I am getting a lot of noise and rough feel from manually rotating the
drum on a Hoover Ecologic A3950 washing machine. On spin cycle its
like a jet takeoff!

I figure it is the drum bearings and being a practical chap I wonder
if anyone can tell me, before I start, if bearing replacement is a
straightforward task? I have a pretty thorough tool box but will I
need any specialist Hoover tools?

On Wed, 29 Jun 2005 19:31:41 +0100, Peter
wrote:

I am getting a lot of noise and rough feel from manually rotating the
drum on a Hoover Ecologic A3950 washing machine. On spin cycle its
like a jet takeoff!

I figure it is the drum bearings and being a practical chap I wonder
if anyone can tell me, before I start, if bearing replacement is a
straightforward task? I have a pretty thorough tool box but will I
need any specialist Hoover tools?

I can't speak re that model Peter but I did do a bearing change on our
AEG Lavamat a while ago.

The symptoms were as yours.

From memory ..

I removed the back panel (well, power and hoses first of course) and
lid (to make it easier to see stuff).

Dropped the motor and removed the belt.

There was a large bolt in the middle of the drum pulley that came out
ok but the pulley itself took my 3 legged puller to remove (or at
least get moving).

Removed the large cast iron, 3 legged 'spider' from the drum then
shaft (leaving the drum in the machine) again using the bearing
puller.

AEG offer a complete replacement 'spider' (spider, bearings and seal)
for about £120 but I sourced the bearings from a local bearing
supplier (£10 / pair, may of been cheaper fom the domestic parts shop)
and the seal from a local domestic parts shop (about £12).

To get the bearings out of the 'spider' I heated the lot up with a hot
air gun then used a hammer and blunt chisel to knock the old bearings
out (side at a time).

After a cleanup I pressed the new bearings in with my hydraulic bench
press (I could have warmed the spider and tapped the outer ring of the
bearing in with a large socket or similar).

As per the Haynes book of lies I "reassembled in reverse order" and
it's been fine / quiet ever since (well, till the motor went LR to
earth started tripping the RCD .. fixed by giving the motor a good
blow out with my mates air line and a £5 pair of brushes (while I was
there .. first pair in 14 years g).

All the best ..

T i m

My similar has just gone too. I chickened out and got our local man to fix
it a couple of years ago, and he reckons that having gone again so soon the
shaft is probably damaged so that the seal is leaking (which is what kills
the bearings).

I don't think you should need specialist tools though. You shouldn't need to
get the bearings from Hoover, they will be standard bearings and seals ex
stock in your local Bearing Services. It can be a bit of a fiddly job.