Dare to Repair Your Washer

This post should be very helpful for the ten other DIYers besides me who are fools enough to try to fix the bearings on their front loader washing machine.
The ten minute video below shows the main steps in the process that took ten hours. I left out the whimpering and screaming and declarations that “this is NOT humanly possible!”
The main help I got in taking apart my Kenmore front loader came from this document: essential manual: How to remove and replace the drum gasket on the Frigidaire/Kenmore Front Load Washer with notes on tub bearing replacement and inner tub replacement. It saved me a lifetime of trying to figure it out myself.

Essential Tips for Repairing any Appliance

1. Watch as many repair videos as possible before you begin the repair. I tried to be thorough in my video on a front loader repair job below, but you may have a slightly different model than mine (Youtube has several other front loader bearing repair videos).
2. Move the appliance somewhere with enough space for you to work around it.
3. Place the parts in a row in the exact order that you removed them and LABEL them. I used the kitchen island and started at one end, putting all the screws for the back panel in one pile with a piece of tape labelled “back panel” next to the screws. Do this with every part you remove from the washing machine. Do not let your roomate put everything in envelopes and all the envelopes in one pile. The order will be lost.
4. Take a photo of the appliance at every step of the process so you can refer back to it when reassembling the machine.
5. If at all possible, use a computer tablet such as an iPad or Kindle with wifi so you can refer to the videos over and over again right where you are working.

How to Repair a Kenmore Front Loader’s Bearings

Update January 2020

I just learned that the band Floozy (now defunct), wrote a crazy fun song about this video tutorial! You MUST listen to the song. I’m including an affiliate link to the song if you want to buy it.