Hi,

I had removed the rear panel, noticed some rust marks dribbled down the
outer drum as if from the bearings, turned the drum pulley which felt
extremely rough and tight/almost impossible to turn. Pulley belt was
worn in one spot due to slippage at motor trying to drive the stuck
drum.

It then stood until I could

a. Track down some replacement bearing.

b. Find my hub puller.

Having achieved both, I removed the pulley to find a nicely greased set
and shiny rear bearing and the drum turning perfectly sweetly. Mmmm -
Reassembled and it became tight again and rough feeling. Pulled the
pulley back off for another look, hooked the bearing out and its as
good as new.

Traced the rusty dribble mark and it seems to start a little way below
the bearing, but with no obvious source. I then found that if I didn't
tighten the centre bolt all the way, the tightness and roughness didn't
happen. Put the belt back on and ran it through a wash and it sounded
as sweet as new.

I'm now wondering about the bearings...

Keeping in mind that we bought this washer new and I know for a fact
that the hub bolt has never been touched prior to today....

The one I could inspect was a taper roller type. Taper rollers need to
be set up with some tiny amount of play - by the centre bolt to not be
over tightened. When I first undid the bolt it was fairly tight, it
needed one of my good spanners to loosen it. So what could of caused
the bolt to tighten/ the small amount of play to disappear?

--

Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk

"Harry Bloomfield" wrote in message
...
Hi,

I had removed the rear panel, noticed some rust marks dribbled down the
outer drum as if from the bearings, turned the drum pulley which felt
extremely rough and tight/almost impossible to turn. Pulley belt was worn
in one spot due to slippage at motor trying to drive the stuck drum.

It then stood until I could

a. Track down some replacement bearing.

b. Find my hub puller.

Having achieved both, I removed the pulley to find a nicely greased set
and shiny rear bearing and the drum turning perfectly sweetly. Mmmm -
Reassembled and it became tight again and rough feeling. Pulled the pulley
back off for another look, hooked the bearing out and its as good as new.

Traced the rusty dribble mark and it seems to start a little way below the
bearing, but with no obvious source. I then found that if I didn't tighten
the centre bolt all the way, the tightness and roughness didn't happen.
Put the belt back on and ran it through a wash and it sounded as sweet as
new.

I'm now wondering about the bearings...

Keeping in mind that we bought this washer new and I know for a fact that
the hub bolt has never been touched prior to today....

The one I could inspect was a taper roller type. Taper rollers need to be
set up with some tiny amount of play - by the centre bolt to not be over
tightened. When I first undid the bolt it was fairly tight, it needed one
of my good spanners to loosen it. So what could of caused the bolt to
tighten/ the small amount of play to disappear?

Is it a single bearing, or a pair working together? Some bearings are
pre-loaded and have a "collapsible" spacer, but most pre-loaded bearings use
a spacer and shims of various thicknesses. I'm talking about motor vehicles,
here.
Taper roller bearings can have some play, no play, or be pre-loaded.
On pre-loaded bearings, the nut (or bolt, etc...) has to be tight. On
bearings requiring an amount of free play, the nut (or bolt, etc...) has to
be screwed in to give the correct amount of free play and then _locked_ in
position by the locking device. That's often a split pin, but can be other
things.
In your particular case, if you've unscrewed the bolt; it's important that
you _lock it_ in that position, _or it may well work loose_.
I can only think of one way of doing it (in your particular case) and that
is to use some Loctite compound on the (clean and dry) threads of your bolt.

Sylvain.
--

Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk

Sylvain VAN DER WALDE presented the following explanation :
Is it a single bearing, or a pair working together? Some bearings are
pre-loaded and have a "collapsible" spacer, but most pre-loaded bearings use
a spacer and shims of various thicknesses. I'm talking about motor vehicles,
here.
Taper roller bearings can have some play, no play, or be pre-loaded.
On pre-loaded bearings, the nut (or bolt, etc...) has to be tight. On
bearings requiring an amount of free play, the nut (or bolt, etc...) has to
be screwed in to give the correct amount of free play and then _locked_ in
position by the locking device. That's often a split pin, but can be other
things.
In your particular case, if you've unscrewed the bolt; it's important that
you _lock it_ in that position, _or it may well work loose_.
I can only think of one way of doing it (in your particular case) and that is
to use some Loctite compound on the (clean and dry) threads of your bolt.

It has an inner and outer bearing, at present I can only inspect the
outer which is a taper. It is back to making noises again so I think it
means having to source new bearings and seals.

--

Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk