Drum bearings Servis? Episode 2

[Harry Bloomfield]

Hi,

I had removed the rear panel, noticed some rust marks dribbled down the outer drum as if from the bearings, turned the drum pulley which felt extremely rough and tight/almost impossible to turn. Pulley belt was worn in one spot due to slippage at motor trying to drive the stuck drum.

It then stood until I could

a. Track down some replacement bearing.

b. Find my hub puller.

Having achieved both, I removed the pulley to find a nicely greased set and shiny rear bearing and the drum turning perfectly sweetly. Mmmm - Reassembled and it became tight again and rough feeling. Pulled the pulley back off for another look, hooked the bearing out and its as good as new.

Traced the rusty dribble mark and it seems to start a little way below the bearing, but with no obvious source. I then found that if I didn't tighten the centre bolt all the way, the tightness and roughness didn't happen. Put the belt back on and ran it through a wash and it sounded as sweet as new.

I'm now wondering about the bearings...

Keeping in mind that we bought this washer new and I know for a fact that the hub bolt has never been touched prior to today....

The one I could inspect was a taper roller type. Taper rollers need to be set up with some tiny amount of play - by the centre bolt to not be over tightened. When I first undid the bolt it was fairly tight, it needed one of my good spanners to loosen it. So what could of caused the bolt to tighten/ the small amount of play to disappear?

[Sylvain VAN DER WALDE]

Is it a single bearing, or a pair working together? Some bearings are pre-loaded and have a "collapsible" spacer, but most pre-loaded bearings use a spacer and shims of various thicknesses. I'm talking about motor vehicles, here. Taper roller bearings can have some play, no play, or be pre-loaded. On pre-loaded bearings, the nut (or bolt, etc...) has to be tight. On bearings requiring an amount of free play, the nut (or bolt, etc...) has to be screwed in to give the correct amount of free play and then _locked_ in position by the locking device. That's often a split pin, but can be other things. In your particular case, if you've unscrewed the bolt; it's important that you _lock it_ in that position, _or it may well work loose_. I can only think of one way of doing it (in your particular case) and that is to use some Loctite compound on the (clean and dry) threads of your bolt.

Sylvain.

[Harry Bloomfield]

Sylvain VAN DER WALDE presented the following explanation :

It has an inner and outer bearing, at present I can only inspect the outer which is a taper. It is back to making noises again so I think it means having to source new bearings and seals.