Initially, I hired an appliance repair company to replace the bearings and seals in our front-load LG washing machine. After disassembling the machine about 50%, the technician indicated that he did not have the correct parts, nor tools, to completely remove the drum so that the bearings could be accessed. He indicated that it would take 2-3 weeks to get the repair parts and that the repair would cost > $1000, instead of the original $470 quoted. I took this as his passive way of saying that this repair was too hard. Later, he recommended that I scrap the machine and just buy a new one. In this case, WRONG...
Next, I went to appliancepartspros.com to see if they had the parts in stock and quickly available(at a reasonable price). In short, they did. I was also aware that our machine had been making some strange noises when the pump would run. As expected, these parts were also in stock.
I ordered the parts and they arrived just two days after ordering. I was still very concerned that I would not be able to figure out how to reassemble the machine since it was the tech from the repair company who had taken it apart and left the parts(bolts, screws, etc.) in a pile in the hallway. I was pleasantly surprised to see the gurus at appliancepartspros.com had done a high-quality, long-length video of the complete tear-down and re-assembly of a very similar front-load model of LG washer. After watching the video, it was 100% clear what I needed to do.
Considering that the washer was a $1300 machine, I was willing to put in some extra effort to solve the problem. I estimate that the bearings, seals, and pumps took about 6 hours total for me to replace. I think an expert could have completed the task in maybe 4 hours. Although an extra set of hands would have been VERY helpful, it was possible to complete the task independently with a little struggle here and there. In the end, the well-done repair cost me < $400 in parts and the machine is washing clothes like new again.
Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-eAvoBI59Y1
Thanks again to the team at APP!!! Great video!!!