Maytag Atlantis spin bearing: creative parts replacement

[oldschool88]

Sharing a win story in progress, discontinued parts aren't always a show stopper. Our 18 year old Maytag Atlantis MAVT754EWW, which got a replacement high-torque transmission kit in 2020, overflowed during fill last week. Root cause of that was gunk accumulation inside the drum air bell obstructing airflow to the water level switch. 18 years of hard use cleaning up after a family of four. I flushed out the air bell with bleach & hot water, installed a new clear vinyl tube for good measure, and all seemed OK after cleaning up the spilled water & detergent. Ran the load that was in it, fill level was back to normal.

This weekend it made a howl during spin, mechanic's stethoscope traced the noise to the lower spin bearing...only 3 years old. I assume the water & detergent overflow ran down the drum and transmission, washing the grease out of the bearing.

The bearing, and the transmission kit, are discontinued and not available anywhere. I figured I'd take a shot at repairing it, really don't like the current options.

After disassembling the washer and verifying the bearing sounded crunchy, I was able to tap it off the transmission without damaging the nylon triangular housing by following an AppliancePartsPros.com video. I found the bearing markings 6006 Z. These are readily available, and the same part is also used in the upper spin bearing & seal housing. I ordered two Nachi 6006-2NSE9 bearings, same bearings and dimensions but with rubber seals and they're made in Japan. $15 each, I'm swapping both while it's apart.

Should be here later this week. Both bearings came out of the housings without issue and the new bearings should slide right in, will put them in the freezer overnight if the interference fit is too tight. Will post an update when done.

Video from AppliancePartsPros.com was very helpful in getting the lower spin bearing off (and will be later when I drive it back on with 1" PVC), great of them to leave these up for discontinued parts.

 

[turbokinetic]

It's very disappointing that they used metal shielded bearings in that application where water and moisture are in the environment around them. That is "asking for" failures. You made a great choice in buying rubber sealed bearings.

 

Metal shielded bearings do have a place; typically in places where the temperature may be too high for rubber seals, or in areas where the bearing runs in oil or is connected to an external grease supply, which can pass around the shield but larger particles cannot. 

 

Using these in an open and wet environment is just asking for a short life and many failures. 

 

EDIT: Watching the video was informative but seeing the badly bent shield on the NEW bearing going in was very disappointing!