My guess is you need a new lower lip seal.

www.partselect.com/PS2017...

Do you know how much oil has leaked? If it's a lot you might wanna open it up to at least top it off. The Pitman tranny is pretty simple and very easy to rebuild. I never could find a replacement gasket though, so you'll have to use some liquid gasket.

I believe fixing that leak requires total disassembly of the transmission. There is an O ring on the shaft that is leaking.

Maytag used an o-ring seal from at least 1956 (may even go back to the AMP models) until June 1986 when they switched to the lip seal design that ran until Maytags demise in 2006.

The trans needs to be taken apart....at minimum, change the old oil (what's left of it), and replace the lower o-ring. Back when parts were still easily available, changing the Delrin pinion gear and clutch washers was also recommended. You'll need to use RTV for the transmission cover seal since the gasket is NLA. Running the machine with low oil will eventually gull up and seize the internal gearing.

So, I have a tool i use for my car's oil filters. Its a nylon strap and a square 1/2" rod connecting the ends. I wrap it around the filter and then insert a ratchet into the rod and go to work. It works amazingly well. I think it might fit around the brake actually. Or i could just make my own I guess with a ratchet strap?

Who is hoarding all these brake wrenches btw? 

The brake doesn't need to be removed to take the trans out for service.

This is true but he mentioned in his first post about replacing the damper pads. Removing the brake assembly makes this considerably much easier to do. Something I learned with rebuilding transmissions early on is that the internal springs gets weak in the brake package overtime and it generally doesn't take long for the tub to begin indexing after the trans has been rebuilt and is agitating with great authority.

The brake tool were all over the place until Whirlpoop discontinued them a few years back. Almost overnight they suddenly became rare. I wonder if most owners threw them away after replacing the brake package or they were just stashed somewhere in the garage and forgot about 'em. Probably thrown away after they died, for sure.

You can clamp vice grips to the brake, then tap the vice grips with a hammer.

So, I went to my local appliance store to see if I could get some parts for this project.   They went to get the owner of the store (who by the way said he was one of the first four members of this site!), and he went on to tell me that I am wasting my time on this.  Here was his reasoning:

He stated that the lower O-ring should never fail.  He state emphatically that it fails because the lower bushing has gone bad (he stated from the motor rollers go bad and put undo lateral stress on the lower trans housing).  He explained that I was going to go through all of this and it was still going to leak anyways.

I am deflated for sure.  Sourcing parts for this has been a circus show of jumping through internet hoops like crazy.  So let me ask you all this:

1. Is he right?
2. I am changing the tub bearing, stem kit, damper kit, and rebuilding the trans, and changing the motor roller kit.  Will this mitigate the problem enough that I won't have to worry about it leaking oil again?
3. Is getting a lower trans housing bushing just out of the question?

What is a girl to do?  I really really really want to put this machine back into service!  (my dirty clothes are really stacking up!!)

I've replaced a lot of o-rings is the last 16 years and never had a leak come back yet. They leak from a combination of use and age. One of our long term members, Geoff Delp scored a NIB A700 which leaked from the o-ring about a year into service. O-ring replaced, problem solved. Certainly no bushing wear on a virtually new machine.

www.automaticwasher.org/c...

"He stated that the lower O-ring should never fail.  He state emphatically that it fails because the lower bushing has gone bad (he stated from the motor rollers go bad and put undo lateral stress on the lower trans housing).  He explained that I was going to go through all of this and it was still going to leak anyways."

Yeah that's a load of bologna. Those lower o-rings fail all the time, so much so that Maytag replaced them with a lower lip seal (which is compatible with your A806, just be sure to get the old o-ring out before installing the new lip seal). When I bought my A512, it had a minor oil leak. Installed a new lower lip seal and that fixed it. Hasn't leaked as much as a drop since.

Your A806 is still very much fixable, don't get discouraged!

Hey guys!  I am still working on this.  Life just keeps getting in the way!!

Anyways, I am looking for the agitator stop seal.  Any leads on to where I can get one or at least a part number??

Any help would be appreciated!!

So i am still plugging along on this and am near the end.  I will post some pictures shortly. (My kids really enjoyed putting the transmission back together and pouring the oil!! )

I am replacing the water pump and noticed the stem for the bleach dispenser to attach to has no hole!  The stem is there but its solid.  So I am assuming that I just drill a hole? Is there a particular size I am supposed to use?

Thanks again to everyone for their help.  This has been a really fun adventure.

One other question - After all of this, how long do you think it will realistically live for?

I did this 15 years ago and not one single problem has cropped up yet. Not surprised though, it's a Maytag.

As long as you take good care of it and don't overload it or anything, it will probably outlive you. It's a Maytag, they weren't fooling around when they built them to last.

So I have it all back together, cleaned up, and I think something is wrong.

First:

I hooked it up in the garage for testing with just the one hose hooked up to cold with the settings set to cold, and water started shooting out through the hot inlet.  Am I a fool for doing this or is it broken?  I thought it was supposed to be closed if you only wanted to do cold water?

Second:

I can't get it to spin.  It agitates and does it beautifully and smoothly.  When I have it set on the dial to do the spin, the machine just makes a semi-loud hum.  I checked the wires on the motor and all is good.  Any ideas on what's wrong?