Thread: Bearing Replacement Detail Questions, Frigidaire washer FWT647GHS0

This reply is 4 months after your post, but since there are so many views of this post I will add my comments/reply.

Q1: To change the bearings only, is it necessary to disconnect the front boot and remove the entire drum, or is it possible (and easier) to separate the drum halves and remove only the rear half with inner basket without having to remove the boot?
>>> Very interesting suggestion. Have not tried it. Perhaps another person can when they try servicing their machine. May save a ton of time on this job.

Q2: what's involved in removing the shaft and bearings? Are common home/automotive tools sufficient or will I need a press to slide out the shaft and remove the bearing from the tub? To replace the bearings will I need fitted tools (like big sockets) and a press or can I tap it in gently with wood blocks, etc?
>>>The best tool to use is a bearing puller. Hard to find and very expensive. Perhaps you can talk with your favorite auto mechanic and borrow his after hours. A slide hammer has worked for some. Patience and a wood block and a hammer with gentle blows seems to work for most folks. This can be the most difficult part of the job. Be patient and take your time.

Q3: are there specific upgrade bearings and seals I can ask a bearing supply house for? Better seal, roller vs. ball bearings, etc?
>>Repair Clinic now sells the bearing and seals as a kit.

Q4: What type of plastic is the outer tub made of? I drilled a 1/2in. hole in a low stress area to extract the seal (when I thought it was only a bobby pin) and want to use an appropriate adhesive to glue in a fitted plug. Suggestions for adhesive welcome, otherwise will use whatever an industrial adhesive vendor recommends for the plastic.
>>> not sure. A better plastic glue like Duco cement or an epoxy should work.

Q5: Does anyone know the typical life of bearings and inner drum for this model? Ours failed in 6yrs., after owning two Maytag uprights that each got over 20yrs. w/o service.
>>> This really depends on many factors. The biggest factor seems to be the corrosiveness and mineral content of your water. Folks with bad water seem to get at times as little as 2.5 years. Many folks have had the original machines with city water and never had problems ( i think the oldest of these machines is approaching 15 years old now). Other factors that negatively impact bearing life is over-sudsing by not using HE detergent, and overloading the machines.

It turns out the curved metal I extracted (by drilling a 1/2 in. hole in the back of the tub) wasn't from the bearing seal, it was an under wire from an "unmentionable." This was discovered when I removed the inner drum, found the bearing and seal to be in good order, and asked more questions of the users.

The drum is made of polypropylene which is difficult for common adhesives, though there are specialized products available and it can be thermally welded. I chose a simpler approach and plugged it with an expandable rubber plug made for stopping off tubing in HVAC work (McMaster-Carr carries them).

New question: can anyone tell me the proper grease to use on the seal? I had to remove the old grease after contaminating it with particulate scraped from corrosion on the tub spokes. Frigidaire doesn't list it and didn't reply to an inquiry, and the local shops don't know for sure. I reassembled my machine using a petroleum type plumbers grease and it's been fine so far, but it's thinner bodied than the OEM material. (Our dishwasher won't remove the OEM grease from a spatula my wife tried to clean - good stuff.)

Ken

I know this is an old post, but I replaced the bearings last week on our washer and have some answers for you:

Q1: To change the bearings only, is it necessary to disconnect the front boot and remove the entire drum, or is it possible (and easier) to separate the drum halves and remove only the rear half with inner basket without having to remove the boot?

>>>I have found that you do need to remove the entire tub from the washer, HOWEVER you can just remove the boot from the front of the machine, not the tub. This makes re-assembly much much easier.

Q2: what's involved in removing the shaft and bearings? Are common home/automotive tools sufficient or will I need a press to slide out the shaft and remove the bearing from the tub? To replace the bearings will I need fitted tools (like big sockets) and a press or can I tap it in gently with wood blocks, etc?

>>>In most cases the internal drum and shaft should just pull out from inside the tub. If your shaft is so damaged or corroded that the shaft does not clear the bearing opening, you might need a new drum. I used a 1/2" socket extension that was about 10" long. I placed a 15/16" socket on the end to use as a giant punch to hammer the old bearing out (the outside one) and a 27mm socket to punch out the inside one. Also you can buy a reasonably priced "pilot bearing puller with slide hammer" like this one from Cal-Van tools:
CalVan Tools 28 Pilot Bearing Puller With Slide Hammer

Q3: are there specific upgrade bearings and seals I can ask a bearing supply house for? Better seal, roller vs. ball bearings, etc?

>>>> I recommend the Brand SKF, and choose their Explorer line. In most cases you need a 6306 and a 6307. Here is one source that has worked for one of the Bloggers:

Seal and bearings purchased at BDI near Chicago:
BDI
1414 Norwood Ave
Itasca, IL
(630) 285-1905

Nachi Bearings
6306-2NSEC3
6307-2NSEC3

Dichtomatik Seal
40x80x8 (Note: original 40x80x10) The x8 seal will rest on a different spot on the shaft – in theory will seal better. Or try a 'speedi-Sleeve to cover the damaged area.

Q4: What type of plastic is the outer tub made of? I drilled a 1/2in. hole in a low stress area to extract the seal (when I thought it was only a bobby pin) and want to use an appropriate adhesive to glue in a fitted plug. Suggestions for adhesive welcome, otherwise will use whatever an industrial adhesive vendor recommends for the plastic.
>> No experience with that, JB Weld epoxy or a rubber laboratory plug.

Q5: Does anyone know the typical life of bearings and inner drum for this model? Ours failed in 6yrs., after owning two Maytag uprights that each got over 20yrs. w/o service.

>>> I suspect your Maytag was a top loader. Different animal. Bearing failures do not seem to be a common event on top loaders. Much more common on Front Loaders. The life span varies widely..from my experience by the way it seems that its the SEAL that fails then the bearings get contaminated with water and dirt, then they fail. Factors in the life expectancy are corrosiveness of water, amount of detergent you are using (over sudsing is a big no-no), number of loads you are doing a week. Some folks have had failures in 2 years while others have units that have been running for 10 years (the first units that came out) with no issues. On average I would say that most folks are getting over 8-10 years. Remember you only basically see posts here that are from people that are having problems. So its hard to say, you might have 75% of the population NEVER having the issue.

I just did the bearing on our 8.5 year old machine and expect to get another 8 years out of it before having to do them again. I calculated that we did 2,400 loads of laundry on the first set of bearings and seals. There is on this website the how-to document, don't have the link handy that I authored with some other folks on how to do the repair. Perhaps Jake or someone can insert the link for us.