How to Troubleshoot & Replace Lg AP4438637 / 4036ER2004A Tub Seal Gasket

Looked online at several websites to see if I could figure out the problem Came across AppliancePartsPros video on replacing bearings. Watched it a couple of times and determined (well, guessed) it was the bearings and/or spider. Followed the video (great job by the way) and disassembled the washer. The spider was cracked on one arm so ordered a new one from this site. I also ordered two new bearings and the bearing seal b/c learned from the web and local appliance store that they go bad in 7+ yrs. I also ordered the seal b/t the two halves of the outer drum. Thought "what the heck", it's worth it to buy approx $120 in parts to try to fix vs buying a new washer ($900) which wouldn't match size or looks of our dryer. Installed the new parts and re-assembled. It works just like new....go figure!! The video was excellent and the sound and camera were perfect. The guy is mellow so that's good (says the Mrs. who checked in from time to time). The only things I would change is to specifically call out was the difference b/t red and blue lock tight. I bought red, but then listened to the video again and realized there's a difference so bought blue. When re-installing the bearings, make sure you have a longer punch with an end that is narrow, but not pointed and only tap the outer ring. It should be at least 8" long. The other thing about this whole repair is that the grey rubber seal b/t the washer and the door (a) does not go on as easy as the video so give it time, and (b) the inside wire connector takes some serious stretching to hook the loop to the hook. OK, what else? Well, I can say that I'm semi-mechanically inclined. The first 15 minutes of the video covered disassembly. It took me less than 3 hours. The second 15 minutes of the video took 15 minutes. It took me 2+ hours. Now keep in mind, I've only replaced the circuit board on this washer (w/o video), but for this job I set up and watched the video on the laptop, hit pause, and did each step. Allow time for pre and post- work, e.g. moving the dryer, picking up the floor, shutting off/turning on washer/gas/ whatever else is in your laundry room. Have some extra lighting available (flashlight/trouble light/etc if your area is darker). Also good idea to have some of your favorite music plus a beverage of choice for a reward. Good news is that you can do this! 

Our LG “Tromm” washer (a.k.a. “Trommy Baby”) started making a horrible whirring racket a couple weeks ago--especially during the spin cycle. My husband called a repairman who said the bearings were shot; it would be 2 weeks in the shop and about $700 for parts and labor. “Might as well buy a new one”, he suggested. After showing the repairman the door, I was told the bad news. “Only eight years old and Trommy Baby’s ready for the scrap heap? No way! Someone on the internet knows how to fix this thing!” Well, lo and behold, Appliance Parts Pros had the parts AND a video! We followed the video almost exactly... I ordered the parts on Wednesday, we tore the thing down on Thanksgiving evening, and reassembled it Friday morning when the parts arrived. Total repair time was about 6 hours (2.5 to tear it down, 1.5 to thoroughly scrub all the nasty parts--especially the tub and gasket, and another 2 hours to reassemble). As others had suggested, to ease the bearings in place easier, we put them in the fridge for an hour or so and used a blow dryer to heat the recess where the bearings fit. I used a rubber mallet around the edges to insert the smaller bearing. For the larger one, I held a 6-inch length of cedar lath on the edges of the bearing and tapped it with a hammer. Driving the bearings in is slow-going, but they eventually slid into place perfectly. Putting the gasket back on was a bit of a chore, so be patient. Overall, the repair was not difficult, but there are a lot of steps. Anyway, by 2:30 Friday afternoon, Trommy Baby was all back together, happily doing a load of whites with whisper quiet abandon! Woo hoo! You go, Trommy! 

