bad tub bearing-F/L fridgidaire

[cfz2882]

just bought a "mechanics special"1998 fridgidaire "gallery"
for$50 at a flea market today-seller said it "rumbled"when it
spun,indeed the tub bearings are bad-looks like i will have
to take the washer completely apart to get to the bearings.
-anyone done this job on one of these before?

 

[golittlesport]

this may help

http://www.applianceaid.com/frigidaire_frontload_washer.html#noise

 

[cfz2882]

thanks for that link-looks like the whole back half of the
outer tub is replaced when a bearing repair is done on these
-i will see if i can replace just the bearings and seal,might
have to make some parts/improvements to fix it.
looks like the tub seal is a known weakness of the "frigilux"..
If it's junk will have a good spares stash for the next one...

 

[cfz2882]

fixable!

pulled the z28 out of the garage,brought the frigilux in for
dissasembly-got it all apart and the bearings are just standard
#6306,6307 pressed into a cast iron insert molded into the tub,
so i don't know why it's said the rear part of the tub needs
replaced for a bearing job,seal also presses into the iron
insert.Spider is a stout cast aluminum item and had only light
surface corrosion.there was a little wear to the tub shaft,
but i have some tricks that can be done to secure the bearing
and maintain runout.
If i decide to add this one to active duty,it will have to go
into the basement in pieces for reassembly down there as did
a couple other washers.

 

[dnastrau]

Tricks to secure the bearing

Please share!

 

[cfz2882]

havn't decided what shaft repair method to use yet-best would
be to braze up the worn surface and turn back down to proper
size,but shaft cannot be seperated from spider and my lathe
is too small to swing the spider,so i will probably knurl or
prick punch the worn area,press a bearing on it to check the
runout,adjust the runout if needed,and then when final assembly
is done,apply JB weld or other epoxy to the repaired worn
areas.Looking over the parts,looks like shaft wear might
actually be the cause of the bearing problem-looks like in
order to make assembly of the washer easier the shaft is a
slip fit into the bearings and made just a little too loose,
bearing inner races start to turn on the shaft and wear-letting
the shaft sag a bit,opening up a gap between the seal lip and
the shaft,letting water into the unsealed"zz"type ball bearings
-the seal on my machine was in fair condition and looked like
it would have still held water if the shaft was centered.
Will proceede with repair and give details as soon as i get a
new seal,also am going to use sealed "vv"bearings.

 

[dnastrau]

Bearing failure chain of events

Very interesting...

If that is the cause, I wonder if other FL washer designs (like the Duet) have the same issue with the "slip fit."

 

[cfz2882]

not sure about those,but not a hint of tub seal or bearing
problems with my little splendide combomatic after over 5yrs
of use,frigilux seems the worse for tub seal/bearing problems.
BTW the shaft wear on mine was very even,so was able to use
a center punch to "knurl"the worn surfaces on the shaft to
get the bearing fit i wanted(and perfect runout too!)seal
comes tomorrow(80x40x10mm)so machine should be back in
commission for a test soon.

 

[cfz2882]

back together!

carquest store i ordered seal from had a computer hiccup,so
seal took over a week to come,but was almost exactly the same
as original frigidaire seal and fit perfect-when i pulled drum
out a plastic plate that helps hold seal was dislodged(it was
just hot-staked in place originally)so it was reattatched with
6 ss screws and washer reassembled-initial test was good though
the drain pump ws noisy,so will replace that with a spare on
hand and wash a load tomorrow.
Bearing job involved lots of dissasembly,but was actually very
easy-just lots and lots of screws,something like 23 screws
holding the tub halves together.Also washer had been roughly
handled before and a bolt head on the tub punched a hole in
the plastic detergent drawer housing,so that was fixed with
a piece of sheet plastic and some silicone rubber.

 

[dnastrau]

Bearing and seal

Great job! So, how did you identify a seal that would fit? For the bearing: was there a number on it that allowed you to order another or cross reference it to another one?

 

[cfz2882]

tested-all good!

seal was just a standard part,80x40x10mm dimensions(cost about
$13.00 at carquest)bearings are also just standard industrial
parts,6306zz and 6307zz"sheilded"ball bearings-when i fixed
mine i used "v v"rubber sealed bearings(i utilized some used,
good bearings i had on hand as a by-product of electric motor
repair,but new ones are readily avalible from a large number
of sources including E-bay.
When i fixed mine i laid the washer on it's side,took off the
motor and belt,disconnected drain from tub,pulled damper pins,
disconnected dampers,removed tub springs,seperated tub halves
(about 23 3/8"head bolts,blocked up tub to get acess to lower
bolts),left front tub half in machine,removed rear half with
drum,did bearing/seal/shaft repair as described above,
reassembled making sure foam tub gasket was in place,reinstall
motor and belt(BTW found out belt is a "stretchy"belt and it
had relaxed when it was off-thought i had wrong belt as it was
too short,but was able to restretch and install)
Full test was completed today-worked great and no leaks!
this bearing job was a bit labor intensive but very easy
-would do it again any day.Washer now added to fleet.

 

[dnastrau]

Thanks for the detail

Good going! Congratulations on a job well done!

 

[retropia]

A good mechanic is hard to find!

That sounds like a creative solution; I doubt an average mechanic would have been able to fix it the same way, especially if the standard instructions call for replacing the whole back of the tub in order to fix the bearings. I'm guessing that would be a really expensive repair?

Your Frigidaire is a similar model to our circa-2000 Kenmore, correct? (I've attached a photo.) We had the pump replaced in 2006 which was around $200. Otherwise it's been reliable.

I'm wondering if we're running on borrowed time regarding our bearings or the tub seal. If those are trouble areas on these washers, then it may only be a matter of time. Yikes!

 

[cfz2882]

same machine.

my washer(model 417.39012890)is almost exactly the same as
the kenmore branded washer pictured.
MY washer had quite a mess behind from rusty water slinging
off the drum pulley!

 

[westyslantfront]

I had a Fridgemore front loader (General Electric). Electrolux made those machines for GE, Frigidaire, and Kenmore.
After a few years, the tub bearings started to go and it was a noisy spin. The machine continued to work but I knew I was on borrowed time when the computer boards stopped working.
The washer would fill and nothing would happen.
The machine was 5 or 6 years old and not worth fixing.
I purchased a brand new Whirlpool Duet last July and they took away the old GE.

Ross

 

[westyslantfront]

I looked at the new Electrolux front loaders that are selling for between $1,400.00 and $1,600.00. They look just like the Fridgemore but I would not spend that on a machine that would only last 5 or 6 years.

 

[cfz2882]

does seen to be a common problem

would be interesting to see if they have changed anything with
the shaft/seal design on these over the last 15yrs or so-there
are several ways frigilux could have done the shaft a little
different and greatly reduced the failure rate of the bearings
on these,bearings themselves are actually plenty stout for a
washer of this size-properly secured to the shaft,they should
last for over a decade of normal use at least.

 

[retropia]

Our set is 10 years old

We've been able to get 10 years out of ours, but it makes me wonder how much more life is in the bearings and shaft.

Would a machinist be able to do the kind of shaft and bearing repair that CFZ did to his machine?

My guess is it wouldn't be worth replacing the back half of the outer tub. If that is the "recommended" procedure, that's probably what a repairman would want to do.