Last Updated on October 4, 2026 by Umar Farooq
If the machine is new, newly delivered, or has been moved in the last few months — check the shipping bolts before anything else. There is a 60-second test and it settles the question completely.
Shipping bolts exist because a washing machine’s drum hangs on springs and dampers, and a suspended drum in the back of a lorry would destroy itself. So the factory bolts it rigidly to the cabinet for transport. Every one of those bolts has to come out at installation.
Leave them in and a washing machine shakes during spin for a reason that is easy to picture: the drum can no longer move independently of the cabinet, so every bit of spin vibration that the suspension was designed to absorb gets transmitted straight into the machine’s body and then into your floor. Manufacturers document a risk of permanent damage if a machine is run this way, and that is not boilerplate — the mounting points genuinely are not built to take those forces.
Delivery crews miss them more often than you would expect, particularly on a swap-out where the old machine is taken away in the same visit.
This guide is for a machine that vibrates heavily but stays roughly in place. If it physically travels across the floor, see washing machine walks during spin.
The 60-second shipping bolt test
Open the door and push the drum firmly forward and back.
- The drum moves → the bolts are out. Move on to levelling.
- The drum is rigid → the bolts are still in. Stop using the machine and remove them.
They are at the rear of the machine, removed with a wrench, and the holes are plugged with the caps supplied in the box. Then check underneath for foam or cardboard packing blocks left from delivery — these are documented separately from the bolts themselves and are just as easy to miss, because you cannot see them without getting down on the floor with a torch.
Why a washing machine shakes during spin, from bolts to suspension
- Shipping bolts still fitted (front-load models). The single most common cause on any recently installed or moved machine.
- Packing material left underneath. Separate from the bolts, same effect.
- The machine isn’t level, or the lock nuts aren’t tightened. All four feet need firm contact, and the lock nuts above them need to be actually fastened — not just the feet wound down. The full procedure is in how to level a washing machine.
- The floor amplifies vibration. Timber floors, carpet, soft tile and upper-floor installations all transmit far more than a solid ground-floor slab, and none of that is a fault with the machine.
- An unbalanced or badly sized load. Very small loads cluster on one side; single bulky items cannot distribute at all. Shoes are the worst case of both at once — see can you wash shoes in a washing machine.
- Worn suspension — shock absorbers, springs or rods, or a balance ring that has lost its damping fluid. Genuine wear, and mostly on older machines.
Levelling, loading, and the empty-drum test
1. Level it properly
- Adjust each foot until all four are in firm contact and the machine does not rock when pressed at any corner — including diagonally, which is the direction people forget to test.
- Tighten the lock nuts. This is the step that gets skipped, and it is why “I levelled it and it came back” is such a common complaint. Feet that are correctly adjusted but not locked will vibrate themselves back out of adjustment within weeks.
- Confirm the floor itself is solid and horizontal. A raised or uneven foundation causes vibration that no amount of foot adjustment will fix.
2. Fix the load
- Spread laundry evenly around the drum, not in a heap on one side.
- Add items to very small loads. Anything under roughly 3–5 lb tends to cluster and cannot self-balance.
- Add a second similar item to a lone bulky one. A single duvet cannot balance itself; a duvet plus two towels can.
- Don’t overfill — roughly two-thirds is the sweet spot.
3. Run the empty test
Run a spin-only cycle with the drum empty. This is the cleanest way to separate an installation problem from a load problem, because an empty drum removes the balance variable entirely.
- Quiet when empty → the machine is fine; the problem is load or levelling.
- Still shaking when empty → the problem is installation or suspension, and no amount of careful loading will fix it.
4. Address the floor
If the machine is level, the bolts are out, the load is fine and it still transmits badly, the floor is the remaining variable. Anti-vibration pads under the feet, or a rigid board spreading the load across joists, both help.
Be clear with yourself about what this is, though: it is mitigation, not repair. A flexible timber floor on the first storey will always transmit more than a concrete slab, and that is not something wrong with your washing machine.