I noticed the bearings getting noisy on my LG washer. I am an Engineer in the Industrial Laundry Industry so figuring out what was going wrong wasn't my biggest challenge. I began searching for parts and how to videos on the web and I found AppliancePartsPro.com. I couldn't be more impressed. The video was 95% accurate. I did have one extra screw in my control panel which the video did not know about and some of my parts were a little different but no matter, the instructional video was awesome. I watched it completely before starting and then used it step by step. I am a big believer that haste makes waste. I was not in a race with the clock to get this done. I set aside a Saturday, started in the morning and got done when I got done. Everything was as easy as the video showed until I had to remove the shaft from the bearings. Mine didn't fall out after a couple of hits as in the video. It took me over two hours to free the shaft from the bearings. I needed very good penetrating oil to break the rust and run down the shaft to get into the second bearing as well. My machine was not in bad condition and there wasn't much rust yet I needed a 2 pound hammer and destroyed several pieces of 1' oak board beating on the shaft. Eventually it came out. I replaced the bearings, shaft seal, outer tub seal and the spider/shaft. I didn't need to replace the spider/shaft but I had ordered one based on the high probability I would need to. Since I had it, I replaced it. I reassembled the machine and it works like new. One thing the video did not address is why the bears failed. I also saw some questions about it so I will tell you what I have learned from my 20 years of washer maintenance. Two things make bearings fail prematurely. The most common cause of failure is water damage. When the shaft seal begins to leak, the first thing to get wet is the inner bearing next to it. The water will make its way into the bearing and damage it. First the bearing will become noisy and eventually it will fail. This can be occurring without having puddles of water on the floor. This root cause is confirmed when you disassemble the machine and inspect the shaft seal. The seal will be in poor condition and the bearing will be rusted. The second reason a bearing fails is because the shocks are worn out. I require the suspension to be replaced as part of bearing jobs on our industrial washers. On my residential washer, I did not replace the shocks because I found the shaft seal was in very bad condition and it was the obvious problem. I checked my shocks and they seemed fine. Perhaps this is always the case with these washers, I don't know, I don't have any history other than what I have read on this site. I've seen some questions about why the bearings fail and if there are better bearings which won't fail. The problem isn't the bearings. The problem is the shaft seal. If you want to keep your bearings from failing, then replace your shaft seal every year or two and replace your shocks every 3 or 4 years. Unfortunately, you still have to take the whole machine apart to replace the shaft seal. This would be the smart thing to do but "if it ain't broke don't fix it" mentality will prevent most of us from doing so. 

If your LG Front load washers sounds like a freight train, STOP USING IT. You're doing more damage and will need more parts to fix it. After the noise became unbearable, I began to explore and disassemble. I knew enough to know the bearings must be bad but had never done this repair before. ( I am however pretty mechanically inclined.) Watch this video before you start tearing your LG apart. APP did a great job explaining the steps of the repair. Do a search on this site or youtube.com with the main bearing part number: 4280fr4048. It will make the repair much easier, trust me. The repair requires that you completely remove the tub. Don't be intimidated, it's not that hard if you watch the video, just a lot of steps. Once you have the tub out and the rear tub assembly with the bad bearings unbolted from the front half, and have tapped out the tub spider / shaft. This is where things can get rough. Most likely your bearings are trashed, (that was what was making all the noise) and rusted in place. DON'T RUSH THIS STEP. Pounding out the old bearings or remaining outer ring from the bearing chases in the rear tub assembly might be tough. First, remove the pieces that are falling off or broken out and clean up the area so you can see what you are doing. Drench both bearings with some kind of penetrating oil like lock-ease or WD-40 so it will free up the bearings from the chase they are seated into, and go relax for while, (I waited until the next day and it payed off big-time). Get the right tools: I used a 1" deep well socket with a square edge so I could get a good grab on the left over outer ring of the bearing, and a 6" extension. Understand the bearings are made of hardened steel and your socket is not so as you tap and pound out the bearings, keep an eye on the damage you may be doing to the socket. You may be working through the inner hole in the old bearings opposite the bearing your are pounding out, and won't be able to see well what you are tapping or pounding on when you remove the first bearing. So be careful to use a solid flat head punch or socket like I did to avoid scoring the walls of the bearing chase. And switch positions a lot, few pops with your hammer and move to the opposite side 12-6, 9-3 on the clock and so on, over and over until you drive it out. Now, flip the tub assembly over and tap / pound out the other bearing the same way. Warning! Don't use the the wrong tools when pounding out the bearings. Don't use a screw driver! If you don't have a good flat head punch or some sockets you don't mind possibly sacrificing, go buy a good steel flat head punch. If you find you are wearing out your arm pounding, add more penetrating oil and take another break. DO NOT damage the bearing chases pounding out the opposite side bearing by resting