How to Troubleshoot & Replace Samsung AP4206426 / DC66-00470A Washer Front Shock Absorber

After reading many repair forum posts on similar issues with Samsung washers, I put the machine into troubleshooting mode to look for error codes. No error codes. I did a re-set, and the problem remained. No sign of a broken drum spider or bad bearings. So I replaced all four shock absorbers. Like many people reported, when I compared the dampening action on the new shocks to the old shocks, the old shocks felt no different than the new shocks. Same amount of resistance on the compression stroke and the return stroke compared to the new shocks. I had read that many people got to this point and assumed they had removed the old shocks for no good reason, and they returned the new shocks without installing them. I installed my new shocks and as a special heavy stress test, I loaded thick, heaving bedding materials. Hallelujah. The washer moved through its cycles and when it got to spin, it happily accelerated to full RPM without any banging or clanking and it finished its cycle like a brand-new machine. Problem solved. Items to note: When facing the back of the washer, it is a little tricky getting a socket with an extender onto the 13mm bolt at the top of the right rear shock. I used my foot to gently push the drum over to the left to gain adequate clearance. Also, for whatever reason, it was a bit tricky getting two of the longer top bolts to push all the way through the shock to engage with the threads in the mount. If you experience this, do not despair. Fiddle around. Wiggle and jiggle the bolt gently and carefully, and while doing so, gently tap the hex head of the bolt and with patience, it will push through so that the threads can engage. This is no time for brute force. It's a situation calling for a gentle touch and patience. You don't want to distort the parallelism of the nylon flanges on the mounts for the shocks. Go easy. Don't get a bigger hammer and it'll go fine. The tear-down, shock removal, shock replacement, and reassembly took me about an hour and 10 minutes. You would spend more time calling a repair tech, waiting for the tech to arrive and waiting for the tech to do the shock replacement. Doing it yourself also prevents you from bursting into tears when you get the repair bill from a service tech. Go forth in peace, with confidence, the right tools and a gentle touch, and thou shalt reach the promised land. Hallelujah. 

Started researching the issues I was having and immediately it seemed that the spider arm was the culprit. While researching I found an excellent video on YouTube from AppliancePartsPros detailing the repair process. I watched it through and realized I could do it myself, and also that calling out a repair person was going to be a waste of money as they would just tell me to replace the unit. Disassembling the unit was straight-forward enough with only some minor differences between my unit and the one depicted in the video. Loosening the bolt on the back of the stator was more difficult than it appeared in the video and I actually ended up breaking some of thin plastic "honeycomb". I managed to get the tub assembly out by myself but I would recommend having a second person to assist. I kept my iPad nearby throughout the process with the video loaded up and started and stopped playback as I went along. When I got the tub disassembled and started inspecting the spider arm it didn't really look that bad, especially compared to the piles of rubble I had seen from others. However I did see some cracks forming and there was a lot of debris lodged in and around it. All 6 of my original spider bolts snapped when trying to remove. Because my spider arm was intact I had to use a hammer to break it apart to remove and then cleaned the area up real well by scrubbing and using some vinegar. I ordered the shock absorbers just in case but after comparing the existing ones to the new ones, mine appear to be ok (I will be returning them). I did however fail to notice a small tear in the diaphragm so I did order that separately (be sure to check yours closely). The tub seal I ordered is not listed for my model, but I gave it a shot to avoid ordering a new back half outer tub assembly after seeing that others have reported success with it elsewhere. It was definitely thicker than the original and may be putting more stress on the tub but oh well, it seems to be fine. Re-assembly went well. I did have a second person help me pop the tub assembly back in. Machine is working great and spins very smoothly! 

