I have a fourteen year old LG TROMM front-load washing machine. Lately it's been vibrating more than usual and is really loud during the spin cycle. I'm thinking maybe a bad bearing. Should I have somebody out to look at it, or am I better off not wasting the money on a service call and just buy something new?
Clothes Washer -- Repair or Replace?
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Golphin
Member
At 14 years old I would replace it as I have not had much luck with service calls on appliances. That said it sounds like it is mechanical not bad electronics so it could be a easy fix as well. I know I was not much help but myself at age 14 the washer would be replaced.
If you can get into it without much problems, there are things near the bottom of each side that look like like shock absorbers, one may be bad. Not sure with LG, but I was able to get a few more years out of my old washer by replacing the bad one (buy both, BTW). Good luck.
I would recommend searching you tube for the make model using a description of the issue. Believe it or not, I repaired an older Samsung TV with a bad color wheel. The part cost $75.00 and took me a couple of hours to do. A TV repairman wanted $450.00 to do it. The TV works great and is in a spare room to this day.
There was a guy on you tube who videoed the entire job from start to finish. Amazing what is out there. If you have any mechanical inclination or experience you can usually tell the hacks from the decent contributors. Like gun cleaning etc.
You just never know, could be a few dollar part and get you another year or two out of it.
Good luck
There was a guy on you tube who videoed the entire job from start to finish. Amazing what is out there. If you have any mechanical inclination or experience you can usually tell the hacks from the decent contributors. Like gun cleaning etc.
You just never know, could be a few dollar part and get you another year or two out of it.
Good luck
Don't know why that didn't occur to me. I've saved a ton of money on car repairs thanks to YouTube.
Check out appliancepartspros and see if they have parts for your model.If so they have things you can check for malfunctions. Also videos on how to install parts. Just checked and there are some LG listings.
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It depends. If it’s an inexpensive mechanical part that’s still available.it’s worth fixing.I got 35 yrs from my last washer.I hope the new one lasts half that long lol
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len917
Member
look for a sale at lowes or home depot. a new washer will come with some sort of warranty
Squarebutt
Member
Ours was making clunking noises and almost headed for the dumpster, but I gave a quick look around and spotted two large bolts lying under it on the floor. There was only one bolt still holding the motor to the mechanism. Threaded them back in place, torqued them down good and tight and it's been running fine for a year.
We had a similar LG model that started doing that. I watched a YouTube video and figured out it had to be bearings. Ordered bearings and watched the video again to take it apart. The bearings were only about $20 and despite having to tear the thing all the way down, were pretty easy to get to. Turned out it was the die cast aluminum spider piece that the shaft was mounted to had broken. If I had tried the repair soon after the noise had manifested itself, I probably could have gotten away with bearings. The spider piece, if I remember correctly was about $150. At that point, my wife said the heck with it, let’s get a new set. Moral of the story is don’t wait until those squealing metal on metal sounds get worse. Anyway, given what I know, I’d at least tear it down to inspect the spider shaft piece. If it’s intact, you should be good with $20 in parts.
Attachments
Ours is a Sears branded font loader that been rebuilt twice during warrenty. It would have been better for Sears to replace the washer than what it cost to fix it, can't remember the first problem but the second was the drum assembly and that was close to 700.00. I have since replaced the water pump but she is still working. The dryer was a pulley assembly and heater element that thanks to youtube videos I did myself.
PPS1980
Member
I've repaired both the pump and the belt on our front loader thanks to YouTube incombination with good Google searches for parts (here's a hint, Amazon was ALWAYS cheaper on the same parts).
You may not be happy with how the new washers work, or don't.
Ole Joe Clark
Absent Comrade
Our old 2nd hand washer quit about 2 months ago, I got on the internet and found a similar problem. Found the recommended part on Amazon for less than 10 bucks. Replaced it with help from SIL and Daughter, still working fine. It's a older mechanical washer without the computer junk, so I want to keep it going as long I can.
Have a blessed day,
Leon
Have a blessed day,
Leon
14 years is pretty good. Ours was just over 10 and gave pretty faithful service despite some pretty harsh abuse from my four teenagers. One thing I hated about the front loaders is having to unstack them to work on them (if stacked). I think I did that about 5 times in the 10 years for various repairs on the washer and dryer. If you’re mechanically inclined at all, they aren’t hard to work on. Especially with step by step videos available for free. Like others mentioned, Amazon is great for parts. I’ve gotten pumps, rollers for dryer, belts, heating elements and safeties all there. Best part is quick and easy returns on parts (like the bearings) you don’t use. We went with a pretty expensive Maytag top load set, mainly because inventory of all the cheaper models of all the brands were unavailable during covid. Like Max said about the new ones, I’ve got mixed reviews on it. They don’t fill nearly as much as older washers and this one has been the dickens to keep in balance. My work shirts are long sleeved and I’ve had them get wound tightly and knotted around the agitator. I kind of miss the old LG sometimes.
To answer the original question:
Of course if you can fix it yourself and have the time than that's the way to go.
For the same problem I called the local appliance repair business and asked them to repair mine. The repairman, who is the owner, said bearings and parts are not available to repair it then made a hard sales pitch for a new one that would have been a lot worse buy than the one I bought at Lowes. For that he billed me $100 to $125, I forget the exact amount. If you can't or do not want to work on it yourself skip the repairman and go to Home Depot or Lowes.
Of course if you can fix it yourself and have the time than that's the way to go.
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In a perfect world you’d have a locally owned store that can offer you a good selection and competitive price. Thank God we do.
Our 22 year old Whirlpool recently died and we decided to replace with the the top end Speed Queen units. (5-Series I believe they’re called.)
The local store was the same price as on line and the same estimated delivery time. However, the local place delivers, hooks them up and hauls off the old units.
My research showed big boxes usually carry the lower end items. Delivery and such are local if you consider 120 miles to be getting local service. There were only 2 or 3 brands still made in the USA and even some of those have replacement parts made in China and elsewhere. So ….. should one break down you may wait weeks or months for a part even if its under warranty.
Also, the Speed Queens carry a 5 year IN HOME parts and labor warranty. Most other brands are 1 to 3 years and some make you deliver the appliance to their shop for service.
Anyway ….. that’s what I discovered in my area. Good luck to you.
Our 22 year old Whirlpool recently died and we decided to replace with the the top end Speed Queen units. (5-Series I believe they’re called.)
The local store was the same price as on line and the same estimated delivery time. However, the local place delivers, hooks them up and hauls off the old units.
My research showed big boxes usually carry the lower end items. Delivery and such are local if you consider 120 miles to be getting local service. There were only 2 or 3 brands still made in the USA and even some of those have replacement parts made in China and elsewhere. So ….. should one break down you may wait weeks or months for a part even if its under warranty.
Also, the Speed Queens carry a 5 year IN HOME parts and labor warranty. Most other brands are 1 to 3 years and some make you deliver the appliance to their shop for service.
Anyway ….. that’s what I discovered in my area. Good luck to you.
the bearings or the triangle are bad. If your really handy maybe but most likely its too much. Remember every thing else is 14 yrs old as well. i dont like doing the job, takes me a few hours. 47 years doing this my advise buy a new one.
Maddog 521
Member
WE just replaced our Kenmore Elite after 8 years. Some of the new stuff have a lot of computer stuff in them. We didn't want that so we narrowed our choice to GE and Speed Queen. We read Consumer Reports and have had good luck with their "recommended picks".
Pisgah
Member
I used to have to sell the LGs. I would not have had one of them, but customers were fighting to get them -- and about 2/3 were coming back in a week complaining about them. At 14 years, yours is a definite exception, but likely not worth fixing.