your punch or extension against the edges of the opposite chases, (polished male recessed ring the bearings slide into) or you'll end up having to also buy a rear tub assembly at about $125.00. The chases are manufactured into the rear tub assembly. So be careful! Once you get the bearings out and the chases on both sides and the chases cleaned up. Inspect the chases closely. If you nicked then or crushed the edges in any way that causes the otherwise perfect circle to push in and potentially put undo pressure on the new bearing, you'll need to grind or file it down so the new bearing will fit into the chase properly, and not apply pressure to one spot of the bearing after you get it fully seated into the chase. If you made it this far, the hard part is over. Congrats! The next ussue you may run into is seating the drum back into the rear tub assembly. If you had to replace the spider which is also the tub shaft also like I did because a waited too long and trashed it too, in my case it did not easily slip completely into place, through the inner holes of the bearings. In an effort to try and seat the shaft to how far it extended originally, I placed a folder towel on the center of the back/bottom of the tub, and used a 1 1/2 foot 4x4 block of wood and carefully gave it a few hard pops with a hammer. It seated a little further but not fully so I stopped to avoid damaging the tub. I had another option to pull it on into place later during assembly. During re-assembly, when you put the motor cover back on and screw the large hex head bolt into the end of the shaft, if the shaft is not fully seated through the bearings and flush with the surface of the female motor housing, use the bolt to pull it on into place by repeatedly tightening the bolt by hand and pounding your ratchet handle 1/4 to 1/2 a full turn. Then back it out completely and inspect to verify you are pulling it closer to flush and not damaging to the motor housing. Repeat this process a little at a time until the shaft end is flush with the motor housing. This will completely seat the shaft, and the main seal on the inside will do it's job in sealing the bearings from tub moisture and possible leaks. From hear it should be smooth sailing. Follow the video instructions for reassembly. Once your done, congratulate yourself and know that you just saved yourself about $400 in labor and service call charges! 

Our 10-year-old LG WM2487HWMA front load washer had gradually developed multiple problems. It sounded like a jet engine during high speed spin, both the drain pump and circulation pumps were noisy, it would not drain properly (water was coming in during spin cycle), no water was spraying out at the top of the door into the drum like it is supposed to when the circulation pump was running. It's amazing we had still been able to wash clothes at all! With the help of the excellent AppliancePartsPros.com videos for almost all of the operations, I set out to tackle all of these issues, performing nearly a complete overhaul of the machine. The LG washer test mode (google it) was helpful for diagnosing some of the problems. Here is what I did, along with a few observations/tips: - Moved washer into our kitchen, which is adjacent to our cramped laundry room, for repairs (on sliders, kept it on the pedestal). The extra space was essential to remove the tub, etc. - Replaced tub bearings, bearing seal, and seal between the tub halves. This was the most difficult part of the repair (not easy, but doable). Don't wonder if you really need to use PB/penetrating oil on the bearings to get them out - you do!! Using a generous amount at the bearing perimeter, and allowing it to soak overnight, was key, and it still took quite a bit of time to knock them out. A 5/8" x 6" long bolt with stacked washers and nuts from a big box store helped to remove the old bearings and install the new bearings. - Replaced both the drain pump and the recirculation pump. These were both quite straightforward to remove and replace. - With everything apart, removed the three large rubber hoses (F310, F315, K520) and cleaned out the gook and hard water deposits in them. This took quite some time. A cable-operated hose clamp pliers (available from auto parts stores) was very helpful to replace some of the harder-to-reach clamps, such as the vent hose clamp. - Removed and cleaned out the short gasket drain hose (K570) and the hose that goes between the recirculation pump and the top of the door gasket, using a wire and then faucet water pressure. These were both completely clogged, resulting in no gasket drainage and no water spraying into the drum from the drum light area. - Replaced the tub suspension springs and dampers for good measure, since the tub was out. - Suggest also replacing the washer door gasket at this time, if you haven't already (I had). - There was some play in the plastic splines of the tub motor rotor assembly (K360), which could be felt when rotating it back and forth. I carefully wrapped one layer of 3/4" adhesive tape around the splines on the shaft, pressing it into the splines, before reinstalling the rotor assembly. This filled the gap enough to remove the play (hopefully it will last a while - we shall see!). - Replaced the cold and hot water supply solenoid valves (faulty valve was resulting in water supply being on during spin cycle). These were pretty easy to replace. - Reinstalled machine with new water supply connection hoses (they were ten years old as well). Overall the repairs took 12-13 hours (I tend to work deliberately and not particularly fast) over the course of about two weeks. Total parts bill was under $400, and parts arrived in just 2-3 days from AppliancePartsPros.com with regular delivery. All in all it was a significant investment, but now just about all of the moving parts in the machine have been replaced, and everything about it works like new! And it was satisfying and fun to learn about how it all works and goes together. THANK YOU APP for the great parts service!!! 

