Lg 4434ER0002H Washer Tub Spider Assembly OEM Part

Looked online at several websites to see if I could figure out the problem Came across AppliancePartsPros video on replacing bearings. Watched it a couple of times and determined (well, guessed) it was the bearings and/or spider. Followed the video (great job by the way) and disassembled the washer. The spider was cracked on one arm so ordered a new one from this site. I also ordered two new bearings and the bearing seal b/c learned from the web and local appliance store that they go bad in 7+ yrs. I also ordered the seal b/t the two halves of the outer drum. Thought "what the heck", it's worth it to buy approx $120 in parts to try to fix vs buying a new washer ($900) which wouldn't match size or looks of our dryer. Installed the new parts and re-assembled. It works just like new....go figure!! The video was excellent and the sound and camera were perfect. The guy is mellow so that's good (says the Mrs. who checked in from time to time). The only things I would change is to specifically call out was the difference b/t red and blue lock tight. I bought red, but then listened to the video again and realized there's a difference so bought blue. When re-installing the bearings, make sure you have a longer punch with an end that is narrow, but not pointed and only tap the outer ring. It should be at least 8" long. The other thing about this whole repair is that the grey rubber seal b/t the washer and the door (a) does not go on as easy as the video so give it time, and (b) the inside wire connector takes some serious stretching to hook the loop to the hook. OK, what else? Well, I can say that I'm semi-mechanically inclined. The first 15 minutes of the video covered disassembly. It took me less than 3 hours. The second 15 minutes of the video took 15 minutes. It took me 2+ hours. Now keep in mind, I've only replaced the circuit board on this washer (w/o video), but for this job I set up and watched the video on the laptop, hit pause, and did each step. Allow time for pre and post- work, e.g. moving the dryer, picking up the floor, shutting off/turning on washer/gas/ whatever else is in your laundry room. Have some extra lighting available (flashlight/trouble light/etc if your area is darker). Also good idea to have some of your favorite music plus a beverage of choice for a reward. Good news is that you can do this!

I noticed the bearings getting noisy on my LG washer. I am an Engineer in the Industrial Laundry Industry so figuring out what was going wrong wasn't my biggest challenge. I began searching for parts and how to videos on the web and I found AppliancePartsPro.com. I couldn't be more impressed. The video was 95% accurate. I did have one extra screw in my control panel which the video did not know about and some of my parts were a little different but no matter, the instructional video was awesome. I watched it completely before starting and then used it step by step. I am a big believer that haste makes waste. I was not in a race with the clock to get this done. I set aside a Saturday, started in the morning and got done when I got done. Everything was as easy as the video showed until I had to remove the shaft from the bearings. Mine didn't fall out after a couple of hits as in the video. It took me over two hours to free the shaft from the bearings. I needed very good penetrating oil to break the rust and run down the shaft to get into the second bearing as well. My machine was not in bad condition and there wasn't much rust yet I needed a 2 pound hammer and destroyed several pieces of 1' oak board beating on the shaft. Eventually it came out. I replaced the bearings, shaft seal, outer tub seal and the spider/shaft. I didn't need to replace the spider/shaft but I had ordered one based on the high probability I would need to. Since I had it, I replaced it. I reassembled the machine and it works like new. One thing the video did not address is why the bears failed. I also saw some questions about it so I will tell you what I have learned from my 20 years of washer maintenance. Two things make bearings fail prematurely. The most common cause of failure is water damage. When the shaft seal begins to leak, the first thing to get wet is the inner bearing next to it. The water will make its way into the bearing and damage it. First the bearing will become noisy and eventually it will fail. This can be occurring without having puddles of water on the floor. This root cause is confirmed when you disassemble the machine and inspect the shaft seal. The seal will be in poor condition and the bearing will be rusted. The second reason a bearing fails is because the shocks are worn out. I require the suspension to be replaced as part of bearing jobs on our industrial washers. On my residential washer, I did not replace the shocks because I found the shaft seal was in very bad condition and it was the obvious problem. I checked my shocks and they seemed fine. Perhaps this is always the case with these washers, I don't know, I don't have any history other than what I have read on this site. I've seen some questions about why the bearings fail and if there are better bearings which won't fail. The problem isn't the bearings. The problem is the shaft seal. If you want to keep your bearings from failing, then replace your shaft seal every year or two and replace your shocks every 3 or 4 years. Unfortunately, you still have to take the whole machine apart to replace the shaft seal. This would be the smart thing to do but "if it ain't broke don't fix it" mentality will prevent most of us from doing so.

