How to Troubleshoot & Replace Samsung AP4211943 / DC62-00223A Washer Center Tub Seal

At the time of repair this machine had been in service for 7 years supporting a family of 5. For the past year or two there was increasing slapping/banging during ramp up of the spin cycle. The smell of the machine had progressively gotten worse as well. After watching videos on the site I suspected the spider/tub flange was failing. I also ordered new dampers, bearing seal, and tub seal since I figured the time had come to replace the suspension. Followed the awesome video for replacing the spider and it was pretty straightforward. My model (2009) has different weights but otherwise the step-by-step is well documented. I used muffin pans to keep track of all the various screws and bolts and tagged each to the video to keep track of the various parts. Matt makes it look really easy, but it took me closer to 4 hours to break it down and then reassemble -- I'm a reasonably handy person but this isn't what I do for a living. When I opened the outer tub I discovered the source of the odor was caked on detergent. In fact, the spider was actually in good shape despite the many years of service. I am sure the caked on sludge was not helping the balance of the spin. Since I had the new part I figured I would replace it and hope for many more good years. It also meant I didn't need to clean the old one! This proved to be the hard part. Five of the six spider bolts snapped off -- which is good. The sixth wouldn't budge. This is where a more skilled person would drill out the bolt or take some other approach. I tried but ultimately resorted to brute force. This wasted a couple hours. I also gave the tub a good washing before reassembling. Don't forget to remove the half-dollar sized bearing washer from the old spider. Matt mentions it quickly but I forgot and had to dis-assemble the tub and then reassemble (wasted time). I also swapped out the dampers while the tub was removed. The hardest part of this job was extracting the tub from the washer. Matt does it by himself, but my unit has an extra weight on the side of the tub which I could not get a wrench on to remove. This made the tub really heavy and required two men to extract. I have to commend the online support team who quickly addressed a question I had when putting the machine back together. They also furnished a service manual upon request. First rate support. I replaced all four dampers. One appeared to actually have failed but figured they had to be getting near end of service. The machine is back together and good as new. I couple things we plan to do to avoid the smell problem 1) put the HE pod in the washer BEFORE the clothes and 2) make use of the extra rinse cycle whenever we can remember to set it to help rinse the machine. While I still have some slapping/banging it is noticeably better now and I know nothing is actually wrong. I think maybe some work on leveling the machine may improve the problem so I will try that next. I seem to be about 1/8" out of level. 

I went online to see how to replace the belt in my washer using my model number as a search. After some research, I found that this model does not have a belt. It's driven by something called a stater and a spider arm assembly. I watched a video on my exact model repairing the spider assembly which was posted through appliancepartspros.com. I'm not sure why I chose this video, but so happy I did...dumb luck I guess! Once I took the back of the machine off, one of the first steps was to remove the locking bolt. This was my first hurdle. The model in the video had a nut, mine had a bolt. (So the model was very close, but not exact) When I tried to remove the bolt, it would not budge. I called a technician on this website looking for some suggestions. She was great and gave me some troubleshooting tips on how to check to see if the spider arm was broken without having to remove it, but unfortunately couldn't help me get the bolt out. She did offer that the schematic she was looking at couldn't show if maybe it was reversed threaded, and that gave me something to think about. While I had the back open, I noticed a shock had come apart, and given the difficulty of removing the bolt, I fixed the shock and hoped that was my culprit. After running a light load I still had a serious wobble in the drum, plus the drum was rubbing against the rubber door boot pretty bad. We called it a day, I watched the video again, and the next day we decided to see if we could see anything else, so we began again. This time I tried to remove the bolt going reverse, and actually got it to move a little, then after working it back and forth for a while, I was able to get it out. It was not reverse threaded. I had sprayed a little PB Blaster on the bolt the day before and maybe letting it sit overnight wound up helping. After getting the bolt out, we were able to remove the drum by following the video step by step. The video steps were great! Once the drum was out, we separated it, removed the tub, and the spider arm assembly. As I suspected, one of the spider arms was broken. Along with the arm, the inside of the tub and outside of the drum was coated with crud. After talking again to a technician, she told me that as a result of either too much detergent, the wrong detergent, or too much fabric softener. I was able to get it all cleaned with my garden hose and a scrub brush. It was nasty! While I had it apart, we decided to replace the tub seal and the rear drum seal. I ordered both seals, the spider arm assembly and some bolts online from Appliancepartspros.com at 3:00 pm central time one day, and they were delivered to my house by 2:00 pm ct the next day. We began the re-assembly that day. Again the videos to do this were easy to follow and spot on. I had a question while installing the rear tub seal but again called a technician and she was able to help me. To ensure the proper fit, she asked me to send her photos, which I did. After confirmation we were good, we put things back together, again following the video step by step. The re-assembly took around 2 hours but If I were to have tackled this job without appliancepartspros.com helping me along the way, I'm sure I would not have been able to get my problem corrected. I used their videos, their phone help, and their online chat. Wait time was always minimal and always outstanding. I can't say how happy I was to be able to get this washer repaired. I may never do it again, but at least did it successfully once. Can't say enough good things about appliancepartspros.com and their support staff. 

