Samsung DC97-15491A Washer Flange Shaft Assembly OEM Part

I followed Matt's awesome video from AppliancePartsPros.com to build up my "I can do this" reserves. But here's the story leading up to that point... We purchased our Samsung WF419 on a “Black Friday” special November 2009 expecting to get some good years out of the washer/dryer pair. We don’t run more than 2 or 3 loads a week in the washer, so ours has had relatively little use over the beginning of its anticipated and expected long life-cycle. When the “thumping” started on the spin cycle a few months back, I just blew it off as an occasional out of balance load that wasn’t a big deal. Then the thumping became “very” noticeable and my wife said there was water leaking underneath. Well, nothing like a “leaking” and “thumping” washer to get your attention, so I thought I’d better look into the problem. After just a quick internet search, I found that these units have a “fatal flaw” that happens with a large number of them, even if you use them exactly as directed. We’ve never used anything other than the recommended “high efficiency” detergent and kept loads at a normal to light size, so what we found after taking the unit apart was quite shocking. The “spider” or drum shaft assembly had deteriorated into a metal mush and one of the 3 arms was completely cracked through. Also, the “thumping” we were hearing was the inner wash drum rubbing against the front half of the washers plastic housing and had sliced though the housing in 2 areas creating the leak we were experiencing. Wow, I really couldn’t believe a lightly used Samsung washing machine that was only 6 years old, could self-destruct like this. We had sold our “flawless” Maytag stackable after 15 years of continuous service (no issues ever) to “upgrade” to this Samsung set. Well, it goes without saying that I’m not real happy with this purchase now, and am only happy that I’m savvy enough to do this repair myself, with the help of the fabulous Appliancepartspros.com guys. Their website, videos, and of course staff have made diagnosis, disassembly, parts acquisition, and repair a much more comfortable experience. If you have this model and it starts to consistently spin out of balance, plan on a complete tear down of your washer or a VERY LARGE repair bill if you have a service company do the job.

I researched the model number and several videos on YouTube. There were at least three (3) videos of Samsung customers who had taken the machine apart and found the spider was broken. They all stated that the machine was junk because replacement parts were over $500, and with labor, $800 to repair. The drive motor is warranted for 10 years, and our machine only had 2,296 cycles on it. Before throwing the machine away, I tore it apart. It wasn't too hard to get the machine apart. Most difficult part was getting the springs off that hold the tub assembly to the frame of the machine. That was a two-person job. Once I had it apart, sure enough, the spider was broken. There was a ton of liquid detergent on the back of the machine that I suspected was causing the machine to come out-of-balance. At the speed these machines rotate, any un-intended weight will cause an out-of-balance situation. I checked the bearings that are molded into the rear tub assembly, and they spun freely. Many people on-line state that you shouldn't replace the spider without replacing the bearings, which means you need to replace the entire rear tub. The rear tub is over $250, the spider $100, and the bolts $20. People on-line stated this was the advice from Samsung technical support. While I see Samsung's perspective, check the bearings yourself and decide what to do . My bearings were spinning free and the grease was still in them, so I decided to just replace the spider. The seal between the tub & spider was still good; no defect. I cleaned the entire tub with hot water and soap, cleaned up real easy. I bought some silicone lubricant and re-greased the tub bearings the best I could. I put everything back together, ran a test cycle per manual, it ran perfectly. My wife now calls me the "Washing Machine Whisperer". Thank you AppliancePartsPros.com for your help.

