Stainless steel best for drum bearings?

[Spin Doctor]

Hello,

Three years ago I replaced my LG Direct Drive’s bearings but I can hear that they’re now failing again. Back then I thought I was upgrading the bearings by replacing the sealed bearing with a shielded one but that looks like a newbie mistake as I suspect moisture has penetrated the metal shielding faster than it would have got past the rubber seal. 🙁

My question now is should I replace the original sealed bearing (6306-2RS) with a stainless steel version? If they can handle the load they would seem a much better investment. And the 6305-ZZ with a S6305-2RS too?

One post, linked below, suggests stainless steel bearings are the answer but I’m sceptical as there’s so little mention of them for washing machine drum bearings.

“Your solution is stainless-steel or ceramic bearings…research bearings on the net, you’ll find that equivalent s/s bearings are downrated considerably but I don’t think the loading is anything like max in the average washer anyway!”

I can’t tell if the £25 OEM bearing is stainless steel.

I can’t find S6306-2RS bearings online from any reputable brands – more evidence of their unpopularity? I found one for £11 by Neutral but I’m more interested in durability than cost as it took me most of the day to replace the bearings last time and I don’t want to do it again!

Keen to hear your thoughts.

Spin

[electrofix]

its not the bearing that important its the water seal

if the seal or the suface the seal runs on is damaged the bearings will fail quickly

Dave

[Spin Doctor]

Thanks electrofix.

The seal should have been fine as I bought the genuine LG part 4036ER2004A from ukwhitegoods (and the price has only gone up by 3{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} in three years so I’ll have another of those). It didn’t seem a particularly tight fit. I would have cleaned the shaft and drum where the seal sat and probably noticed any damage.

A few pictures of a very messy seal and two bearings from 3 years ago: https://photos.app.goo.gl/8Jon6tKcQkWWsoRTA You can see a fair bit of limescale/detergent had got past the seal. I think I thought about putting grease on the new seal but decided against it as the detergent would have cleaned it away. Stainless steel would have survived the water longer – but maybe not the load – hence my original question.

Spin (also a Dave)

[electrofix]

did you lubricate the seal ?

https://shop.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/universal-bearing-seal-sealant-grease

Dave

[Spin Doctor]

No, but I will this time. Thanks for the tip and link.

Dave

[andyjawa]

did you lubricate the seal ? No, but I will this time. Well that is why the bearings got nuked so quick. Best grease to use is transparent silicon based grease for oil seals. I would not recommmend using car multipurpose grease on oil seals, open cage bearings themselves yes but not on rubber.
What you really want to be careful is the condition of 2 other things 1) the plastic rear half tank`s oil seal hole and 2) the condition of the bearing spider running hub`s phosphor bronze ring. 1) if the new press fit oil seal is loose in its hole you are on a hidding to nowhere and no matter what you have done, grease or otherwise, will get you nowhere for obvious reasons. If the oil seal is very slightly loose you could try a good glue and x your fingers if it all looks a hopeless case you are into new rear tank mode which is either expensive or possibily obsolete – I have not checked though. Also look for a common LG problem of hair line cracks in the plastic tank radiating out from the bearing tube. All these issues relate, usually, due to when the first set of bearings failed due to a) pure bad luck and b) the machine being thrashed into oblivion with noisy nuked disintergrated bearings ( usually the case! ) 2) If so usually the bronze ring gets scored by bits of bearings and if so you will be back to square one within a few months so watch out for that one too.
Hopefully given the contraption lasted a couple of years after your new first set of bearings were replaced and so based on that I`d say it was down to just lack of lube.
As a bit of public information a great many bearing changes I have done over the years, and premature bearing failure is very common whether a sealed tank or a dismantleable tank but it is more commonly seen in the former. Having time on my hands these days I have over the last couple of years taken home those offending sealed tanks and cut them open to see why the bearings failed so soon and I reckon the answer is simply no grease on the oil seal running lip = friction = wear = water ingress = rusted bearings rather than the quality of the bearings; it is just down to how the things are put together in the factory by the bot.
A brief list of 1) sealed tanked machines where bearings cannot be replaced and then 2) machines where the tanks are dismantleable to change spider and bearings without going into costs / parts availability etc…
1) All modern Hotpoints, Indesits, Hoovers, Candy, Zanussi, AEG, Electrolux, Whirlpool, Maytag (?) and Beko. As a point I think the Beko tanks are longer lasting than Hotpoint, Indesits and some AEG and Whirlpool but that is not a scientifically done test.
2) All the Vestel made stuff from Turkey, everything so far seen that is Korean, Chinese, Thia made, so that is Samsung, Lg, Haier, Sovereign, Bush, Royale, Montpellier, Pro Action, Electra, Sharp and several others….please feel free to add to either list if you want to.

[Spin Doctor]

Thanks andyjava, I’ve bought the grease recommended by electrofix along with the LG bearing and tub seal from ukwhitegoods and SKF bearings from somewhere else.

Lack of lube sounds most likely based on your comments and from what I remember:

• The seal was not loose in the hole, just not as tight as I’d expected
• The bearings were still sealed and shielded and fully intact when I changed them => unlikely to have damaged the phosphor bronze ring

Thanks to both you and electrofix for sharing your expertise and experience.

After finding out how SKF label their bearings I’ve answered my original question – stainless steel bearings are very, very expensive. The cheapest I found for SKF W6306-2RS1 is £92 😮

[andyjawa]

£92. Blimey! Well I`m not that surprised though I have never looked them up!

[Author]

Posts