Accessing inner drum, potential 'soap bal...

hoover six 1100; 7 yrs old. there are two cylinder drums - the metal drum where cloths go and surrounding that is a plastic one. I think a soap ball is between them, as the washing machine makes an awful racket when its on & spinning! I can hear something plastic banging around. I also tried to take the rubber rim off to see, ofcourse I counldnt see through enough! Now I cant get it back on again! Help