On Sun, 30 Oct 2016 19:04:10 +0000, Tim+ wrote:

Jim White wrote:

Tim+ wrote:
You have to have a kind of grudging admiration for the way that some
washing machine parts are designed to last *just* longer than the
warranty.

Our six year Hotpoint's main bearings are on their way out and the
parts warranty is of course five years. This will be the very first
washing machine that I've owned whose bearings have died before the
rest of the machine is beyond economic repair.

You did well Tim.
Ours has just died at just over two years. The 'guarantee' is
effectively worthless. This was a sealed drum assembly. I know there
are ways of replacing the bearings, but TBH I couldn't face the grief.
I will never buy another Hotpoint appliance.


Wouldn't have been my first choice but it was a "distress purchase" by
my other half. If I can keep it going for another six years with a
bearing kit it'll have done okay.


I kept our Service Quartz (Mk1) going for an extra 15 years or so by
replacing the bearings and seals twice. It was one of the first
microprocessor controlled washing machines on the market some 30 odd
years ago. Funnily enough, we had to have the service engineer out less
than a week from purchase to replace a faulty controller/display board
but after that initial teething problem, in spite of some mods I made to
the board many years later to accommodate an alternative drum motor from
a discarded Bendix w/m, we never had any more trouble from the controller
board.

Anyway, my experience with the drum bearing repair kits might be of some
relevance if the bearings are the taper roller type as was that Service
Quartz machine's bearings.

The kit included all necessary parts, new seal, taper roller bearing,
aluminium crush washer and a shim washer to be fitted temporarily to
obtain the correct pre-load from the crush washer.

The instructions were quite clear about the use of the shim washer. The
drum shaft bearing nut was to be tightened right down till it bound on
the step at the bottom of the threaded part with the washer fitted and
then it was to be undone to remove the shim and done up fully tight again
with the crush washer now crushed to provide the correct preload sans the
shim washer which, according to the instructions, could now be discarded.
Unfortunately, I followed this last instruction to the letter. :-(

After about 6 months of service, I noticed that the drum had lost its
initial preload resistance and was noticeably less stiff to rotate by
hand. Not only that but I could detect a just discernible hint of slop in
the bearings which my knowledge of the importance of preload with taper
roller bearings, didn't bode at all well.

Sure enough, within another 6 months, the drum bearings were once again,
well and truly shagged and I found myself fitting a second drum bearing
kit. However, I'd wised up to the deliberate mistake made with the final
instruction regarding discarding of the shim washer and hung onto it so I
could refit it at the first hint of sloppiness in the new bearings which
I did about 5 or 6 months later.

The machine was still working some 15 years later when our daughter
offered us an almost unused newer washing machine to replace our
venerable Service Quartz (Mk1) which by then was starting to look its age
(not a problem for me but the missus had become sick of the sight of it
in its refusal to lay down and die).

The moral of this story is if a replacement drum bearing kit is based on
taper roller bearings and a deformable pre-load crush washer with a
setting shim, ignore the imperative to discard the shim after completion
of the repair and hold onto it for the next 6 to 12 months it'll likely
take for the need to refit it to become apparent. With taper roller
bearings, a touch too little preload is far more destructive than a touch
too much, especially if an aluminium crush washer has been used to
achieve the correct (initial) preload.

HTH

--
Johnny B Good