Our LG “Tromm” washer has been getting louder and louder on the spin cycle and having experience with pumps and motors that meant the bearings were shot and needed to be replaced. I was reading on-line and several people said they got quotes of about $700 for parts and labor and “Might as well buy a new one”. I figured that I could take it apart and find the bearings so I went to Appliance Parts Pros to order the parts and they have a complete step by step video from beginning to end. I ordered the parts(2 bearings, a seal and an outer tub gasket for about $75) and watched the video a couple of times while waiting for them to arrive a couple of days later. Make yourself a list of all the tools you will need and get them before starting. YOU WILL NEED; vice grips, a 10 & 17mm socket, a 13mm long socket and a 12mm wrench along with pliers, screwdrivers, hammer, cold chisel/punch, penetrating oil, brass wire brush, wood blocks(I used four 2' pieces of 4"x4" and two 2' pieces of 2"x4" so I could get the outer tub high enough to get the inner tub to drop out) and several towels. Also, the tubs will be nasty from years of soap scum buildup so I took mine outside and cleaned them up with a pressure washer but a water hose and nylon brush would work well too. I have good mechanical skills and it took me 6 hours from disconnecting and getting the machine out of the laundry room to plugging it back in and starting the first wash with all the dirty towels. That did include 2 trips to the garage to get tools and cut wood blocks, 30 minutes getting the pressure washer out and cleaning the inner and outer tub and a few stops for a drink or snack (my wife is awesome) and video reviews. Go slow and give yourself plenty of time. The door gasket spring hoops will fight you going back on so be patient. There are some sharp metal edges so wear gloves or be willing to accept a few small finger nicks and cuts. Another good tip; to ease the bearings install, I put them in the freezer for about an hour so they shrink just a little bit. When driving the bearing in be careful not to hit the center plastic part of the bearing assembly, ONLY THE OUTER EDGE. Driving the bearings in is slow-going, but they eventually slid into place perfectly. Overall, it was not that hard, just a lot of little careful steps. Calm & patience wins this battle. If you get frustrated at one of the steps, take a break, watch that part of the video again and relax, you are doing a $625 repair job yourself. 

First sign of problems in washing machine. It started to walk while spinning. Second problem it started to sound really loud. Third problem was a "burning rubber" smell on really high speed spins. Identified problems as bad bearings by following some youtube videos on potential problems. Main thing identifying problem was movement of stainless drum while pushing on it. It just had way too much play. So ordered parts and watched the installation video. I followed the video while doing the repair. A friend and I repaired the washing machine over the course of a week time frame taking about 8 hours in total. So much time partly because of having to order other parts and partly because of the frustration factor of removing shafts and bearings, and taking the time to clean the greasy rusty mess on all the parts. My first order for parts was the 2 bearings, the seal and the tub gasket. After opening up the washing machine, I realized the shocks were bad, and had to order new ones. A few notes to add to what you see in the video. I'm only commenting on the areas where I had issues and what I might do differently, or what I did do differently. 1) As someone else said, label all your screws - I put mine in zip lock baggies and wrote on the bag where they came from. 2) The first difficulty I encountered was trying to get the top front panel off (the one with all the controls). As it turns out there is a screw we had to remove on the far right side (as you face the machine) 3) Then getting the shaft/drum out was really hard. We had to use a lot of force, and split a lot of wood. There was no damage. Luckily the spider arm was in really good shape, and the help line did tell us that using a lot of force would be fine. We used a mallet on 2x4 wood. 4) Everything else went smoothly until we tried to remove the bearings. We had to really pound them out. The second set of bearings was so difficult to get out, that the "cage" remained behind and we had to pound that out separately. What I would say is keep at it, you may have to use more force than you thought necessary. I actually called the help line, and they told me to use a lot of force, a mallet to strike the punch was probably necessary and some people used heat. We never got to the stage of having to use heat. Also we stacked the machine on 2x4' to protect the base. 4) Putting the new bearings back in was fairly easy. One thing I noticed was burrs around the bushing where the bearings go back in. When I called Appliance parts pros, I was told the burrs are OK, just leave them. I check to see that the second bearing was fully seated by putting my fingers in the hole and feeling the gap, or lack thereof, between the bearings and the lip they sit on. When I added the seal, it sat just a hair above the tub. So far in running the washing machine this is not causing any issue. 