I pulled the outer and inner drums out of the washer. I split the outer drum and removed the inner drum so I could access the inner drum. I then removed the six bolts to remove the broken spider from the back of the drum. Be sure to save the very thin washer will be on the shaft attached to the spider. You will need it when you install the new spider on the back of the inner drum. I then removed the seal from the inside of the outer drum and installed the new seal. Use a piece of wood and a hammer to install the new seal but keep the seal level as you gently install the new seal, do not get it crooked or you will damage it. Make sure the seal is in as deep in the hole as it will go. It will be slightly below the surface of the outer drum surface. Then remove and replace the large O ring seal from the outer tub and install the new one. Using six new I installed the new spider to the back of the inner drum. Place the thin washer that you removed from the old spider shaft on the shaft of the new spider. A dab of lithium grease may be needed to make sure the washer stays in place as you install the inner drum and spider into the outer drum. With the new spider installed in the outer tub bolt the two halves of the outer tub together. Make sure the tub heater is in the proper location as you place the two halves of the outer tub together. Make sure the bolts are tight but do not over tighten them. With the inner and outer tubs back together just reverse the process you used to remove the tub assemblies and reinstall it. Your done. A long process but worth the effort. I saved hundreds of dollars by doing the job myself. The washer is running like new again. 

I followed the fantastic video on appliancepartspros.com. My model was slightly different in a few places--the wiring harness on the front lower tub, the wiring strap on the top right of the bulkhead, one of the small hoses on top of the tub, and the tub weights were on the top and bottom, not sides. I was still able to work through it with little difficulty. I was nervous about starting this repair due to the daunting number of steps. I agree with others, it was not terribly hard to do, just lots of parts--I labeled each screw removed with a post it note to get everything back in order. The biggest challenge I had was loosening the stater bolt on the back of the tub. Like the video, I inserted a small screwdriver into the hole to prevent spinning. It quickly bent and snapped some of the plastic on the stater. I ended up using a crossbar used for lugnuts and quickly spun it clockwise, then counter clockwise against it's own force to cause enough torque to loosen the bolt. After completing reassembly yesterday, the first load was a success. The amount of mold gathered behind the spider arm was disgusting, so I was glad to clean that out. My spider arm was indeed broken and snapped in half. I did not change the tub washer, I just used my finger to apply a thin layer of vaseline. I also noticed the top front of my tub had a large crack, presumably from the shaking. As we are all locked in with the pandemic, I can't afford to be without a washer while I buy a new tub, so I put lots of caulk on the crack and will hope that it holds out longer than this pandemic. 

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. 

I watched your online video. The machine was a different model, but the concept was the same. I also take pictures each time I take something down as a reference for later. 

Had to completely disassemble washing machine. Removed drum assembly. Opened drum assembly to gain access to stainless drum. Spider assembly is a cast aluminum bracket with the shaft that mounts to the motor. Since the problem was caught early all that was needed was the part, the screws as they corroded badly, the seal for the bearings and a new seal for the tube clamshell that holds the drum. All other parts can be reused. I also used marine grade grease on the bearings and loctite blue on all metal to metal screws. This repair takes time so be patient. Clean all the drum parts as they will be very dirty. 

Watched APP videos related to Samsung front load washers, ordered all parts I thought I might need, made repair. Took several hours to take apart and several hours to repair but it wasn't very difficult if you are a little bit handy at this sort of thing. Took my time as I only wanted to do this once. Ordered a flange (spider), tub seal, door gasket, "shaft seal", and a couple of flange bolts to replace some I broke removing old flange. Parts arrived quickly and are high quality. I recommend having help removing and installing the tub to the washer frame. My washer had heavy vibration weights on the front and back of the tub. I removed the front weights before removing the tub from the washer frame. Also removed the stator motor the reduce weight of tub. I cleaned out the drain pump and hoses with a shop vac while the washer was apart. Very easy to do with the washer apart and I found coins in the pipe elbow that were blocking the flow. Use a little soapy water to ease install of the gaskets and seal. 

Looked up problem on Appliance Parts. Watched fantastic repair video. Highly recommend as it helps see what parts you need. All seals, bolts replaced. My spider mount bad, rear tub seal, tub seal, door seal, 8 spider bolts. Make sure to order or purchase blue lock tite. Looking back i would have ordered shocks. Made list of parts and ordered. Followed step by step on the fantastic repair video. Took me longer because broken parts and seals were in hoses. Take all apart and clean out. Some minor machine part differences compared to video but expected and very simple to follow. Thank you!!! Saved a lot of money doing myself. You all are amazing. 

After some research, I determined that I had either a bad balancing ring or more likely a bad drive spider. Out of an abundance of caution, I ordered the drive spider, balancing ring, tub seal, driveshaft seal and new screws for the spider assembly. After watching the excellent Appliance Parts Pro's video (which was 42min long) I did the repair pretty much in line with the video. My assumption was correct that the spider assembly had cracked and failed, it was heavily corroded. I was able to remove four of the six screws without issue but had two fail during their removal. I also replaced the driveshaft seal since it was packed in with gunk and gave me some concern. It was nearly a four-hour job all done, and I'm an experienced mechanic/technician. All parts were Samsung OE and were delivered in time in new condition. I did not need the balancing ring, four screws or the tub seal so I will return those items.