Whirlpool washer not agitating

[chickenwarrior]

I have scoured the Net, read everything I can find and then found someone who refered to this post on how to get the two pieces of the agitator apart once out of the washer.  The concensus is to place on the ground, step on botton with 2 feet, and pull up. Even following the picture tutorial on this site.  I have tried and tried this along with two burly maintenance men from my work and none of us can get this sucker apart.  This is a whirlpool about 10 years old and the dogs look just like the replacement ones I got, but I can't get to them to replace.  Was this another model with some trick to release it?  I know you must be thinking I'm just not pulling hard enough, but anymore pulling and I'll have an break my spine.  Looking down in to the top it appears to maybe be a yellow gear piece  down inside the gear ring.  It looks like it had 4 little tabs that were melted?  Could that be the issue?  I can take a picture if someone thinks it could help.  Has anyone else run into this?  The model on a barcode said it was a LSN1000JQ - Washer-WPL-WHT.  Any help would be a blessing!  Thanks!

[chickenwarrior]

Here is the picture.  Thats got to be the problem.  I saw another post where someone else said they had to use a front end loader to pull theirs apart.  Is it not supposed to be melted like shown in this picture, and since it is, Can I reuse this if I get it apart?

[JWWebster]

That one in the picture is a non-repairable one. Seen it.

[appdoc]

What would u have to do replace the whole agitator? The parts break down shows it as coming apart. Misprint maybe?

[jumptrout51]

No mis-print.
That agitator is a 2 part agitator.

[JWWebster]

Oops I guess I am wrong.
 I have seen one of these similar to this one that had a 3/4 drive square hole in it that you unscrewed to get the dogs out. It was actually easier than trying to yank apart the agitator. That's not what I see in that photo however. Puzzling to say the least. Wait is that photo from the base of the agitator?

[tgoods]

Get out your dremel and grind off the white melted plastic that's holding the retainer  If you don't go too crazy on it you'll be able to reuse the retainer.

[chickenwarrior]

UPDATE and FIX: After researching more I found several people that have had this same melting problem.  Here is a link:

http://appliancejunk.com/forums/index.php?topic=328.0

Aside from using a front-end loader to pry it apart, I found most people had success soaking the agitator in very hot water for 10 minutes and then it just "pulled apart".  This did not work for me. I ended up getting out my heat gun and applying direct heat to the ring show in my picture for about 30-45 seconds.  Then it literally just pulled right apart like it should.  I had to take a utility knife to cut away most of the melted plastic to get it to fit back on after replacing the dogs.  I basically had 2 tabs left sticking up after the other two broke off.  Assembled it all back together and the washer is agitating again like it should.  Don't know if it will last, but so far - so good.  Thanks for your replies.