Drum hi i need to replace the outer rear drum and i just can not remove the inder drum i have split the outer drums but i carnt seem to release the inner drum ??

The nut turns clockwise to release

I'm sorry to say that this is potentially very bad news. The problem you describe is quite possibly because the main bearing on the drum is worn out, allowing the inner drum to "flop about", when this happend, garments can get trapped between the inner and outer drums, causing pulls in the material and stain marks as the material is rubbed hard against the rubber gasket.

To test your bearings, open the door of the machine and by putting a little lifting pressure on the top of the inner drum, attempt to rock the stainless steel inner drum up and down.

The outer drum is mounted on springs and shock absorbers, so it will rock about (and it should do this) but the inner drum should not move up and down in relation to the outer drum. There should be ABSOLUTELY NO PLAY between the 2 drums, even the tiniest amount will mean the bearings have failed.

If the bearings are bad enough then other symptoms will typically include:

A clonking noise as you lift and release the inner drum (this is the inner drum rattling on its bearings and/or hitting the outer drum)

You will have become aware of the spin cycle becoming far noisier recently and possibly even a grinding crunching noise when the machine spins.

The drum may feel like something is crunching or stopping you turning it when you spin it by hand with the door open.

A leak from under the machine, which you will probably be able to trace to the back of the machine, coming from the centre of the drum. This is a result of the failing bearing allowing water to escape through the seal at the rear.

This is NOT a job for the uninitiated DIY enthusiast as it will mean stripping the machine and removing the drum from the chassis, splitting it, removing pressed in bearings and then sourcing and re-fitting new bearings.

To be frank, the cost of a bearing set (if they are replaceable, and most are) will be about ?£20 ($30) or so. But it's a long and horrible job if you haven't done it before. I know professionals who claim they can do a bearing change in under an hour, I've done a few and it takes me about 2 hours by the time I've ripped the machine apart and reassembled it after the bearing swap. A local repairer will probably attend and swap out your defective drum for a refurbished one and then take yours away so he can refurbish it and put it back in his stock. Sadly, this will take the price up to the point where you need to question if the expense is worth it or do you get a new machine instead.

I'm sorry to say that this is potentially very bad news. The problem you describe is almost certainly because the main bearing on the drum is worn out, allowing the inner drum to "flop about".

To test your bearings, open the door of the machine and by putting a little lifting pressure on the top of the inner drum, attempt to rock the stainless steel inner drum up and down.

The outer drum is mounted on springs and shock absorbers, so it will rock about (and it should do this) but the inner drum should not move up and down in relation to the outer drum. There should be ABSOLUTELY NO PLAY between the 2 drums, even the tiniest amount will mean the bearings have failed.

If the bearings are bad enough then other symptoms will typically include:

A clonking noise as you lift and release the inner drum (this is the inner drum rattling on its bearings and/or hitting the outer drum)

You will have become aware of the spin cycle becoming far noisier recently and possibly even a grinding crunching noise when the machine spins.

The drum may feel like something is crunching or stopping you turning it when you spin it by hand with the door open.

A leak from under the machine, which you will probably be able to trace to the back of the machine, coming from the centre of the drum. This is a result of the failing bearing allowing water to escape through the seal at the rear.

This is NOT a job for the uninitiated DIY enthusiast as it will mean stripping the machine and removing the drum from the chassis, splitting it, removing pressed in bearings and then sourcing and re-fitting new bearings.

To be frank, the cost of a bearing set (if they are replaceable, and most are) will be about £20 ($30) or so. But it's a long and horrible job if you haven't done it before. I know professionals who claim they can do a bearing change in under an hour, I've done a few and it takes me about 2 hours by the time I've ripped the machine apart and reassembled it after the bearing swap. A local repairer will probably attend and swap out your defective drum for a refurbished one and then take yours away so he can refurbish it and put it back in his stock. Sadly, this will take the price up to the point where you need to question if the expense is worth it or do you get a new machine instead.

yes sorry but you know the americans ,they dont do geography and they beleave in flat earth theory ,lose sight of land and the world stops ,yes easy job they are taper bearings on vehicle of this age and easy to change ,hardest part is knocking the bearing paths out ,when i service vehicles and i always take the back drums off to clean and inspect and adjust the auto brake adjuster i always put some engine oil in the dust cap before i refit to keep the grease soft ,anyway dont you know this is a opel not a vauhall -GB doesnt exist anymore across the channel but its a third world religious ethnic state of mohamed .

Make sure you have plenty of well-lit space to work as well as lay out the parts removed. Remove the cabinet top by removing several screws from the rear, slide it back somewhat, then lift up. Remove the back panel by removing screws along the top rear, then lift up. Pull loose the rubber boot (it's glued to the cabinet front opening as well as to the outer drum face) CAREFULLY from the front panel opening. After uncoupling the drum motor, wiring, hoses, and suspension components, lift out the entire outer drum assembly. The case splits after removing a handful of bolts from the split circumference. Remove the large drum pulley and any snap-rings holding the large shaft in place. The inner drum should pull out of the rear case, but leave the bearings and seal in the case. The inner bearing and seal are prone to failure over time. The official fix is to replace the rear case (with new seal and bearings) for some 300 to 400 dollars. We chose to replace the bearing and seal from a local bearing supply house for about $16. It's still working well after over 10 years. Assemble in reverse order. Use 3M automotive trim cement for gluing the rubber boot back to the cabinet front. Hope this helps!

