Door Spring Assembly with Adjusting Hook

First I needed to figure out what panel to take off to get to the springs. It's the kick plate that is held on to the bottom front of the dishwasher by two screws. Then note what holes the spring ends are connected to assuming at least of the two are still connected. Then remove the old spring. With new spring, ensure that the two pieces ... Read more are together as shown in the instructions that come with the kit and that the little rubber foot is hooked on the end of the bottom portion of the spring (this is to keep the spring in the hole when it is finally assembled. Hook the one end on the bracket and using a hemostat or long needle nose pliers hold the bottom of the spring and angle it into the correct hole in the bottom of the washer as noted in the instructions. It is tricky since the spring wants to come apart and it will take several tries until you succeed in getting it inserted in the correct hole. Then replace the other one. Strong suggestion. Replace both springs at the same time. Save yourself some energy later.

removed bottom "kick plate" cover piece (2 vertical screws removed completely, 2 horizontal screws loosened) by sliding upward and then pulling out. I did not pull the dishwasher out from under the counter because I did not want to disconnect the hard plumbed rigid copper water pipe (best not to disturb those 26 year old connections) so ... Read more it was a little tricker to get the spring in position and needed to use two sets of needle nose pliers to place hoop over door lever and then position the bottom offset metal piece into the groove. Used the easiest to reach groove that still provided some tension to the spring assembly and just barely got it hooked in. Then used needle nose pliers to pull in that offset metal piece with the red cap on it, towards the center line of the washer. And then, when I could easily grab that offset metal piece in the middle, and not by just the red capped portion, I pulled it down to the next slot lower for the correct tension. Because I did not pull out the washer from the cabinet enclosure, most of my time was spent wriggling that spring into position and getting the top end hooked up. Shipping time was amazing, I asked for regular shipping and I think it came the day after I ordered it. Price of the part is crazy expensive for what you get but it is the exact piece the exact length and with the other essential component, the off-set piece of metal wire/rod that is required to do the job. I could probably have bought a spring and fabricated the off set piece with a wire rod and torch for myself by removing the good spring on the other side of the door to get the dimensions and spent less than $10 on materials but that would have taken me most of a day to do assuming only one round trip to the hardware store for the right tension, length and diameter of the spring. Unless you're retired and don't know what to do with yourself, bite the bullet, order the part for $35 and get the job done quickly with the right part on the first attempt.

Laid the dish washer (portable) on its back on the floor and was able to hook the new spring up with no tools. Just look at the other spring to hook up the new one. The only tool I used was the vacuum cleaner to clean up the dust and cob webs from years of use.