Drum Bearing Replacement Bosch Wae

[BigBun]

I need to replace the drum bearings on a 7-8 year old Bosch WAE. I bought a bearing repair kit P/N 172686 which consists of the bearings, a bearing seal, some machine screws and a tub gasket. In order to split the tub I have to break a dozen or so plastic clips and then use the additional machine screws to replace them on reassembly. The instructions show the the pclipsbeing broken with side cutters or something plier like. I'm not convinced that will work. There is an e-spares video on youtube where he does it withya small chisel but I am concerned about puncturing the tub. Has anyone done it and what was the best way to break the clips?

Ta for reading,

BB

[Whitegoodshelp (Andy)]

It's a very big job for a DIY job but some people can manage it. What about just using a hacksaw to saw them off?

[BigBun]

Thanks for your reply.

Its a heck of a job for a washing machine. You have to completely dismantle it. A local garage will drift in the bearings for me. Otherwise its in good nick and once this is done it may go on for a bit. If it turns out to be a problem with the spider then I'll scrap the machine. I'll try a hacksaw but the clips back straight onto the tub. Don't want to make any holes.!

[Whitegoodshelp (Andy)]

I used to be able to replace drum bearings in Hoover washing machines in about 40 minutes. Dead easy job. They've been slowly making them harder and harder to replace for many years now. The latest trick is to completely seal the 2 halves of the tub. They are heat welded together and cannot be split. This is the case for the majority of modern washing machines and they just cannot be stripped down to replace any bearings, drum spiders or even retrieve any obstructions.

Just when it looked like they couldn't sink any lower the latest trend is to also weld the front panel on and have a fixed back with no back panel. This means that not only would you have to take out and replace the entire tub and drum assembly but it has to come out through the space in the lid. And because you cannot take the front panel off you cannot remove the heavy tub weight so it's a two-man job to get the tub out. None of these modern machines will ever be repaired in the future if anything goes wrong with the drum bearings, or anything gets jammed inside that cannot be retrieved normally.

With your particular case you need to take out the entire drum anyway so once it's out it should be straightforward to just saw off the tabs. I would have thought it would be impossible to damage the outer tub with a hacksaw. The worse you could do is scratch it.

[BigBun]

Well I have to deal with how this one is made. The last bearing I did must have been 20 years ago on a hoover. Steel tub with I think a cast backplate. You had this little crush washer to correctly preload the taper roller bearings. Thew parts shop was down to his last dozen. Hoover stopped supplying the part. Then the tub rusted through so it was scrap anyway. Home repairers are in the minority. They made them repairable but few people do and fewer people have the skill. I don't know how you would replace a drive belt in the machine you describe. My girlfriend bought a BEKO for less than £200. It's all you describe but it works. We now have the technology to make a washing machine which will go for 20 years for £400.00. Where's this profit in that? Look what it did for ISE.

So, there is no point in moaning.lol.Thanks for your tips.