Hi,
I think that the drum bearings have gone on the machine..
To open the door and spin the empty drum quickly by hand and you should hear the noise or say a less amplifed one.. Also another way to check is to move the inner durm up and down to see if there is any play in it
Check for bearing failure by seeing if there is any vertical movement between the moving stainless drum and the fixed outer drum. There should be no vertical movement between them - if there is the bearings have failed and will soon collapse. Check for rusty spray around where the pulley shaft enters the outer drum - early indication of seal and bearing failure. Another method of checking is to remove the drive belt and rotate the drum by hand - there should be no noise, roughness or resistance to rotation. Changing bearings is an involved job, only attempt if you are mechanically competent.
As for changing the bearings.
Power off, remove covers. Disconnect drive belt, remove drive pulley. Remove heater, thermostat and pressure switch. Check if drum splits at front, rear or the middle. If the drum is a plastic welded one- ie one which doesn't split, then its game over. If it splits at front or middle, drum will prob. need removal from machine. This involves dismantling the suspension and damping system and removal of door seal and concrete weights. Undo the drum fixing system - either a clamping ring or a series of peripheral bolts and split the drum. If the drum splits at the rear, removal from machine probably not required. Remove the clamping system and pull off the rear plate. Seal and bearings will come away with the plate. Seal needs to be dug out with a suitable lever and the old bearings hammered out with a punch from opposing sides of the backplate. Refitting is, as they say, a reversal of the above process.
However Unplug the appliance and take the top off.
Check the weight on the top to see if it's slack.
Open the door and with your palm upward put it on the edge of the drum.
Lift it until the weight comes on. Is there a lot of movement?
Press down on the inner drum and swing it side to side, does it sound/feel rough?
Finally, tip the machine rearward a little and from underneath check to see if the front weight is loose.
If all of the above are ok then it's likely the drum support spider has broken one of it's legs and the inner drum is knocking as it spins.
To sort this out you would need to strip the appliance down and remove the inner drum to try and change the bearings and the inner drum support.
This is a major strip down of the appliance.
Hope this helps

Thanks for contacting fixya.com

Hi

Quite easy !

Slacken your wheel nuts, Jack up the car, support on an axle stand, remove the wheel.

Knock off the little domed dust cap with a screwdriver.

Remove the split pin, and undo the nut.

The drum should now pull off if you remember to let off the hand brake !

Pull out the inner seal and the bearing race will fall out, also remove the outer bearing race.

Now you have to knock out the 2 bearing tracks from the drum hub.

Clean up the drum, carefully tap in the 2 new bearing tracks with a socket, and then grease the bearing races liberally with LM bearing grease.

Fit the bearing races to the drum, along with the new seal, and refit the drum, tighten the castle nut, then just back it off slightly, and fit new split pin, and then the dust cap.

Back on with the wheel, and give it a spin, and check for play by holding tyre, top and bottom.


Good Luck !

Let me know if you have any problems !


Give me a FixYa Rating Please.......Nearly a Guru !

John.

you must be fairly competent to have got this far! So! it now needs a bit of brute force. I assume you have removed the drive pulley? Now lay the unit down, 'pulley side uppermost', support the outer tub from the floor with a couple of bricks at either side to give floor clearance to the inner tub, use a piece of hard wood (to protect the shaft end) and give the wood a HARD BLOW with a 4 pound hammer. The shaft is just 'stuck' in the bearings. Dont mess around tapping the shaft end with a small hammer, you will only bruise the shaft end. As they WOULD say around here
'' GIVE IT A GOOD SCUT WITH A 4 POUNDER''

may be a foreign object trapped in between the inner and outer tub. Major Disassembly required to split the outer tub. May also be the rear bearing in which case back half will have to be replaced.

To complete this repair correctly and to prevent problem re occuring within months you must change the inner drum spider at the same time as the bearing kit, otherwise you are wasting your time, to complete the repair if you have not done one before will take you aprox 1 to 3 hours depending on space available and practicle ability, here goes, remove lid and outer case from machine to do this remove bolts on lower back and two side bolts (under small white covers) remove bolts along top edges both sides on top of macnine, remove cabinet, remove motor, remove hoses, remove heater and thermostat wires, noting location for refitting, remove suspension leg pins and lift outer drum assembly complete fron lower frame, split two halves of outer drum by removing bolts around centre seem, split drum in two, remove drum pully, refit pully bolt and drift inner drum out having put nut back on drum spider thread to avoid flaring shaft, using hammer knock shaft through bearings, then using a chisel or similer object knock out bearings and seal, reverse process refitting new bearins and spider, make sure to replace centre outer drum seal, as these are prone tro leaking I suggest you also seal with a layer of clear silicon, and problems contact me again, not really a job for a novice. Good Luck you will need it. Regards Advisor