LG Front Loading Washer has tempermental spin?

My LG Front Loading Washing Machine - Model #WM0532HW just started having trouble spinning both clockwise and counter-clockwise with no rhyme or reason. I've been testing it and sometimes it spins just fine one way and not the other but another test was just opposite. I hear a noise that sounds like a machine it trying real hard to make the spin but it doesn't. The manual was vague. The 5 year warranty ended July 2009 (figures). I tried tightening all the screws I could see around the door with no difference. I'm broke so a service call would be a small fortune to me, but I can read and have repaired other appliances myself. Any suggestions would be appreciated.