5) When you put the shaft back in through the bearings, make sure you really push down to get that last inch. I almost didn't push hard enough. Note: before putting everything back together again, I cleaned out the plastic tub and anything else that had what looked like rusty grease. This included hoses, the interior of the machine, the laundry detergent holder, and some of the hoses. I soaked the hoses in warm water with laundry detergent and then "scrubbed" them out with a tooth brush. I also soaked the tub gasket and thoroughly cleaned that. 6) Putting the inner and outer plastic drum together. I replaced the old seal. I noticed when I tightened the bolts up completely that there was still a small gap in some parts where the tubs came together between bolts. This was a concern, is the tub going to leak?. I peered at the video to see if there were any gaps like mine, but couldn't get a good look. In running the machine, I have no leakage so I'm assuming these small gaps are some type of manufacturing issue. 7) Putting the new shocks in. It was not easy to get the pins in! I had to tap with a brass hammer in order to get them to seat properly so the tab was fully engaged. After the springs and shocks are in, the tub was still leaning backwards. Don't worry it will straighten out when you put the weights back on. 8) The hoses were not easy to get back on, mainly because I wasn't sure how far down they had to seat on the tub. If I have to do this again (I hope not!), I would mark on each tub hose extension where the hose sits, before I remove the hose. The drain hose was the hardest. I really had to loosen up the clamp and pull the rubber up onto the plastic drum extension. The only way I was happy with the position of the hose on the plastic, was to make sure the rubber fit snug up against any protrusions on the tub plastic. I definitely didn't want the drain hose to leak! I think would try installing the drain hose the opposite way. This time I put the drain hose on first and then the "pressure chamber" second. I suspect the other way around would have been easier because the clamp on the pressure hose requires a channel lock to keep it open and it is in a very awkward position. Also the clamps in many cases are really seated into the rubber of the hose, making it awkward to enlarge the clamp. I had to open up the clamp a few times to release it from the rubber, and move the clamp away from the hose end. This makes it easier to get the rubber hose over the plastic. I then slid the clamp, while holding it open with channel locks, over the plastic. 9) Next difficulty was with the rotor. No problems with the stator. But putting the rotor on - wow that was tough! In the video it just slides right on. Ha! We tried pounding with a block of wood. It brought it in a bit. So then we screwed in the large bolt to pull it all the way in. And then took the bolt out and added some of the blue stuff. Note that the rotor does not touch the body of the washing machine, there is a gap. Also the shaft coming from the spider arm/drum and into the rotor does not come flush with the rotor outside edge. 10) The inner gasket takes time and patience to get on. It does not slip on very easily in my experience. Just take your time. A lot of cuss words happened here. 11) The inner gasket clamp was difficult to get on. Using regular vice grips doesn't work as the lip of the the vice grips are too thick and prevent being able to get the loop over the hook. I know he did it in the video, but we could not get it to work. Also the upper part of the clamp has to be held in place. What finally worked is to hold the upper part of the clamp in place using the loop and some needle nose pliers, held from the top opening of the machine. Then use needle nose vice grips on the lower spring to pull it up. It took two of us to do this. The outer clamp was a breeze in comparison. I wish you ease in repairing your machine. Would I do it again? Yes, now that I know some of the pitfalls and can work around them! LOL 

Can't buy LG parts in Canada without getting an LG Tech to install. $1000 repair was too steep for me so went on websites and bought from Appliance Parts. Watch the video on Appliance Parts. Note - Joyce from Appliance Parts really helped in identifying the bolts that I needed. Read on and you will see why. Stripped down machine and identified the spider had failed along its three arms. Bearings were still in good condition. Managed to get three bolts off spider but remaining three had same issues as others have mentioned in that they turned without coming off. (turns out the nut is just pressed into the housing within the drum baffle assembly so not much strength, see AP video on stripping it down). In hindsight because the bolts have thread lock on them I should have tried tightening (to break the seal) and then backed them off. Drilled out the three bolt heads and pushed out through the drum baffles. Once you get the baffle out it is an easy strip down. Used adhesive to lock the nuts back in place and set overnight. During that time thoroughly cleaned all the soap scum that had built up over the years to make the inner tub assembly like new. The hardest/fiddliest part of the rebuild, IMHO, was putting the door/tub gasket on. Expect stiff fingers later. I forgot how quite and vibration free a machine should be at full spin. Although I had to pick the parts up at the border it was still much much cheaper and a lot more satisfying than paying the LG Canada cartel. Would I do it again. Definitely. Would I buy from Appliance Parts .. without question. I spoke to Joyce, she was an absolute star, and found the right spider bolts that others said you couldn't get on various threads. If she hadn't found them then I would be going with an alternative home made solution. Good luck and if you need any help just ask. 