The AppliancePartsPros free online repair video was extremely helpful, but did not prepare me for the difficulty encountered in removing the bearings from the washer tub, also the 8mm bolts which fasten the drive-shaft spider to the stainless drum. After soaking the larger bearing with penetrating oil for days and only destroying the tips of my punches (same kind the technician used in the video) I finally persuaded the stubborn bearing out with a length of 1-1/2" inch steel pipe and a 4-lb sledge (no more "Mr. Nice Guy"). The plastic washer tub somehow survived the heavy blows! Be forewarned the 8mm spider bolts appear to be installed at the factory with maximum-strength Loctite, or an equivalent thread-locking compound intended for fasteners which will never need to be removed. The odds don't favor that all six bolts will come out using only a wrench -- the bolt will likely spin the nut, which is restrained against turning by a hex-shaped cavity molded in plastic. (The nuts are secured in the plastic lifters inside the drum, and the lifters cannot be removed without first removing the spider bolts.) I was lucky to free five of the six spider bolts in my washer with a wrench, then had to use a Dremel rotary tool with a cut-off wheel to remove the head from the one bolt that wouldn't cooperate. That left me in search of an exact replacement from a used machine, or to settle for the closest match from a hardware store -- new replacement bolts are not available. A local used appliance store let me look through their scrap pile and I found an identical drum and spider assembly. I only needed to salvage one of the spider bolts, but in the interest of science was able to remove three of the six -- the other three spun the nut in the plastic lifter before the thread would let go. At one point I did consult with an appliance repairman who was familiar with this washer. He clued me he doesn't even try to install a new drive shaft on the original drum due to the bolt removal headaches -- instead he orders a complete new drum and drive-shaft assembly. Hope these insights may spare you some frustration -- good luck!

