Introduction

My nine-year-old AEG 6350 washing machine suddenly started making a loud rumbling sound during its spin cycle.  I did a bit of research on the web and found that this was almost certainly a failure of the front bearing due to the seal leaking and allowing water and detergent to wash the grease out of the bearing.

What I couldn't find on the web was a description of how to replace the bearing.  I have the Haynes washing machine manual (very useful actually), but it's full of information about Hoovers and Hotpoints with barely a mention of AEG, Bosch or Miele.

Anyway, here's my suggested method for bearing removal and replacement on an AEG. 

Is it the bearing?

Start off by proving that it's the drum bearing that's at fault.  Open the hatch at the back, slip the belt off the drum pulley and spin the drum.  If it rumbles, or if you can feel any play in it, it needs to be replaced.  Another give away is that there is a bleed hole in the spider to allow the (rusty) water to escape from the bearing housing.  This will probably have stained/rusted the the bottom plate of the machine.

With some machines, you have to remove the outer drum, open it up, drift out the inner drum and then try to remove the bearings from the bearing housing in the outer drum.  Not so with AEG (there had to be some reason why they cost so much!).  The AEG has a three-legged removable cast iron spider which contains the bearing housing.  R&R of the bearing requires removing four screws to take off the inspection hatch at the back, removing two screws to take of the top, removing two bolts to remove the motor, removing one bolt to take off the pulley and removing three bolts to take off the spider - in fact, it can take longer to disconnect the machine from the utilities and pull it out from under the work surface than it does to remove the spider!

AEG bearings

The roller bearings that are used in this AEG are not cheap.  I got a bearing and seal kit (and lots of free advice) for £40 from my local appliance spares shop.  You could get a similar kit for £32 from http://www.sparesrus.biz/ol-catlg/wm-bearing-05.php.  Bearing kits for normal machines (Hotpoints, Hoovers etc.) are usually about half that price.

Step-by-step breakdown

1. Put the new bearings (but not the seal) in a sealed plastic bag and place it in the freezer - this should make it easier to drive in the bearings later.
2. DISCONNECT THE MAINS.  Obvious really, but it needs to be said.
3. Optional - drain the machine by rotating the drain hose holder 1/4 turn anticlockwise, pull out the hose, place in a container and pull off holder/bung.
   
4. Optional - open inspection cover (a couple of turns anticlockwise) and remove any foreign objects from the pump chamber.
5. Optional -  remove the hoses for hot, cold and waste.
6. Remove rear inspection hatch (four screws)
7. Remove top panel by undoing the two screws at the rear and sliding the panel back.
8. Remove the motor by undoing the two 13mm bolts and washer.  You might like to undo the electrical connections first - either at the motor end or the circuit board end.
   
9. Put something soft down on the floor and lower the front of the washing machine down on to it (i.e. door side down).
10. Prevent the pulley turning and undo the central 13mm bolt and washer holding the pulley onto the shaft.
11. Remove the pulley - you will need to wiggle it off!
12. Undo the three 13mm bolts holding the spider (cast iron bearing housing) onto the drum.
13. The spider probably won't lift straight off as the bearings will be a tight fit onto the shaft of the inner drum which is still stuck inside the outer drum.  Screw the bolt back into the shaft, place a bit of wood over it and then whack it a few times with a lump hammer.  Don't go mad here!  As soon as the shaft starts to move down the bearing housing, lift up on the spider and give a few more whacks to the wood-protected shaft until the spider comes free.
14. Now you'll see the state of your seal and bearings.  It's quite likely that the back bearing will still be fine, and it is just the front bearing that has gone.  However, you always replace both bearings and the seal.
    
15. Lever out the seal using a big screwdriver.
16. Drive out the bearings - I did this with a cold chisel and a club hammer.  Alternate top/bottom, left/right when driving them out to prevent them jamming.  Mine came out pretty easily.
17. Clean up the housings.  The front housing on mine was a bit rusted, so I cleaned it up with a bit of 00 wire wool.  Then I wiped down the mating surfaces with an oily cloth.
18. Drive in the new bearings.  Do NOT hit them on the inner race - that will wreck the bearing.  I used a club hammer and used the old bearings as a drift - this made sure I only used the outer race to drive them in.  You can tell when the bearings are seated - the spider will ring.
    
19. Press in the seal.  This can be done with your fingers.  Check that it is in securely.
    
20. As the Haynes manual always says: "Reassembly is the reverse of disassembly"!
21. Clean the shaft and the surface the seal presses against on the outer drum.
    
22. I used the centre pulley bolt and washer and a large spanner to start drawing the shaft up into the bearing housing.  After a while, I was able to use the pulley, pulley bolt and pulley washer to finish off seating the shaft in the housing.
23. Do up all the 13mm bolts fairly tightly - you don't want them coming off mid spin!
24. This might be a good time to check out the motor brushes and state of the commutator.
25. Remember to check the earth connection on the motor and the earth connection going to the case.
26. My bearing squeaked for a while afterwards, but it didn't leak and the squeak is disappearing.

I must say, this job was much easier than I expected.  Knowledgeable friends had advised me to get a new washing machine.  I'm glad I didn't listen to them!

History of my AEG 6350

I've had the AEG 6350 for nine years.  For the first seven years, we were doing between 15 and 20 washes a week (babies' terry nappies and lots of squash kit).  That's 6,000 washes!  For the last two years, it's dropped down to about 10 a week.  That's another 1,000 washes.

So, what's gone wrong in that time?

Well, at about 3,000 washes, the motor failed.  It didn't really want to spin, made a funny noise, and the brushes were producing LOTS of sparks.  I cleaned up the motor, filed down the commutator, fitted new brushes, and it was just as bad.  I had to buy a new motor at a cost of £200.  I wasn't impressed!  It's possible that it was partly due to the washing machine being in an unheated damp garage at the time.

At about 6,000 washes, the pump started leaking.  The seal between pump and impeller had gone.  The correct replacement pump (with the drain hose at the bottom of the chamber) was about £70, so I bought a similar model (with the drain hose at the side) for about £40.

And of course, now at 7,000 washes the seal has given up causing the front bearing to fail.

Would I buy another AEG washing machine?

Yes!  They're well engineered, and if we were a normal family with 5 washes a week, the 6350 would have lasted 12 years before the first breakdown, 24 years before the second and a staggering 28 years before the third.  I'm quite tempted by the sound of the new AAA-rated 6kg 1600rpm Fuzzy Logic models (AEG OKO-LAVAMAT L86741 Washing Machine etc.) which are going for about £550 at the moment.

I'm also tempted by reports of incredible reliability from Miele machines.  They're rather pricey though!