The how to video was excellent. THE EDGES OF THE UNIT ARE SHARP. PUT TAPE AROUND THE OUTER EDGES OF THE UNIT OR USE GLOVES IF YOU CAN. I CAN'T WORK WITH GLOVES AND CUT MYSELF TWICE, ONCE PRETTY BAD WHEN VICE GRIP SLIPPED WHEN REPLACING INNER DRUM FRONT SEAL SPRING. MORE TO FOLLOW ON THIS ISSUE. Only one or two very minor differences between video and my unit. First suggestion is to take a cupcake muffin tin and put screws into each bin in order that you take them out and label the bins with a piece of paper and tape. It will save you a load of time. Then follow video. Only issues I had was in getting the old bearings out (always a bear to do on any bearing in my experience) and putting the new bearings in which was easier than knocking the old ones out but still harder than he shows in the video. Only other problem I had was getting the springs on the front drum seal. Inner spring is a hook and eye and I did it like the video but cut myself badly when vice grip slipped and back of my hand hit the top edge of unit. If doing it again I would take some picture hanging wire, wrap it around the hook side and down around wire itself, bring the end down through the eye side and then put the vice grip on that end and pull up and over the hook. Then release the wire. Wish I had thought of this before I struggled and eventually badly cut the back of my hand. Other issue is replacing the seal spring on the outer front of the unit. Every time I followed video the seal would pull off when I tried to stretch the spring. I even call for support ideas which wasn't very helpful. Then after watching the video about twenty times I heard the tech say something like, hopefully you've stretched out the spring. I then stretched the spring by stepping into the loop and pulling. It opened just a bit and then I got it on the seal the first attempt. Most of the job is easy although be prepared for your significant other to have a fit when they see the unit apart. 

The Stainless Steel drum should never rub the plastic tub! This was the indicator that something was drastically wrong. The only way to save my Tromm Washer was to tear it apart and diagnose the problem. One challenge to me was releasing the top of the washer. I used a 1" putty knife to reach in under the lid in two places on the front between the top and the front panel and gently push in to release the clips. Before removing the lid, I took a lot of pictures of the way the electrical connections were located in the control panel. This came in very handy at re-assembly. By looking online at Appliance Parts Pro's website before finishing the disassembly, I gained the knowledge and confidence to do this project on my own without an expensive Appliance Service Person. Helpful suggestions were give in the video I saw like, use a 14 mm socket to release the tub holders from the shocks. That was a great tip! Once I got the tub out, it was very helpful to have the before hand knowledge of using a set of wooden blocks to rest the tub on for both tear down and assembly. After getting the tub apart, removing the spider and inspecting the bearings and seal; I was ready to order my parts. I could not find my particular model # and chatted with Dyan at the help desk. We went on for a while; he could not find it either. It is helpful to use the full descriptive model name; ie, LG Tromm, Whirlpool Gold, etc. Dylan found the spider and I went straight to ordering my parts. I payed the extra shipping to have next day delivery. They did arrive the next day. Getting the parts while the whole process was still fresh in my mind was very helpful to me. Assembly was streamlined for me by watching the video. It went together well and worked perfectly!