Hotpoint 9524 Drum Bearing replacement

[StephenW]

We have a Hotpoint Electronic 800 De Luxe 9524 washing machine. Although it is now just over 20 years old and averages 3 or 4 loads per week, it has never let us down and has only needed 2 sets of motor brushes (which I did myself).
The drum bearings have now worn out and it makes quite a loud noise when spinning and you can feel the movement in the drum.
My question is whether it will be cost effective to have the bearings replaced? It looks like it would be easy to mess up as a DIY fix and possibly needs a special tool, so I would get in a proper 'engineer'.
I ask because in all other respects the machine is doing fine and I get the impression that the materials used were better and the lack of loads of electronics means it should be more robust! Any idea of time (or rough cost) for the job? Thanks.

 

[Leccy758]

To be honest it is not usually cost effective to get someone in to do a bearing change on a machine this old. (unless you have a friendly person to help).

You may need to change the bearings and spider, so adding to the cost, the motor bearings may also be coming up to the end of their life. The costs can rapidly escalate way beyond anything resembling economic.

They are not particularly difficult to do but if the bearings are in a bad way (and after 20 years they may be hard to remove or even impossible), you may end up with an un repairable machine but still with engineer costs.

 

[StephenW]

Thanks Leccy. I had in mind a cut-off point of about £75 so it looks like I might be taking a trip down to <select white goods retailer of choice>. Sad, it's served us well!