How to Troubleshoot & Replace Whirlpool AP6809210 / W11266654 Outer Door Boot Seal Clamp

I watched a few youtube videos (some are waaaay better than others) and felt confident enough to tackle the repair. When looking at the seal more closely, it was not even clamped onto the front panel and was incorrectly installed to the tub. Not sure why it was leaking-LOL. I bought a new front and rear clamp from AppliancePartsPros.com , cleaned up the door seal and reinstalled it correctly. This repair is probably a 3 or 3.5 out of 5 in difficulty for anyone who is handy and mechanically inclined. 

I replaced the washer door boot seal and both boot seal clamps, after watching the video first the replacement went very well 

I wasted a ton of time ordering parts that “should have fit” from Amazon for the sake of convenience. This particular boot seal clamp was the only one out of 6 clamps I ordered that actually fit perfectly. I measured tediously and made sure the model numbers matched, but nothing worked. Too loose, too tight, spring too small or long. But my part from Appliance Part Pros took less than 5 minutes to put on after literal weeks of fighting with my washing machine. AND they fulfilled my order even faster than expected before the weekend and I could finally get back to my Saturday laundry routine instead of waiting until Monday to receive it! It was a great surprise. And with how convenient it was to just put in my model number and see all the parts my washer needed instead of having to sort through thousands on Amazon, I’d definitely buy from here again. 

After all of the tear-down, removal of old boot, cleaning, and reinstall of new boot inner seal, this was the worst of the job to do. I tried to reuse the old spring/clamp, and it over-stretched immediately. The new one worked just fine, but took 3 tries and another set of hands to get the job done. Leak free, and mildew free again! My front-loader was the bottom of a stackable dryer, so the time investment is a bit inflated. 

Followed a couple of DIY Youtubers, ordered the parts and jumped in. As I removed panels, I found a lot of rust on the washer door and frame. It took a lot longer to remove the rust, repaint the rusted areas before doing the actual part replacement. 

After staying with some friends for awhile, I went to do a load of laundry and saw the bellow was stained and discolored. Simple fix with the right tools and parts. Replaced the bellow and my friends thanked me. They didnt realize it was something that could be replaced. Funny in this day of "Google everything". But no more odd smelling clothes either . Thanks for having what I needed for a smooth replacement and a grateful friend. 

I removed the bellows and tried cleaning them but, I ended up just replacing the bellows. Shipping was fast and the correct part was delivered. Getting the outer spring retaining ring back on was challenging but doable w/ patience. Overall, the install went smoothly and only took me ~25 minutes. 

I ordered the outer front boot bellow clamp and replaced it. Now it works great. 

Gotta love a washing machine that actively TELLS you what is wrong with it. It was throwing a latch code. I needed a torx screwdriver which I had, luckily. The only trick was getting the band clamp back on. I got it wide enough using two hands and used my son's two hands to push it into place. Saved myself hundreds, I think! 

Ordered the parts, watched the videos, and executed. SUCCESS. The biggest issue was working in very small spaces of our laundry room.