Indesit drum

[Skipweasel]

I'm trying to replace the bearings on my Indesit W93(UK) washing machine. I've got the drum out but I can't get it apart to get the bearings out. It appears to be glued together.

I've met all sorts of ways of holding the outer drum together on washing machines, but this strikes me as a bit low-down and sneaky.

Anyone any idea whether it really is glued together, or whether I've missed something.

[rose.andrew]

Hi Skip

I've just got mine apart. I went about it (with it on its front):

1. Remove back cover (easy)
2. Remove Spindle and Motor (I wedged a 3/8ths extension in the spindle to stop it moving so I could loosen the bolt)
3. Remove 3 bolts hold top brick and 4 screws holding the drum retaining spring brace and move the brace down as far as possible and move the brick as far down with it so it clears the drum bracket enough.
4. Remove the bracket around the drum by undoing the torx bolt.
5. There are 3 slits around the rear drum back plate, about an inch in length, stick a screwdriver in and prise each one whilst applying some upward leverage. If your using more force than it takes to open a bottle of coke, your doing it wrong!
6. Stick a 1/4inch extension in the spindle hole and wack it with a hammer whilst lifting the back plate (this way you can get it out without having to take the whole drum out via the top which involves all kinds of time wasting work.
7. You should now have been able to slide the back plate out whilst catching whats left of your bearings.
8. I've had a go at wacking the old bearing casings out but no luck yet. I've called it a day ;)

hope that helps. Andrew

[Skipweasel]

That's the bit this machine didn't have. Our previous Indesit did - and what you describe is exactly how I did the bearings on that.

However, the tub on this one was glued shut -there was nothing holding the two halves together except glue!

In the end I bougth a second hand Bosch which has replaceable parts. It washes a lot better, too - and the higher spin speed makes drying much quicker.

[rose.andrew]

bracket around the drum by undoing the torx bolt.

I thought it might be as clean cut as that but figured I'd let you know what I did just incase. And that is pretty sneaky.. I can only guess it was done to save on build costs.

How did you get the old bearing outer racers out? I've done bearings on cars and motorbikes and always gone the way of a screw driver and hammer. Did you find any particular easy way or is it just a matter of beating them out and hope they give way easily?

Andrew

[Skipweasel]

I didn't - on this one. On its predecessor I knocked them out with a drift (bashed them out with a screwdriver!).

[<me9]

I used a cold chisel backwards (to fit through the hole) to get out the smaller (outer) one. then it was easy to get in from the rear to knock out the inner one.