Do-It-Yourself Story

Bearing replacement. Used a small workout weight ($1.97) as a piston to drive out the old bearings. Took a sledge hammer as they were stuck! This works better as you are applying circular force vs. hitting each edge with a punch. Much harder than the video made it appear. Easier once we got the piston. Also used the piston n to drive out the tub shaft. If you don't have blocks to se the tub on, we used to small outdoor patio tables that had a metal around the edge. Using newspaper I protected the edge from damage. The part in the video of the tub gasket reinstall wasn't really clear what groove you needed to be on to make sure it is installed correctly. I went to another site to get a better idea. Hint. The arrow at the top of the tub gasket must be flush with tub. Some video showing exactly which groove you are shooting for would be helpful as well as the CORRECT placement once it is installed and what to check for. Otherwise you will have water on the floor. Also the video shows the rear tub clamp and spring install using vice grips. The video shows using vice grips to pull UP on the spring towards you. So when the vice grips slip off the tiny spring you hit yourself in the face with the vice grips or injure yourself (Even with gloves on) by hitting your hand against the washer frame. My solution was a 2 cent zip tie. Thread the zip tie through the end of the spring and fasten the tie to itself creating a loop you can pull on. It's much easier as you can pull ALONG the clamp. The weight of the vice grips tended to pull the clamp off of the groove. You can also use a zip tie to anchor the non spring end via the metal loop and one of the posts where the tub weight goes. That way it won't slip around if you have problems. You DON'T need an expensive tool or vice grips to do it with this method. I also found it much easier than the prying method using two screwdrivers. Too easy to damage the seal. One last tip. If the rear clamp seems like the spring and hook are so far apart that you can't seem to stretch it that far means you don't have the tub seal installed correctly. I have pictures if anyone wants to see a visual. Mark Austin, TX btaco@austin.rr.com