frigidaire gallery washer needs a spider!!!!!

[rollermatic]

the main purpose of this thread is to post a few pics of a frigidaire gallery front load washer teardown and ask a question for anyone seeing this!

ANYONE KNOW WHERE TO FIND A SPIDER WITHOUT HAVING TO BUY THE COMPLETE SPIDER AND INNER TUB ASSEMBLY WHICH IS OVER 300 BUCKS!!!!

i started a rebuild on my frigidaire gallery washer that i bought around 2000.

i picked up another machine last week, only 6 years old for 50 bucks as a parts machine. It is in better shape overall than my old one!

i found bearings/ seal kit on e bay for around 70 bucks. but after tearing the newer one down tonite i found small cracks in the spider. i have not gotten my old machine totally apart yet so don't know if my spider is ok or not.

 

[rollermatic]

here is the spider

from the newer machine i just tore down.

you can see the faint cracks starting on all 3 legs. about 4 inches out from the hub.

 

[rollermatic]

side view of

it.

 

[rollermatic]

top view of

it

 

[rollermatic]

closeup of the

crack

 

[rollermatic]

it has a different water seal

than i thought. i was expecting a seal like the old westinghouse spacemates used, basically like a dishwasher seal turned sideways.

this one uses a rubber seal that slips over the shaft and seals against the shaft itself.

here's the shaft and the sealing area is right at the bottom next to the spider. it looks like it is made of brass.

 

[rollermatic]

here's the back of the outer tub

showing the seal and underneath that the 2 bearings.

 

[rollermatic]

another pic of the outer tub

back half.

 

[rollermatic]

this is the motor from my original

machine. i was surprised to find that on my old machine the motor bearings went out and this motor has siezed up. i thought my tub bearings siezed up after a year of being really loud during spin. when i pulled the belt and motor off i found my tub still turns quite well!

 

[rollermatic]

closer view of this bad motor

gonna pitch it as the one i took off the newer machine is in great shape.

gonna take my time with these 2 machines that i hope to turn into one good machine. but if anyone has any info on where to get a spider please let me know!

as usual thanks for lookin and appreciate any feedback you have!!!!!!!

 

[rollermatic]

onee thing i forgot to mention

i have not torn apart the tub on my older original machine yet but i am assuming the spider on mine will also have cracks in it. it is about 7 years older than this newer machine i took apart tonite.

if i'm gonna do all this work rebuilding this washer i love to use for daily loads (don't like to use my vintage machines that much) i really want to get a new spider on it! at least that's my goal. but i don't want to spend 300 or more on the whole assembly. we will see here!

 

[combo52]

Rebuilding a Newer Frigidaire Built FL Washer

Hi Peter, I do not see any cracks in your replacement spider, it is either broken or not, the real question is the bronze seal area, how worn is it?.

 

The motor from the original Galley machine is still a DC brush type motor, FD changed to an 3 Phase A/C type motor in late 2000 so they are not interchangeable.

 

The water seals that these machines are very similar to what WH used on all their FL machines.

 

If you need a good used motor etc or have any questions call me, we have boxes of parts for these machines [ except good used spiders ] John

 

[kb0nes]

Peter and John, is it possible that the lines that are being perceived as cracks are just a mold line from when the spider was made? The marks I see in the photo look too straight and uniform to be cracks.

I would polish the spider to see if the "cracks" disappear. If indeed the metal is broken it will penetrate the surface a ways. Polishing all the corrosion and scum off will let you see what you have. It was a common problem with racing motorcycle wheels to have cracks hidden by the paint, had to polish them to inspect.

If one wanted to greatly extend the life of a spider the polishing followed by sending it out for shot peening would largely eliminate any cracking. Paint with a good epoxy paint (or powder coat) and it would last longer then the rest of the machine.

 

[tecnopolis]

Even if you get a new spider it will only do the same as these other 2 did, corrode.
Apparently it has to do with stainless steel and aluminum touching together. In my Neptune there are plastic pads that separate the 2 metals.

 

[combo52]

Broken Spiders on FL Washers

Yes Phil I do think that the visible lines are just mold lines. I am not sure that power coating would do all that much good based on what I saw when pot metal and aluminum parts were common on washers back in the mid to late 60s. Several different manufactures tried different painted coatings on the inside of pumps to help extent their life, but we still saw badly corroded parts occurring and of course the real solution was to make such parts out of various different plastics which makes them last forever.

 

Frigidaire had far more broken spiders than most FL washers because they were so THIN on the small door machines. They improved them on the next generation of FL washers and I have yet to see one break. That said the one Peter pictured is not severely corroded and if cleaned up properly and if the machine is used properly it will likely NEVER fail. I have yet to see a broken spider on a FL washer that was a surprise once you take apart the machine and see the abuse it suffered at the hands of the owner. Cold water washing, too little and cheap detergent, no LCB used, and compounded by excessive use of fabric softener.

 

I have never seen any evidence of corrosion from the aluminum spider touching the SS tub. Almost every FL washer is made with these two parts touching and on MT Neptune's where they have thin nylon spacers they still suffer corroded and BROKEN spiders [ and MT had a very thick and sturdy spider on Neptune's ]

 

[retropia]

Ok, I decided to glom onto Peter's thread, because our similar Kenmore/Frigidaire just made a scary sound and I'm not sure what to do next. I was washing a somewhat heavy load of four bath towels, a fleece throw and a couple of flannel pillowcases (pet bedding).

After the second rinse, during the spin, it started making the most awful racket. It sounded like it was spinning boulders. Scared the cat, scared me!

After unloading the items from the tub, the tub seems to spin freely with my hand.

Is it safe to try again? Was it simply an out-of-balance problem? Or should we leave it alone and schedule a service call?

I've pretty much decided to have this one repaired when the bearings finally go, even though I know it means replacing the back part of the tub and it will be expensive.

 

[combo52]

Noisey Frigidaire FL Washer

Hi Doug, try it again in spin with nothing in it, if it sounds OK try another load, if it makes an awful noise with another load, remove the lower front panel and see if either shock is broken loose at either end. If not you likely have a broken spider, repairs using all new parts including labor could cost close to $900.00 or even more, although there are a few ways to reduce the cost.

 

While these were good washers if it needs this much work you might want to consider a new SQ FL Washer and if the cost of a new one is more than you want to spend we have a bunch of 4 year old machines we are selling for around 600.00 each. John

 

[retropia]

Thanks, John. I put it through a spin cycle with nothing in it, and it wasn't as quiet as it should be, but it wasn't awful. Then I tried it with a small load, and it definitely seemed like it was spinning out-of-round and bumping against something, during the final spin.

I'm leaving town tomorrow, so I'll either take a look at the shocks before I hit the road, or I'll have hubby get our appliance service guy to come take a look.

 

[frontloaderfan]

@ Rollermatic:

I may be wrong about this, seeing as how your machine is older than mine, but I recall that, during looking for replacement parts for my Frigidaire FL, which is a 2012 model, you can't buy just the spider. They want you to buy the entire inner tub assembly. Consider yourself lucky having found just the bearings and seal. Frigidaire and Searsparts does not sell them separately as far as I know. They want you to buy the entire rear tub assembly with the bearings already pressed in. I suppose you can get the bearings elsewhere. Yogitunes will be able to tell you what and where better than I ever could.

It is such a pity that the manufacturers tout themselves as making "eco-friendly" appliances because they use less water, but then build them to be thrown away after the warrantee runs out.