Drum Bearing On LG WM-1285FHD, Is it a pain to change?

[ahin4114]

Hi there, was directed here by Andy from washerhelp, was hoping somebody could offer some advice.

I’ve been the very happy owner of an LG WM-1285FHD machine for about 4 years now. The machine has been flawless, never skipped a beat, and with quite a lot of use I’ve been very impressed with it. I noticed the other day that the machine was making more noise than usual when spinning (it’s usually very quiet), so I thought I’d do a little investigating to find out what could be wrong. Turning the drum by hands gives a rough feeling motion, so I’m assuming that the drum bearings have given up the ghost.

I’ve found the parts on eSpares and put together the following basket:
Drum bearing seal: £6.99
Rear drum bearing: £13.99
Front drum bearing: £12.59

All in, with VAT and postage it’s about £35, so far so good. Question is, as a competent, DIY’er etc. (done my fair share of wiring, plumbing, boiler repairs etc.) is this a job that should be attempted myself, or is it going to be impossible to do without an array of specialist tools? I have access to a fair array of screwdrivers, sockets/spanners, torx etc.

Any help appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Tony

[Dales-Electronic]

Re: Drum Bearing On LG WM-1285FHD, Is it a pain to change?

Always worth a go but be aware that you have to take the tub out to carry out the repair. Power off please.

[ahin4114]

Re: Drum Bearing On LG WM-1285FHD, Is it a pain to change?

Thanks for the reply.

Have you actually changed the bearings on one of these LG direct drive machines? Is there anything I’m likely to need apart from the parts I’ve already listed, aside from a good amount of patience? 😉

[Penguin45]

Re: Drum Bearing On LG WM-1285FHD, Is it a pain to change?

Big hammer, substantial drift, lots of patience.

Penguin45.

[helo_75]

Re: Drum Bearing On LG WM-1285FHD, Is it a pain to change?

a direct drive?

ur ambitious it has to be said

be careful when removing the stator, thsyre very fickle!

[ahin4114]

Re: Drum Bearing On LG WM-1285FHD, Is it a pain to change?

I’ve learnt there’s an important difference between ambitious and foolish. Which side would you say I was erring on with this repair??

If it’s really going to be beyond a DIY repair then it’d be silly to attempt it. If it’s just going to be a bit awkward/time consuming then surely it’s worth a go.

Could anybody give me a coarse breakdown of what’s invloved, perhaps a link to a guide. I was assuming that apart from having to remove the motor from the back of the tub (as opposed to unhitching a belt from a pulley), this would be no different to non-direct machines…

Am I being naive about the complexity of this particular job? Help very much appreciated.

[ahin4114]

Re: Drum Bearing On LG WM-1285FHD, Is it a pain to change?

Thought that I’d drop back in and let everybody know that after the parts arrived in time for the weekend I spent a few hours Saturday performing the repair.

Aside from the fact that the machine had to be basically stripped in order to remove the tub (which is boring, but not at all difficult) the repair was pretty simple.

The old bearings came out without too much protest, a good dose of penatrating spray, allowed to soak before I tried removing them took most of the fight out of them (that and the useful sized club hammer I had to hand). There was a plenty big open face on the back side of each bearing to allow me to get a good sized punch in there, then I just steadily worked around the bearing to make sure it come out straight and didn’t foul the surfaces.

Good clean up of everything whilst it was apart was welcomed (though my wife couldn’t believe the amount of dirt inside the machine we use to clean things). Then a thorough regrease before putting it back together.

The old bearing turned out to be perfect for helping to reseat the new ones snugly, then it was all back together ready for testing.

I took pictures of most of the process, and once I’ve got them off of the camera I’ll post them up somewhere to help anbody else who fancies giving it a go.

I’m off to put another load in, hopefully I’ll get another four/five years before I need to do the next set 😀

[jolson]

Re: Drum Bearing On LG WM-1285FHD, Is it a pain to change?

Any chance of those pictures? Mine has started to make the same bearing noises and I can’t find any sort of diagram of what I’m going to find inside.

Cheers

John

[Author]

Posts