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Update….
So I undid the pulley and tapped the end of the spider spindle just to start to take the drum out and it went in 10mm. At that point the drum was rotating freely, spindle still in both bearings but the brass collar was out of the seal. I did a spin test and waited, and waited, aaaand waited… For a minute there I thought I’d inadvertently invented a perpetual motion machine as I couldn’t even see the speed of the drum decaying and after about 45 seconds, stopped it by hand! So its not the bearings, just the seal making it feel tight and squeaky. I took the drum out and decided on copper grease for the seal, greased the bearings anyway and popped the drum back in. Still only a few revolutions but no squeak so I’m guessing the new bearing seal just needs to settle in a bit with the new spider.
Stuck the machine back together, all ok. proceeded to test with all the towels I’d used to keep the floor dry and voila, all is working again!… It lives!! 😀
I just wanted to thank you both for the great advice and info as it helped massively. 🙂
Finally, what do you guys suggest to get the really caked-on limescale off completely from the washer as I’d really like to get it all off?
Aaargh!… I didn’t want to hear that! 😡 Well, I’ll take the drum out and see if I can get it to settle better and grease it up
Yes it is silicone based but is a gel not grease. Not sure whether it is thick enough to stay put… What about Copper Grease or CeraTec used for Car brakes? Thick, water resistant, high-temp, metal(Cu) or Ceramic grease?
Ahh, righto. Is that grease a bit like this as I have some already in: https://www.wickes.co.uk/FloPlast-Lubricant-Gel—800g/p/175654
Thought you might like a sit-rep…. :p
The Spider arrived on Fri so I spent Fri evening and all day Sat doing the bearings! The reason I spent so long was because the inner bearing would not budge at all. My drift is now a mushroom as I was hitting it so hard and with bearings like this I would normally apply heat but I guess that would be bad for the plastic outer drum! I couldn’t even get the bearing seal to move either. Hence, out came the Dremel and after about 5 hours and several (many) cutting wheels and lots of swearing I managed to get it out. Crikey what a palaver!I also had to gently grind out the inner bearing mounting surface a bit as it was rusty, some cutting damage and there was quite a thick rim of scale. I probably didn’t do it enough as when I put the new bearing in it only went in a bit and then stuck fast! More swearing ensued and I decided to drift it in which I did eventually get all the way in but I had to hit it much harder than I would have liked. I was careful to only hit the outer race but I still had to smack it hard. Even the new rubber seal needed hammering in.
I went to town with the wire brushes on the drums and various parts but I couldn’t get the scale off. I tried neat vinegar, Lime Lite and a toilet cleaner with 9{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} HCL Acid and none had any effect even after an hour. What do you guys use to completely remove limescale?
Also, one other thing… with the new bearings and spider, the drum without the drive belt connected will not spin freely like previously. I rotate it and it only does about 2 revolutions before stopping. Also squeaks a bit which are I’m guessing both due to the new bearing seal. I only used vaseline as per the video to “help” insert the new bearings and no grease whereas I’d normally use Moly for bearings/shafts, none of the videos showed any grease used so I thought maybe it would contaminate the wash? Will the rubber settle a bit or should I address this issue before putting it back together any further? The heater element has only just arrived so I’ll be doing that later on.
That’s great guys, thanks for all the info.
I read on a page somewhere that you often need a tub seal when changing the bearings, is that something I’ll need for the WD71?
Good stuff, cheers! 🙂
I’ve not done the bearings on a washer before so does the outer drum need to be physically removed from the case or do the innards all come out in a different way? Do you know of any instructions anywhere for how to do it or a video perhaps? I assume I won’t need any special tools to get the bearings out?
Thanks for confirming my thoughts! Not the best news but no point in doing half a job. So do you think replacing the whole spider is worthwhile over just a bearing kit? https://shop.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/hp0505-washing-machine-bearing-kit
Another good idea!… 😀 I did that and it runs smoothly and on for a while but it is by no means silent and I can hear the noise I heard during the 800 spin. I did it again and recorded an audio file on my phone but I can’t upload that here as either an m4a or mp3.
It’s only 600kB.Good to know, I thought it was a bit high-end to use ceramic bearings in a washing machine! 😀
You wouldn’t get a perfectly round ceramic ball as part of the outer drum though, surely? The reason it didn’t concern me initially was that I have it in my brain from somewhere that these sort of things are sometimes used to distress jeans, they don’t just use stones thus not exceptional to find the odd one in a washing machine.
So to check for movement in the bearings, I held the inner drum from the inside by grabbing 2 of the 3 washing vanes (the bits that protrude in the drum) and firmly moved/wiggled in all directions including straight up and down. Every movement moved the whole assembly without any slack and I’ve done various sizes of wheel bearings so have felt a few knackered ones before. This is reassuring.
Your suspicion of the drum damaging the insulation on the Heater Element, will there be evidence if I simply remove it?
I ran an 800 Spin just now with the Heater Element disconnected and it ran the spin cycle ok. [IMG2=JSON]{“data-align”:”none”,”data-size”:”full”,”src”:”https://www.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/forums/core/core/images/smilies/thumbsup.gif”}[/IMG2]
However, I am thinking rather than just aging, Iadom was correct in his immediate suspicion as during the 800 spin, apart from the motor whine, there was another noise. Not particularly loud or grating but it was there and sounded a bit bearingy… if that is a way to describe it! Also may not be related but when I cleaned the plastic drain trap out at the beginning, apart from the fluff, cotton etc. were two small white objects. A small, ceramic ball about 4mm dia and something similar but squished flat and messed up. We thought that could be a stone but couldn’t place the ball… I’m now guessing that is one of the ball bearings.
Now to work out if it is worth repairing. [IMG2=JSON]{“data-align”:”none”,”data-size”:”full”,”src”:”https://www.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/forums/core/core/images/smilies/icon_confused.gif”}[/IMG2]
Yes it is a 9v multimeter. I’ll run that spin test tomorrow with the element disconnected as I can’t run it now, and let you know.
Hmmm, it’s not showing any of my smilies except for the original post. There were some embarrased ones in that last message!
Thanks for the responses Dave,
It would really help if I wasn’t a numpty!… 
I’ve now tested the element with both of the ‘correct’ plugs disconnected and got 2.45 MOhms! I’m guessing that’s more like it!?…. Sorry!
