FIXED Frigidaire affinity Washing Machine FAFS4272LW0 Suspension Spring

[Schwarz633]

Model Number

FAFS4272LW0

Brand

Frigidaire

Age

More than 10 years

My washing machine started vibrating very violently while in spin cycle. After I got it stopped and the door opened I observed that the boot was twisted. I got that off, cleaned up, and was going to put it back on, but then saw that the drum wasn't level or even front to back. Further investigation revealed that the right suspension spring had broken and one of the pins had come out of the left rear shock absorber. I ordered a new spring, wasn't available anywhere locally. Then I started to wonder about the shocks and took off the fronts and one of the rears. These are the original rectangular ones. The front ones have about 1/2" of backlash in them, so I'm thinking they need to be replaced. The rear one doesn't have any backlash, but the resistance is pretty light.

A pair of front OEM shocks is $142 and a pair of rear OEM shocks is $34 on Amazon. These are the cylindrical type. I'm wondering if I could use rears on the front and save a few $$. The mounting is the same front and rear, with a very small difference in the fully collapsed and fully extended dimensions. Why would the fronts be 4 times as expensive?

 

[Jake]

Here's the pair of front OEM shocks:

Frigidaire 5304491701 Front Shock Absorber Kit (AP5691818) - AppliancePartsPros.com

Front shock absorber kit 5304491701 / AP5691818 made by Frigidaire

click.linksynergy.com

I don't know why they are so much higher, I don't know if you can switch them or not. As techs we order and replace OEM parts per the manufacturer requirements. Its up to you if you want to try to experiment with them.

I wouldn't buy them on amazon or ebay,

Lots of members get defective ones or cheap knockoffs that don't perform properly from amazon and ebay, look here:

FIXED - WTW5000DW0 Whirlpool Washer off balance in final spin cycle

Oh, and I ran a manual test for the low speed spin and there is now a rubbing/scraping sound on the tub. Sounds like the stainless steel basket is rubbing up against the tub because one of them is out of round. But, it stops at the full speed (500 RPM). What could that be?

www.applianceblog.com

And here:

FIXED - WTW5000DW1 Whirlpool Shaking/Banging Violently During Spin...

I have a Whirlpool WTW5000DW1 that is aggressively shaking during the spin cycle. The basket bangs against the sides and has worn the cushion/pads on the outside down to nothing. I already replaced the suspension and that seems to have changed nothing. When I took the old suspension out I...

www.applianceblog.com

Jake

 

[Schwarz633]

I've received my parts from Amazon. Looking at the packaging and parts, I don't have any reason to believe that they're anything but authentic Frigidaire OEM replacements. What is interesting is that the new front shock absorbers, as pictured in Jake's post, have the same 1/2" backlash in them that my originals have. The new rears however, don't have any backlash, and offer continuous resistance when changing from extend to collapse, just like the originals. Now I'm wondering if I even need to replace the shock absorbers. Maybe the only problem is the broken spring. Why would the front shock absorbers be designed to have that 1/2" of backlash where they don't do any dampening?

 

[Jake]

Why would the front shock absorbers be designed to have that 1/2" of backlash where they don't do any dampening?

That's a good question, but I don't know.

Jake

 

[Schwarz633]

I ended up installing the new spring and front/rear shock absorbers. The new rear shock absorbers definitely seemed to offer more resistance than the old ones. The new front shock absorbers didn't seem that different than the old ones, but I already bought them and had it apart, so in they went. Ran my first load and all seems good. Getting that inner boot spring on sure isn't easy for a 1st timer.

 

[Jake]

Excellent, sounds good.

Thanks for the update!

Jake