About 2 weeks ago got an alert from my smart watch overnight of a loud noise, thought nothing of it. About a week or so later the washer started banging during the spin cycle. Though maybe the wife overloaded it and it was an unbalanced load. Tested with no load, worked fine, told her to not load it so much and see what happens. Issue persisted, and she could hear that the banging noise was coming from the front of the washer below the front loading door Came home and took the back panel off, shocks seemed a little loose so I assumed a bad shock and ordered new shocks for the washer. Decided since I’m going to have to take off the front of the washer anyway, might as well do that now so when the parts get here I can fix it immediately. Taking off that front is a pain, but just go slow, watch some of the videos on this website and you’ll get it done. Long story short, take off the front, and noticed that the basket weight is pulling away from the bottom of the basket. That was what was banging into the front of the washer below the door. One of the bolts that hold it on, came loose and must have shot off during a spin cycle (probably what caused that loud noise alert on my watch overnight). ALMOST canceled the order and just replace the bolt since the weight was still intact, BUT I said since it had probably been unbalanced for up to 2 weeks and only recently started banging the shocks we’re probably worn out a lot or damaged. Since I had this machine opened up might as well replace the shocks and then find out after putting it all together again it still bangs during the spin cycle and have to take it all apart again. Parts arrived, installed, put the whole machine back together and everything works great now. Spent $165 IIRC for the parts, tax, and overnight shipping. Don’t doubt the service call alone would have cost more than that, plus labor and parts. 

Replaced broken drum spider and shaft assembly (part # AP4449265). Burning rubber smell was caused by spinning drum touches door boot seal. Also replaced all 4 shock absorbers just as a precaution. Replacing tub seal may not be absolutely necessary but it's cheap and easy. be aware of those razor sharp metal frames. 

With all the bouncing around the shocks appeared to be done in but that was not the issue. The key was the balance ring. It had leaked all the fluid out causing all the beads to clump. This caused the drum to wobble wildly and not spin at speed. Getting to the ring to replace it is not a trivial task and took me several hours. Would have been much easier with help as the drum is quite heavy. The on-line video's are very handy and should be watched before attempting this job to save you a lot of extra work. This job is a complete tear down of the entire machine. Once completed, it was most satisfying, to see it work right off the bat. While a lot of work, it was way cheaper than buying a new one or paying someone else to do the repair which would have been close to the cost of a new one. If your adventurous with a bit of mechanical aplitude, this is worth doing to save a ton of money. Cheers, 

Replaced the suspension components by slightly lifting and supporting the drum assembly allowing replacement of the two support springs, followed by replacing the two shock dampers located at the lower front of the machine, followed by replacing the two rear dampers. The only difficulty was in designing a system to gently lift and support the drum assembly, needed to safely replace the top support springs. None of this could have been done without the wonderful support of Appliance Parts Pro Team. Thanks to all the team for your help. 

Determined that it was unbalanced. Recalibrated according to Samsung directions, but still no resolution. Suspected defective/damaged spider arm, so disassembled entire washer. That was not it. Decided to purchase and replace all four dampers/shock absorbers, and the problem was resolved. 

Washer did not want to spin out and had trouble balancing the load only when heavy clothes were being washed. Sometimes it did fine and other times it would try for an hour to balance the spin and never do it.I could not find any good way to tell if worn shocks would cause this type of failure. In the research I did, it referred to a washer never being able to spin out and usually a bad or broken shock was to blame. I didn't know this thing had shocks in it... I decided due to the age of the machine (8 years) and the amount of laundry it has done over that time (a lot) that if nothing else the shocks were worn and could be contributing to the difficulty to spin out with a heavy load... Good news is that this fixed the problem and it spins fine now with the heaviest load in it. Wife is happy :-) This site was an awesome resource for how to do it.. Thank you 

Corrected problems by replaced 4 of shock absorbers and making sured the unit is level. 

The front legs were slightly worn and the rubber coverings were missing from the rear feet. This allowed the washer to slide easily on the tile floor. I replaced all four feet. This only required a 12 mm open end wrench. After leveling the washer, things were improved, but I also took the opportunity to replace the four shock absorbers under the drum. The shock absorbers were 5+ years old and one was showing signs of wear / damage. This required removing the front and rear panels with a Phillips screwdriver. The shock absorbers required a 13 mm docket and 8” extension for the socket. Very easy repair overall.