My wife and I have had an AEG front loading washing machine for about 14 years now. It’s been a great machine. Very energy efficient and very quiet.
Not too long ago it started to get noisy. First a low rumble, then louder. I became increasingly loud with each load. Until it was so loud you could hear it from the street!
“14 years”, I thought. Pretty good for a washing machine. Then I looked at the prices of the new washing machines! How much!
Don’t even talk to me about the cheap ones you will find at the big box stores; PAH! I’m not that rich that I can afford to buy cheap…
So I set about seeing if it was something i could fix.
I took the machine apart and very quickly found the problem. Broken seal on the shaft had let soapy water seep in to the bearings, displacing all the grease.
My first thought was to repack the bearings with grease. So I did. Then put it all back together again. Well it was loud but not half as loud as before.
I did not think that just repacking the bearings with new grease would solve the problem. But it would buy me some time to investigate if I could get spare parts.
Finding spare parts was a little bit too easy. Damn you Google! The hardest part was the price of parts. They wanted $150 for 2 bearings and a rubber gasket. Well this had better keep the washer going for at least 5 more years!
The parts soon came. I took the washer apart again, then SMACKED my head and swore! %$#@! I had forgotten that bearings are pressed in to place. You can’t just remove them with a wrench, or a hammer. What I needed was a bearing press.
JUST A MOMENT! Someone just recently loaned DIYode a small 12-ton shop press!
Since I am a full member at DIYode I just took my bearings down to the workshop and used the 12-ton shop press to press out the old bearings and press in the new ones. It didn’t take more than 15 minutes! Another 30 minutes to put the washer back together and everything works!
I was pleased to have clean underwear again; the wife was pleased she did not have to sit at the laundry anymore.
Pressing in the new bearings with DIYode’s new ShoP Press
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