Googled the problem and found the flange shaft assembly was a likely culprit. I dismantled the washer which was not too difficult. Key steps were Follow the AppliancePartsPro video for shock absorber replacement up until unbolting the shocks. Remove the support bar for the water inlet hosing on the top of the machine (screws are the front, slots in the back) and fold these and the dispenser tray holder back out of the way. Remove the top bracket the holds the control panel. Remove the large red counter weights from the drum Unbolt the front shocks from the plastic drum Unbolt the front half of the plastic drum - the only difficult bit is disengaging the support spring that faces front to back - you have to lift the drum and flex the spring sideways. You need to remove the heater wiring, and a couple of pipes from the front half of the drum then lift the front half off. Lastly remove the drive rotor at the rear by undoing the single large bolt and the inner rotating steel drum should slide out. My flange was in three pieces so had collapsed completely. For the replacement I coated it with four coats of Plasti-Dip a rubberised coating compound and hope this prevents and early repeat. Reassembly was not difficult - one tip is to make sure the heater coil does not get bent during handling the front drum half - it can scrape against the reinstalled inner rotating drum. I replaced nothing else. The main bearing seems fine In defence of Samsung machines, ours had a very heavy load for a large family running several times daily for four and half years before this failure. With this $120 part replace it is back to perfect operation. In all other respects it has been the best washer we have ever owned.

Started researching the issues I was having and immediately it seemed that the spider arm was the culprit. While researching I found an excellent video on YouTube from AppliancePartsPros detailing the repair process. I watched it through and realized I could do it myself, and also that calling out a repair person was going to be a waste of money as they would just tell me to replace the unit. Disassembling the unit was straight-forward enough with only some minor differences between my unit and the one depicted in the video. Loosening the bolt on the back of the stator was more difficult than it appeared in the video and I actually ended up breaking some of thin plastic "honeycomb". I managed to get the tub assembly out by myself but I would recommend having a second person to assist. I kept my iPad nearby throughout the process with the video loaded up and started and stopped playback as I went along. When I got the tub disassembled and started inspecting the spider arm it didn't really look that bad, especially compared to the piles of rubble I had seen from others. However I did see some cracks forming and there was a lot of debris lodged in and around it. All 6 of my original spider bolts snapped when trying to remove. Because my spider arm was intact I had to use a hammer to break it apart to remove and then cleaned the area up real well by scrubbing and using some vinegar. I ordered the shock absorbers just in case but after comparing the existing ones to the new ones, mine appear to be ok (I will be returning them). I did however fail to notice a small tear in the diaphragm so I did order that separately (be sure to check yours closely). The tub seal I ordered is not listed for my model, but I gave it a shot to avoid ordering a new back half outer tub assembly after seeing that others have reported success with it elsewhere. It was definitely thicker than the original and may be putting more stress on the tub but oh well, it seems to be fine. Re-assembly went well. I did have a second person help me pop the tub assembly back in. Machine is working great and spins very smoothly!

Like so many before us, we too had the infamous corroded and cracked drum spider. Talk about a major design flaw; it's amazing how manufacturers are able to get away without more accountability on this problem, instead they just pick off consumers one at a time, with many just junking their machines and replacing them long before what was traditionally thought of as a reasonable service life. APP's video for replacing the spider in an LG machine was really helpful, as the Samsung only has minor variations on the design. There isn't really anything all that difficult about the repair, it's just a lot of steps as so much of the machine has to be disassembled and reassembled. The whole job probably took about eight hours; even a technician would have probably taken at least 3-4 hours, so it's easy to see why people say it isn't worth fixing. It's a question of whether you're willing to take it on as a challenge and devote the time. It's important to stay organized. A few things I found that helped: as you remove each part, tape the fastener that went with it to the part, make marks with sharpie on part orientation, etc. I got away with only replacing the spider and couple of the bolts that hold it to the drum. There was a little scoring on the inside of the front half of the outer tub but not too bad. Had it been necessary to start replacing more parts like the outer tub, bearings, seals, the cost of the parts would have quickly escalated to the point where it wasn't worth repairing. So instead I just cleaned everything up as best I could, and coated the seal and tub mating gasket with some silicone gasket lube. The other thing I did was paint the new part with rustoleum appliance white epoxy paint ($4 at home depot). I masked off the shaft and the ends of the spider where it meets the tub. It took some doing to get the spray paint down into the deep recesses of the casting. I have no idea if that painting will help or hurt; I just knew that I wanted to at least try something different otherwise I'd be back replacing it again in three more years.