Speed queens making loud knocking sounds during agitation

Hey all, I dove into this a few months back and cannot find the thread again, at my place of work we have many speed Queen sets, they are the commercial ones from venders only. I�m working at a independent and assisted retirement community so obviously the residents have laundry rooms on each floor, we also do daily laundry service for the unassisted side. Now we have two speed Queen top loaders in our main housekeeping laundry room for the table linens and resident laundry that we take care of, the two speed queens in our housekeeping office are not too old, ones older than the other one. They both during agitation have a very loud metal clicking/knocking sound as the trans switches backs fourth. They still agitate as quickly as they should and everything else but since these machines are used literally hundreds and hundreds of times per month so this doesn�t shock me.

What makes that type of horrible sound? Gears getting worn? I�m not familiar with speed queen mechanics, only direct drives which I have at home. So any input would be great to allow maintenance to know so they can either replace them or fix them cause the knocking has only gotten worse and worse over the months that I�ve been there.

The two models we have the one is a 2014-2018 model commercial unit with the extra rinse option and taller agitator, the other one is clearly older but has the same style control panel but no extra rinse and no bleach dispenser and the agitator is much shorter, it�s like the first flexvane agitator SQ offered which has the small lines between each curved fin. I love both of these machines but the newer one drives me absolutely insane, allow me to enlighten you quickly with my rant. I absolutely do not understand why they thought it was OK to let the machine only operate which includes filling with the lid closed that makes absolutely zero sense and it�s like why can�t you let the machine fill with the lid open that�s absolutely ridiculous I can understand maybe spinning but not filling so I deactivated that of course, and then for another thing it�s got a small medium and extra-large setting well on the extra large setting it doesn�t filled to the brim of the tub it fills to second to last row of holes in the tub, which is NOT an EXTRA large load at all, extra large should mean it fills to the very top set of holes and I constantly have to add more water to it. Speaking of adding more water on the normal eco cycle between six and nine minutes on the timer if you pull it out right there in that sweet spot it�ll start filling as it�s agitating once it reaches the level in which that you selected and it�ll continuously fill to the brim of the tub as it begins to agitate and then it�ll shut off once it reaches the very brim of the tub and I�ve tested this on a couple other of the newer speed queens we have in this building and they all do the exact same thing how in the hell is that economic whatsoever if you�re doing a small load of wash on that cycle and then it�s going to automatically fill to the brim when it reaches that spot in the timer unless you set it for less than 6 mins, that makes absolutely zero sense to me either� and then the ridiculous five minute or so pause as it does between agitation and spin drives me absolutely up the wall it�s like stop agitating wait a few seconds and then click right into spin there�s no need to let the dirt settle I don�t really care lol. And also when it goes from wash to drain it does a low speed drain, cannot stand that either. I would never buy one of those models to make it clear, I like the older models better they really did some weird stuff following the generation before 2013 or so that makes absolutely completely zero sense. Our brand new speed Queen TR5 literally fills as the lids open�.and that�s the new motor and crap they put in it with the lid locking feature which doesn�t lock the lid until after it fills completely and calls for the agitation period.

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Post# 1137875 12/30/2021 at 16:41 (847 days old) by maytaga806 (Howell, Michigan)
Checkrate/Likes Hey all, I dove into this a few months back and cannot find the thread again, at my place of work we have many speed Queen sets, they are the commercial ones from venders only. I�m working at a independent and assisted retirement community so obviously the residents have laundry rooms on each floor, we also do daily laundry service for the unassisted side. Now we have two speed Queen top loaders in our main housekeeping laundry room for the table linens and resident laundry that we take care of, the two speed queens in our housekeeping office are not too old, ones older than the other one. They both during agitation have a very loud metal clicking/knocking sound as the trans switches backs fourth. They still agitate as quickly as they should and everything else but since these machines are used literally hundreds and hundreds of times per month so this doesn�t shock me. What makes that type of horrible sound? Gears getting worn? I�m not familiar with speed queen mechanics, only direct drives which I have at home. So any input would be great to allow maintenance to know so they can either replace them or fix them cause the knocking has only gotten worse and worse over the months that I�ve been there. The two models we have the one is a 2014-2018 model commercial unit with the extra rinse option and taller agitator, the other one is clearly older but has the same style control panel but no extra rinse and no bleach dispenser and the agitator is much shorter, it�s like the first flexvane agitator SQ offered which has the small lines between each curved fin. I love both of these machines but the newer one drives me absolutely insane, allow me to enlighten you quickly with my rant. I absolutely do not understand why they thought it was OK to let the machine only operate which includes filling with the lid closed that makes absolutely zero sense and it�s like why can�t you let the machine fill with the lid open that�s absolutely ridiculous I can understand maybe spinning but not filling so I deactivated that of course, and then for another thing it�s got a small medium and extra-large setting well on the extra large setting it doesn�t filled to the brim of the tub it fills to second to last row of holes in the tub, which is NOT an EXTRA large load at all, extra large should mean it fills to the very top set of holes and I constantly have to add more water to it. Speaking of adding more water on the normal eco cycle between six and nine minutes on the timer if you pull it out right there in that sweet spot it�ll start filling as it�s agitating once it reaches the level in which that you selected and it�ll continuously fill to the brim of the tub as it begins to agitate and then it�ll shut off once it reaches the very brim of the tub and I�ve tested this on a couple other of the newer speed queens we have in this building and they all do the exact same thing how in the hell is that economic whatsoever if you�re doing a small load of wash on that cycle and then it�s going to automatically fill to the brim when it reaches that spot in the timer unless you set it for less than 6 mins, that makes absolutely zero sense to me either� and then the ridiculous five minute or so pause as it does between agitation and spin drives me absolutely up the wall it�s like stop agitating wait a few seconds and then click right into spin there�s no need to let the dirt settle I don�t really care lol. And also when it goes from wash to drain it does a low speed drain, cannot stand that either. I would never buy one of those models to make it clear, I like the older models better they really did some weird stuff following the generation before 2013 or so that makes absolutely completely zero sense. Our brand new speed Queen TR5 literally fills as the lids open�.and that�s the new motor and crap they put in it with the lid locking feature which doesn�t lock the lid until after it fills completely and calls for the agitation period. Photos... < > Photo 1 of 2 View Full Size

