Yes. First switch off machine and unplug. Remove back and top cover. Remove rubber boot at front door. This is secured by a long wire around the boot ending at one end with a spring, the other hooked. Note the place it comes from. You will need to take out the front soap dispenser drawer to access this. Remove large nut from centre of drum at rear. Remove the magnet drum below it. Might be a bit difficult to get off but rocking gently around the cover should loosen it. It's not unlike a tambourine. Disconnect all wires and plugs. I prefer to remove the coil assembly too at this stage so you don't have to worry about damaging it. That is secured by a half dozen or so bolts. You don't have to take off the bigger outer plate which strengthens the outer drum. Remove the pegs which secure the shock absorbers under the drum. Move the shock absorbers clear of the drum. Disconnect the drain pipe from underneath. Now to the top bit! Remove all hoses, remove the two inlet water valves. You should get away with taking the screws out and moving these valves aside. The drum assembly should now be free of all pipes and connections, just hanging inside by the three suspension springs. Check that is so. Now GET SOMEONE TO HELP you lift the drum assembly out of the machine. You won't be able to do it yourself and if it snags on something you'll be in trouble. I usually use the suspension springs as handles to lift the drum assembly out to begin with. Once out you have to split the outer plastic drum by removing all the bolts around the centre. It comes apart then. You will have another fight freeing the shaft of the inner drum from the bearings, mainly because they will be corroded. (That's why you're changing the bearings of course.) I used a bolt of similar size to the original one, screwed it all the way into the shaft and then used a piece of wood to protect the bolt whilst I hammered the centre shaft out. That way, I wouldn't damage the original bolt head. If you don't screw the bolt all the way in, then you will damage the internal threads. So you must be careful. By this time you might be sorry you've started! Once the inner drum is free, you have to somehow extract the damaged bearings. I won't go into how I did that. Hammers and a long bar were used mercilessly, and I guess LG wouldn't recommend. It was a difficult job. But once they were out, putting the new ones in was dead easy. Just make sure the inner faces of the bearing site are nice and clean and that you have a piece of wood to gently tap the bearings evenly into place. The reassembly is the reverse procedure; takes half the time. The hardest time is getting the boot clip back on. I did this by passing a loop of very strong shoe lace through the eyelets of the clip and getting someone to hold that end (the end with a spring on it) while I manoeuved the hooked other end though the spring pulling it tight with a similar shoe lace. That's a hard task! Only other thing I'd mention is that cheap bearings are a false economy. The detergent and stresses of the high spin speed demand a high quality bearing. I have done this job three times on a 7 year old machine. The machine is used at least twice a day, every day. Think my Mrs likes the noise it makes.
Vince
June 2008
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