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Hi guys So I have a Whirpool Duet front loader washing machine. My wife called a repair man out to replace the front seal as its torn. He informed my wife that the seal was torn due to bad bearings and that the barrel should spin with no noise and that ours was noisy. The repair would cost $500-$600. I came home and watched a few videos of failed bearings and those videos were very evident there was an issue. I figured if it's $600 I might as well take it apart and see. I pulled the rear panel off, removed the belt and large pulley. I did not see any signs of distortion on the bearing face or any rust or signs of water as described all over the Internet. I grabbed the shaft of the barrel that runs through the bearing and feel no up down forward and back play. I spun the barrel and it spun very freely. There was a normal sound of something spinning. I spun it fast again and listened to the bearing from the back side and still no terrible clunks or grinding. To me it sounds like I'd imagine a bearing under load sounds like. I took a video of the sound. What are your thoughts? Bad bearing on its way out or someone trying to rip me off. Thanks guys https://youtu.be/zxNqVajHXDs
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To verify if the barrel caused your front seal (bellows? the rubber boot connected to the door and tub?) to leak, see if there is any play in the inner drum. Open the front door, reach in and try to move the stainless tub up and down. There should be no play or change in the gap between the stainless tub and the plastic outer tub. Also there should be no play front to back. If the tub is steady, does the machine vibrate excessively is spin mode? If not I doubt the bearings are that bad. I did listen to your video! Hard to tell at that low speed if there is a bearing gone bad or going bad I should say.
Now another random thought just came to mind if you do have play in the tub but the bearings are not really bad it may be that the support (spider) arm of the tub is going bad. That would cause the movement in the tub and rip in the front seal.
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Thanks for the reply. There's movement in the drum for sure. I was at Home Depot and look at a few and see how there is zero movement. Could the motion be caused by the shock absorber being worn out? And sorry but what is the spider arm? We never had a noise issue when it was used. It was only the torn seal. Watching videos online, mine sounds nothing like them
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Rank: Member
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To be sure we are on the same page you say there is movement of the stainless drum (it wiggles) independent of the outer drum. I'm not talking about the whole barrel moving. Also look at the rim of the metal drum does it appear to be centered equal space all the way around it, or does it have a bigger gap at the top between its rim and the top of the opening. When you spin it slowly by hand does that gap change? In other words does it seem as if the stainless metal basket is loose. If so the support or spider arm might be broken. This arm is what fastens the drive shaft to the metal inner basket.
Give us your model and serial numbers please. I will attempt to get some pictures to help explain if you need me to.
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Rank: Member
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https://youtu.be/6YVPcm5e2JEhttps://youtu.be/VdsWyAzoQtUSo the whole thing (metal and plastic) move as one unit. The gap looks even all around and when spinning by hand it does not change. Would a worn out shock absorber cause the motion? The way it bounces on rebound makes me think of a car when the shocks are shot Thanks for the help and patience
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Rank: Member
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Joined: 6/13/2014(UTC) Posts: 781 Was thanked: 1 time(s) in 1 post(s)
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Yes I see it does seem to have to much bounce. Replacing your shocks would be a good idea. As for a 600 dollar bearing job probably not required. Another evidence of bearings gone bad would be rusty leak marks on the back side of the drum under the bearing drive shaft area.
Not for nothing but I would shop around for better prices when it is time for bearings and or a spider arm. That is a bit high or I'm charging way to little. For crying out loud you can add a couple hundo and get a brand new machine.
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