Stop-use warning: Stop using a machine that is shaking violently rather than “running it anyway” — uncontrolled vibration damages the drum, the suspension and the cabinet, and it gets worse rather than settling. If shaking is accompanied by grinding or banging, stop immediately; see grinding noise.
Empty and loaded: what the difference tells you
| What you observed | What it means | Where to go next |
|---|---|---|
| Drum rigid when pushed | Shipping bolts still fitted | Remove them before using the machine |
| Quiet empty, shakes loaded | Load distribution | Load habits, not a repair |
| Shakes empty too | Installation or suspension | Levelling, then service |
| Rocks when pressed at a corner | Not level | Adjust feet, tighten lock nuts |
| Level and quiet on a hard floor, bad on timber | Floor transmission | Pads or a support board |
| All correct, still violent | Suspension wear | Service |
| Machine travels across the floor | Different symptom | Walks during spin |
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Samsung: UE and Ub mean the load, not the machine
- Samsung’s vibration guidance covers shipping bolts, levelling and load size together (Samsung washing machine is shaking too much).
- Unbalanced load codes:
UE,Ub,U6,Ur(information and error codes). - If yours is a VRT Plus model and still shakes, the feature reduces vibration but cannot compensate for an unlevel machine or bolts left in — see Samsung VRT Plus washer still shaking.
LG: the foam blocks underneath are a separate check
- LG’s requirement is specific: the machine “must be level and installed on a level solid flooring with properly adjusted feet” (LG washer — troubleshooting vibration issues).
- Foam shipping blocks under the machine are documented separately from the bolts themselves — check both (LG, “LG washer — troubleshooting vibration issues”).
- LG’s noise troubleshooting separates bolt-related noise from load, levelling and foreign-object causes across both form factors (LG, “LG washer — troubleshooting noises during the cycle”).
- Unbalanced load code:
UE.
LdU on Whirlpool, Maytag, Amana and Kenmore 110 is a balance stop
Expect LdU for an unbalanced-load stop. Shipping bolts and levelling checks apply unchanged.
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The empty spin that proves the job is done
- Run a spin-only cycle with the drum empty and confirm it is quiet at full speed.
- Run one with a normal, evenly distributed load.
- Press each corner afterwards and confirm it still doesn’t rock — vibration loosens feet that weren’t locked, so this check catches an incomplete job before it becomes a repeat complaint.
- Confirm no unbalanced-load code appears.
Level, balanced, bolts out — and still violent
- Bolts confirmed out, machine confirmed level, load balanced — and it still shakes badly when empty.
- Banging or grinding accompanies the shaking.
- The drum can be moved up and down by hand with obvious slack — that’s suspension.
- Shaking has got noticeably worse over weeks rather than appearing suddenly.
FAQ
It moves across the floor rather than just shaking. That’s the more advanced version of the same problem and needs levelling treated as urgent. See washing machine walks during spin.
Is more vibration normal on a wooden or upstairs floor?
Yes, to a degree. Flexible flooring transmits more than a slab even on a perfectly good machine. That isn’t a fault, though it’s still worth reinforcing or padding.
Does adding weight to a small load really help?
Often, yes. Under roughly 3–5 lb the load clusters on one side rather than distributing, so a few similar items noticeably improve balance.
It won’t spin at all rather than shaking. Different problem — see washing machine won’t spin.
Clothes come out soaked as well as the shaking. Connected: the machine detects the imbalance and cuts spin speed to protect itself, leaving laundry wetter. See clothes soaking wet after wash.
There’s a squeal along with the shaking. That adds a component clue — squealing under load points at a belt or bearing. See squealing noise.
I ran calibration to fix the shaking and it wouldn’t complete. A calibration that fails is its own fault and needs clearing before you can judge whether the shaking was ever a balance problem. See Samsung top load washer calibration failed.
