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willness33

willness33

Here for the memes
Joined
May 3, 2005
Location
Alexis,NC
Ok, my 10 year old Frigidair washer started making some pretty nasty sounds yesterday. It is making a nasty groaning noise only when on the spin cycle. It starts the spin cycle quiet, starts groaning while getting up to speed, then gets quiet again when it reaches it's max spin speed. The groaning sounds kinda like an old electric motor with bad bushings. I'm not sure if this is the problem though as it only does it as it's "accelerating". Any answers?
 
Mechanically, there are basically 2 types of, er, drivelines in these things. It has a small transmisison that connectst he motor to the drum. In some models, it's a "direct drive" deal and the motor directly connected to tranny is connected to the drum. This is nice b/c you can get more force/power behind spin... but prone to wear/failure on that tranny due to the power load.
Other possibility is that it is indirect-drive. A belt connects them together, like a drivebelt on a car. Is it groaning like it could be the belt slipping, or like a tired motor? If it's a direct-drive deal, the most stress is on the motor/tranny when it's accelerating, once the speed levels off the force is constant.

Just my 2 cents. Typically the cases are designed so it's pretty easy to flip it back and look at the internals.
 
The one-way bearing in the transmission is bad, not really worth repair.
Either the $300 GE washer or $600 Fisher & Paykel washer is the best choice. The Fisher & Paykel will pay for itself in energy savings in about 4-5 years. The Whirlpool Cabrio is basically the same as a Fisher & Paykel.
 
2offroad said:
The one-way bearing in the transmission is bad, not really worth repair.
Either the $300 GE washer or $600 Fisher & Paykel washer is the best choice. The Fisher & Paykel will pay for itself in energy savings in about 4-5 years. The Whirlpool Cabrio is basically the same as a Fisher & Paykel.
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Ok, since it's not worth repairing, can I get a little more life out of it by hosing it with some lithium grease or something? Is the bearing fairly accessable with some of the sheetmetal taken off? Tis the holiday season and a new machine wasn't really in the budget.
 
2 screws at the bottom of the front, stick a screwdriver in the crack between the front and top, there are 2 clips at the sides, push in and you can flip the top like a hood, push down on the front and it will come off, the bearing is at the bottom of the trans above the plate it sets on.
 
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