Post# 1137889 , Reply# 1 12/30/2021 at 18:27 (847 days old) by Repairguy (Danbury, Texas)
Checkrate/Likes 2 My guess would be the brake pads are wearing due to heavy use and are allowing the wash basket to slip a little in each direction. Sometimes they just need to be greased but I�m sure with the use these machines get they probably need to be replaced. I even grease the new ones ever so slightly upon installation. Another possibility is that the friction ring underneath the milk stool assembly has worn through the paint and making noise. Both noises can be very annoying but unless the brakes are letting the wash basket index too much it�s really not an issue with the machines operation.

Post# 1137890 , Reply# 2 12/30/2021 at 18:33 (847 days old) by maytaga806 (Howell, Michigan)
Checkrate/Likes The sound is coming from the motor and trans but the tub does try to index but gets pushed back with every agitation stroke, the tubs sorta move with the agitator a little. I was told it may be the transmission getting worn out or bad belts�.but I�ll post a video to my YouTube so you can all hear and determine. CLICK HERE TO GO TO maytaga806's LINK

Post# 1137891 , Reply# 3 12/30/2021 at 18:35 (847 days old) by maytaga806 (Howell, Michigan)
Checkrate/Likes The older model, which is the one I recorded in my video I just linked, is getting louder and louder every spin cycle it�s like a loud whirling sound as it ramps up to full speed and continues to get louder it seems. Maybe that�s the tub break and the agitation knocking is separate or the same problem I don�t know.

Post# 1137892 , Reply# 4 12/30/2021 at 18:37 (847 days old) by maytaga806 (Howell, Michigan)
Checkrate/Likes If you overload it with something heavy as hell the agitation gets slower and the tub will fully index�.poor thing probably has never ever had service done to it. Love these machines but god these people don�t take any care of them besides me.

Post# 1137897 , Reply# 5 12/30/2021 at 19:09 (847 days old) by Repairguy (Danbury, Texas)
Checkrate/Likes 1 The washer in the video has a brake problem. If it is roaring in the spin cycle the upper bearing is going bad probably from a slow leaking water seal above it.

Post# 1139076 , Reply# 6 1/12/2022 at 05:16 (834 days old) by Timborow (Georgia)
Checkrate/Likes My Speed Queen is from 2008 and makes the same sound when agitating. It still works fine. I have had mine serviced regularly. The last service was in November of 2021. He told me that the machine was still in great shape. I asked him about the noise. He told me that it�s a normal sound for the age of the machine. I didn�t know to ask about the tub brakes. Does anyone have instructions on how to grease them? What type of grease to use? Is there just one set of tub brakes? This might be a job I would tackle if I had a little direction about what to do. Thanks in advance for any input.

Post# 1139089 , Reply# 7 1/12/2022 at 07:51 (834 days old) by combo52 (50 Year Repair Tech Beltsville,Md)
Checkrate/Likes *Heavily Used SQ TL Washers* These washers could probably use new belts and brake pads, but they are working well, the noise is not the motor or transmission. If they want to have them serviced great but most places don't do anything till they stop working and then some just replace rather than repair. Too bad they don't get the SQ FL machines, the amount of water and hot water these machines are using is obscene to say nothing about the cost of extra detergent, bleach etc and extra gas for clothing drying. John L.