Washing machine drum wheel issue

[Reb]

Hi all,
I have a grand plus washing machine. It stopped spinning last night but the motor was still running, after removing the back panel and expecting to find a snapped drive belt, I found that the plastic teeth inside the drum wheel had been ground away by the metal teeth on the drum. This is the second time in 12 months that this has happened.
Is there any way to prevent this ( I realise that it might be due to overloading the machine ), I've got a replacement wheel, but before I fit it, should I lubricate the teeth in some way or is it just a case of not overloading the machine and accept that the wheel will need replacing roughly once a year
Thanks in advance

 

[jj4091]

I am not familiar with your washer, but when meshing gears in any situation you should always leave a little backlash to prevent premature wear. I would think this was particularly important with gears of differing materials as you will get differing expansion & contraction. Is there a means of adjusting the meshing on your machine? If so allow at least 1mm between crests & troughs.

 

[Reb]

Sorry, I seem to have forgotten to add that it's actually a Candy grand plus. Unfortunately there is no ability of any adjustment so that backlash can be set. It seems as though it's been designed to destroy itself after a while. Would have been better if the teeth in the wheel were also made of metal.

 

[Mikefromlondon]

You might try some light grease, search on google for best grease for nylon gears, usually nylon can stand a lot of force and is hard wearing, but who knows what exact material they made your drum gear wheel from, it could be glass filled abs, which wears more easily than Nylon 66.

 

[Reb]

Great, thanks

 

[Nozzle]

If you are happy to spend a grand on a washing machine why on earth was it not a miele!! Take this issue back to the manufacturer, there's clearly a design flaw - perhaps the motor accelerates initially too quickly which causes a jolt on the drive wheel - which once slack has started to build in will only weaken the material further.

Nozzle

 

[Reb]

I didn't and wouldn't spend a grand on a washing machine. The manufacture is Candy and the model is Grand plus, lol!

 

[Burnerman]

I'm not familiar with your system but if the gears are mashing up to that extent then there's problems elsewhere.....could worn drum bearings be causing this misalignment?
John

 

[Nozzle]

I think you're misunderstanding how the drum is driven - they're belt driven, gears would be too loud, costly and lossy! I think the OP means the driven shaft is splined, which engages inside the nylon pully which is splined to match.

Nozzle

 

[Reb]

Yeah, Nozzle is right. Anyway, it's fixed again for now. Onwards and upwards, lol

 

[Burnerman]

So its wear on the splines then?
John

 

[Reb]

Yes, the splines inside the moulded plastic wheel eventually get worn away, meaning that the motor and drive belt turn the wheel but not the drum.

 

[Burnerman]

Sounds like a godawful design....splines are meant to allow transmission whilst allowing sliding movement. You would expect the drive pulley to be locked to the drum in this instance, to avoid any play! Owt to save money, I guess.
John

 

[Reb]

Yeah, owt to save money, or planned obsolescence to make you buy a new machine

 

[Seafarer1966]

You can try fitting a new drum bearing set. It might be the drum itself though which would ruin the new bearing quite quickly.
Sounds like a case of chucking good money after bad.
Washing machines are so cheap to what they cost 30 years ago. You can get a good washer with two years guarantee for less than £300. I've got a Servis which has served me and our gert well. Hotpoint are OK also. Bosch in this price range are Spanish and Beko's are Turkish and personally I wouldn't bother. There are some Chinese models out there like Haier but the price of spares is horrendous.