If your LG Front load washers sounds like a freight train, STOP USING IT. You're doing more damage and will need more parts to fix it. After the noise became unbearable, I began to explore and disassemble. I knew enough to know the bearings must be bad but had never done this repair before. ( I am however pretty mechanically inclined.) Watch this video before you start tearing your LG apart. APP did a great job explaining the steps of the repair. Do a search on this site or youtube.com with the main bearing part number: 4280fr4048. It will make the repair much easier, trust me. The repair requires that you completely remove the tub. Don't be intimidated, it's not that hard if you watch the video, just a lot of steps. Once you have the tub out and the rear tub assembly with the bad bearings unbolted from the front half, and have tapped out the tub spider / shaft. This is where things can get rough. Most likely your bearings are trashed, (that was what was making all the noise) and rusted in place. DON'T RUSH THIS STEP. Pounding out the old bearings or remaining outer ring from the bearing chases in the rear tub assembly might be tough. First, remove the pieces that are falling off or broken out and clean up the area so you can see what you are doing. Drench both bearings with some kind of penetrating oil like lock-ease or WD-40 so it will free up the bearings from the chase they are seated into, and go relax for while, (I waited until the next day and it payed off big-time). Get the right tools: I used a 1" deep well socket with a square edge so I could get a good grab on the left over outer ring of the bearing, and a 6" extension. Understand the bearings are made of hardened steel and your socket is not so as you tap and pound out the bearings, keep an eye on the damage you may be doing to the socket. You may be working through the inner hole in the old bearings opposite the bearing your are pounding out, and won't be able to see well what you are tapping or pounding on when you remove the first bearing. So be careful to use a solid flat head punch or socket like I did to avoid scoring the walls of the bearing chase. And switch positions a lot, few pops with your hammer and move to the opposite side 12-6, 9-3 on the clock and so on, over and over until you drive it out. Now, flip the tub assembly over and tap / pound out the other bearing the same way. Warning! Don't use the the wrong tools when pounding out the bearings. Don't use a screw driver! If you don't have a good flat head punch or some sockets you don't mind possibly sacrificing, go buy a good steel flat head punch. If you find you are wearing out your arm pounding, add more penetrating oil and take another break. DO NOT damage the bearing chases pounding out the opposite side bearing by resting your punch or extension against the edges of the opposite chases, (polished male recessed ring the bearings slide into) or you'll end up having to also buy a rear tub assembly at about $125.00. The chases are manufactured into the rear tub assembly. So be careful! Once you get the bearings out and the chases on both sides and the chases cleaned up. Inspect the chases closely. If you nicked then or crushed the edges in any way that causes the otherwise perfect circle to push in and potentially put undo pressure on the new bearing, you'll need to grind or file it down so the new bearing will fit into the chase properly, and not apply pressure to one spot of the bearing after you get it fully seated into the chase. If you made it this far, the hard part is over. Congrats! The next ussue you may run into is seating the drum back into the rear tub assembly. If you had to replace the spider which is also the tub shaft also like I did because a waited too long and trashed it too, in my case it did not easily slip completely into place, through the inner holes of the bearings. In an effort to try and seat the shaft to how far it extended originally, I placed a folder towel on the center of the back/bottom of the tub, and used a 1 1/2 foot 4x4 block of wood and carefully gave it a few hard pops with a hammer. It seated a little further but not fully so I stopped to avoid damaging the tub. I had another option to pull it on into place later during assembly. During re-assembly, when you put the motor cover back on and screw the large hex head bolt into the end of the shaft, if the shaft is not fully seated through the bearings and flush with the surface of the female motor housing, use the bolt to pull it on into place by repeatedly tightening the bolt by hand and pounding your ratchet handle 1/4 to 1/2 a full turn. Then back it out completely and inspect to verify you are pulling it closer to flush and not damaging to the motor housing. Repeat this process a little at a time until the shaft end is flush with the motor housing. This will completely seat the shaft, and the main seal on the inside will do it's job in sealing the bearings from tub moisture and possible leaks. From hear it should be smooth sailing. Follow the video instructions for reassembly. Once your done, congratulate yourself and know that you just saved yourself about $400 in labor and service call charges!

Can't buy LG parts in Canada without getting an LG Tech to install. $1000 repair was too steep for me so went on websites and bought from Appliance Parts. Watch the video on Appliance Parts. Note - Joyce from Appliance Parts really helped in identifying the bolts that I needed. Read on and you will see why. Stripped down machine and identified the spider had failed along its three arms. Bearings were still in good condition. Managed to get three bolts off spider but remaining three had same issues as others have mentioned in that they turned without coming off. (turns out the nut is just pressed into the housing within the drum baffle assembly so not much strength, see AP video on stripping it down). In hindsight because the bolts have thread lock on them I should have tried tightening (to break the seal) and then backed them off. Drilled out the three bolt heads and pushed out through the drum baffles. Once you get the baffle out it is an easy strip down. Used adhesive to lock the nuts back in place and set overnight. During that time thoroughly cleaned all the soap scum that had built up over the years to make the inner tub assembly like new. The hardest/fiddliest part of the rebuild, IMHO, was putting the door/tub gasket on. Expect stiff fingers later. I forgot how quite and vibration free a machine should be at full spin. Although I had to pick the parts up at the border it was still much much cheaper and a lot more satisfying than paying the LG Canada cartel. Would I do it again. Definitely. Would I buy from Appliance Parts .. without question. I spoke to Joyce, she was an absolute star, and found the right spider bolts that others said you couldn't get on various threads. If she hadn't found them then I would be going with an alternative home made solution. Good luck and if you need any help just ask.