Separating sealed drum on Seimens IQ300 for bearing replacement

short answer is you cant

there are all sorts of videos on utube even one guy using a chop saw, using his foot to steady it and wearing sandals

as a professional if it has a sealed drum then it has to be fitted as one unit

Dave

How old is the machine as there is discounts available depending on age with parts but not with call out

One of the last sealed tanked Bosch ( or a Siemens ) that I had a callout to was about 4 years old owned by a couple with no kids so one would presume the machine was not overly hammered. The bearings had failed. Since the then cost they were not willing to pay for the repair and so I kindly got given the machine for spares. When, with time on my hands I dismantled the blighter and cut the plastic tank in half to remove the drum to have a look as to why the machine had failed, in my view, prematurely. The bottom line was next to zero grease on the oil seal which caused friction = the oil seals early demise = water = nuked drum bearings.
Other machines I have seen with the same problem at 3 years old are Indesits ( sealed tank ) and some curry`s Logiks ( not sealed tanks ). Machines where it seems less likely to happen appears to be Zanussi. This is all based on my one man band, which I freely admit is a more or less a hobby business these days so take that to mean a much lower number of machines encounted.

Very true. Like the old wff2000 design.
“this problem seemed to get worse when they lowered the water level, was thinking the water would act as a lubricant making the seal last longer” Well that is partly true as sort of proved by the high water level old Phillips AWB 080 series ( from failing memory! ) had a V seal and S/steel disc set up which seemed to work ok as opposed to the rather dreadful V seal s/steel disc set up that lower water level Ariston used on the Margarieta series in early 1980s. OR it could be that the 080 span and pumped out simultaneously that made it last longer whereas the Ariston did not: pumped out then spun. Interesting stuff I do recall that there was less grud in the Phillips at the time in and around the bearing hub and spider ( which might well account for spinning and pump out at the same time but I never got around to anything of a scientific investigation – me thinks its a bit late now although a modern machine`s drum clean programme would mimmick the Phillips so perhaps that is on the right tracks of thinking.