Do-It-Yourself Story

Ordered the bearings and seal kit from here, delivery was really quick. Watched their video on replacing the seal kit, the machine is easy to take apart just follow the video. Then came the bearing removal. I used a drift (long punch) to punch about the rear (smaller bearing), not too bad. Then came the front bearing. I tried punching it our by various means, even used a big socket and 4lb sledge, could not get it to move. Finally I went to Sears and bought a simple steering wheel puller for around 25 bucks, then got some big "grade 8" washers and 2 grade 8 nuts at my local hardware, made my own puller and was able to pull the front bearing out! If you don't get grade 8, the washers will bend! Okay, here's a tip. Put the new bearings in the freezer for a few hours, this will help them go into place with very little effort. I also LIGHTLY heated the aluminum bearing housing with propane torch. Just warm it up a bit, bearings slid right in. Cleaned up the tub shaft and installed new seal kit. Voila! Went back together easily. Runs smooth and quiet now! Had I had the puller to start with, the project would have taken about 3-4 hours total. If I have to ever do another one, I think I could get er done in about 2 hours.