I finally got around to replacing the snubber ring on our washing machine yesterday. It's a circular part made out of plastic, and it sits between the base of the washing machine and the entire tub assembly above it. I'm not positive of the exact purpose of this part, but I believe it servers as a buffer between the metal base of the machine and the metal part of the assembly that sits beneath the tub. Anyway, there's a raised lip around the edge of the snubber ring, and over time it tends to wear away. The reason this is a problem is because as that lip wears away, the entire tub assembly drops slightly closer to the base of the machine (the ring is a buffer - as the ring gets smaller the buffer subsequently diminishes in size). It's not a big drop - about 1/4" I think - but that small of a drop is enough to throw a monkey wrench into the way the balancing springs work. With the spring pressure decreased by that 1/4", the springs are no longer able to adequately balance the tub. This results in numerous problems with unbalanced loads, with the tub banging into the sides of the machine and trying to walk across the floor. It used to just be a problem with loads that were prone to being unbalanced from the start - blankets, heavy jackets, stuff like that. But it got worse over time, to the point where lately even relatively normal loads get unbalanced way too often.

I found some pretty decent instructions online for how to replace this part. It didn't sound too difficult, but it sounded like it could take awhile so I wanted to make sure I would have a full day to work on it before attempting it. I ran into some problems right away, because the first step is to remove the entire outer cabinet of the machine, and I discovered that two of the screws holding on the cabinet were very rusty and the heads stripped down to nothing almost immediately. Unable to take the cabinet off, I resorted to removing just the top of the machine, and lifting the entire tub assembly out of the washer from the top. It was a bit of a pain, but I managed it. I replaced the snubber ring, got the tub assembly back in the washer, and ran into a problem that I have yet to solve. Now that the tub is sitting higher where it belongs, the balancing springs have to be stretched even farther to reconnect them. The one in front - where I was able to get the front of the cabinet off - I can do because I can tilt the tub far enough towards me to decrease the distance that the spring has to be stretched. The other 5 springs are giving me fits, though. First, because the back and sides of the cabinet are still on I can't lean the tub towards those springs nearly as far as I can lean it towards the front spring. And second, I can't reach those springs well enough to both grip them firmly with pliers and also have enough leverage to stretch them far enough to connect them - again, because the walls of the cabinet are in the way.

I'm still trying to figure out how to solve this. I'm going to have to either get the cabinet off somehow, or figure out some way to stretch the springs and lock them into the greatly stretched position before putting them in the machine, then just connect them and release the lock once they're connected. The only way I can think of getting the cabinet off is to drill out the two stripped screws. Problem is I've never had any luck drilling out stripped screws - probably due, at least in part, to the fact that I don't really know what I'm doing. I like the idea of having the springs stretched and locked outside of the machine, but I can't figure out how to get them stretched far enough and then temporarily locked in that position.

I've been taking some pictures, and will post full instructions and pictures once I get everything put back together and working, in case anyone else doing this type of replacement in the future will find them helpful.

2 comments

1. Unknown on February 19, 2013 at 1:39 AM

   This is something every mom should know.I enjoyed reading your article. Very helpful indeed. Thanks for sharing this.
   
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2. Domestic Appliance Repairs on February 19, 2013 at 1:40 AM

   This is something every mom should know.I enjoyed reading your article. Very helpful indeed. Thanks for sharing this.