way out. Try running them all the way in, then level according.They need to be as close to all the way in as possible. Let me know how this goes

If the springs have tension they should be fine. Try this. I had a call similiar to yours. This machine was level, however, all 4 of the leveler legs where screwed way out. Try running them all the way in, then level according.They need to be as close to all the way in as possible. Let me know how this goes

The legs weren't all the way out but I did shorten them up and re-level the machine. It didn't seem like much of a change but the washer is back to normal behavior. It seems odd that this would suddenly cause a problem after years of use.

Could the water level have been too low?
- I just changed the whole-house sediment filter (scheduled change unrelated to the washer's behavior) and while doing so realized that the pressure drop from a dirty filter might possibly reduce the amount of water going into the washer's tub. But it sure seems a stretch for a minor variation in water at the start of the spin cycle to cause that much trouble.

Another possibility: Could I have put the washer back on the one "sweet spot" in the laundry room when I was working on the legs? A single unbalanced load could have caused the washer to walk off a "sweet spot" if there is one. If I didn't push it back just right, could the washer have made the floor wobble enough to make every load act unbalanced?

Since the problem seems solved now, I'm not going to get too excited about water pressure and a "soft" floor. But when I get the chance, I will take the time to put in some extra bracing between the joists under the laundry room.

A solid foundation is necessary for the unit to run properly. Once the floor is stable, unit should preform correctly

Most drum washing machine would walk when washing the matter which could not be properly distributed evenly. When the unbalance reach certain level the washing machine would vibrate and walking on the floor. The best washing machine could tolerate large unbalanced load, say 800g to 1500g(for 10~13kg washers).
This walking problems could be tackled using squeezed rheological foot dampers, which look like the general foot pads, say the unbalanced load could increases to 200% without walking and at the same time with samller vibration.
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