MAH21PDD3W Maytag Washer - Instructions

As Typical with this Neptune front load washer, the Water Seal fails to keep water from getting into the bearings. The bearings start to sound like a jet engine at high speed spins once the grease is washed out (nice grease splatter at the back of the cabinet). You can replace the Lip Seal but the bearings are not part of the kit. It is a waste of time to replace the seal kit if the bearings are already bad or going bad. You can't buy the bearings from here or any other appliance part store. You have to purchase a new tub in order to get new bearings, at $500+. Not worth it. I purchased the Lip Seal Kit with the intention of removing the bearings and replacing. The instructions that come with the kit explain with diagrams how to disassemble. In order to remove the spinner from the outer tub, I had to remove the whole tub, place it face down on some 2x4's and hit the spinner shaft with a hammer and block of wood to get it out of the old bearings. It came out fairly quickly. I removed the old lip seal (you can use the two access holes at the back of the outer tub to bang out the lip seal with a nail) and using a hammer and screwdriver, banged out the front bearing in the outer tub from the back and through the back bearing. This took a little while of moving around the bearing edge and tapping out, especially since there is a pipe spacer between the 2 bearings. It can be moved partly out of the way. The spacer will fall out with the front bearing. I then removed the C-clip that holds in the back bearing and banged out using the same method as the front bearing but from the inside. It too took a lot of tapping around the edges due to lots of corrosion. Once I had the bearings out, I looked up the make and model printed on the covers. Order using a DDU designation which is a rubber seal on both sides, like originals. I cleaned up the bearing mounting surfaces using a dremel tool and wire brush attachment. Make sure you get the metal free of any contamination. Use grit paper if necessary. I also sanded down the spinner shaft and got the spindle nice and shiny. I inserted the larger front bearing first (use a little grease on outside edge), it was a very tight fit and had to tap in using a hammer and metal rod. Make sure it is all the way in. Install the new seal kit (mine was the crummy original design, not the revised one). With the spinner tub on the floor shaft up on some 2x4's (light coating of grease on shaft), place the outer tub over the spinner with the shaft inserting through the new bearing and out the back. The shaft isn't an interference fit with the front bearing so it should slide in easily. WIth the shaft fully inserted, install the pipe spacer (cleaned up) then place the back bearing (outside edge greased) over the shaft and into the outer tub. This is an interference fit and will have to be tapped into place. It also was a tight fit into the tub. WIth it part of the way into the tub, I installed the belt pulley and tightened it down using a longer bolt than supplied, and this pushed the bearing the rest of the way in. I then installed the the C-ring. Not sure why the C-ring is needed with the bearing being such a tight fit. I installed the tub assembly back into the washing machine cabinet and installed the pulley and belt.. After reassembling the complete washer (after much cleaning of dust and soap scum, etc) I ran the unit once with no clothes to make sure any contaminates (grease, etc) where washed out first. So far so good, nice and quiet. If it last me another 5-10 years I will be happy. It will fail again for the same reason since I had to use the same lame seal kit and didn't have the revised version un

Unplug and turn off water.....Removed belt drive cover. Rolled belt off of pulley. Removed pulley from back of splined shaft. Removed front door and front panel. Removed two screws that hold top of washer down, 4 screws that hold detergent/bleach tray to top and tilted top back. Removed 4 screws that hold door seal assembly to frame. Popped clips from back of seal away from outer drum. Note locations to reinstall. Pulled small hose away from seal assembly (located at bottom of door seal. Removed door seal assembly. Removed torx screws from tumblers in inner drum to access nylock nuts that hold inner drum to spinner. Removed inner drum. Pulled spinner shaft from outter drum. Removed seal from inside outer drum where shaft passes through bearings. Knocked outside bearing out with drift from inside outer drum. Be careful no to nick/scratch bearing fit or shoulder. Go to the back of the machine and knock the inner bearing out using same method. TAKE YOUR TIME. Outer drum 600 bucks, so don't mess it up. Bearings are available at local bearing shop. NSK 6206DU and NSK 6207DU. Cleaned well and made sure that bearing fits were in good shape. Cleaned up spacer that fits between bearings. Note the way it comes out of the bearing holder (it is tapered on one end). Tapped outer race of inside and outside bearings into fits (barely) after lying the spacer between the bearings in the bearing sleeve. Used threaded rod and some washers of the proper size to pull bearings together. Tapped outer races to make sure that they were seated. Check spacer sleeve fit between inner races (hold it up in the proper location with your fingers....should be snug. Pressed new seal in per directions. Trial fit spinner into bearings/spacer. Installed pulley and belt. Note how bearing spacer and shoulders and pulley clamp inner races together so that you don't get any slip/slop/slap. Reassembled in reverse. Only problem I had was with the door latch manual releast that I accidently clamped between the bleach/detergent dispenser and lid when closing it up....had to adjust. Drank beer and bragged to wife. Been about 20 loads no....no leaks and as quiet as it was new. Took about 2 hours to take it apart and about 3 to put back together....Not a bad job. Definitely cheaper than an outer drum assembly.

My repair (replacement of Maytag Neptune front load washing machine tub bearings) went well — knock on wood. The reason I took on the job somewhat confidently is I read online (probably from your site) the testimonial of someone who successfully did the same repair I faced. It is this persons sharing the recount of what it takes to do this job that gave me the motivation to take it on. For me it was around an eight hour job being my Neptune is a stackable (with the drier ontop). It has been a week now of operation with about 10 loads through the washing machine. It is sooo nice not listening to the previous worn bearing sound best described as a jet plane winding-up during taking off coming from the washer during its spin cycle. I pray the shaft seals stay snug. The job definitely was a major undertaking. Replacing the seal and bearing myself I saved probably saved $900.
Scott

Opened the back panel of the washing machine. Removed the old belt and wrote down the part number. Shopped online for a suitable replacement and found a perfect match at part select.com. I put in an order and it was delivered in a couple of days! I opened the back panel of the washing machinie again. This time I decided to also replace the isolators that came with the kit. For this, I had to unscrew the motor and gently tug it free. I placed it on the floor of the washing machine. I then replaced the 2 isolators as described in the kit, reinstalled the motor and put the screw back on. I then proceeded to place the belt on the motor and on to the wheel. This took couple of tries to get the grooves right. I then tested the washing machine on a rinse cycle and things looked good. Its been working fine so far.

This kit came with instructions. I followed them closely. The only thing I could add is clean the tub spindle with steelwool to remove any debris or rust. then wipe down spindle to remove all steelwool particles and follow instructions to reassamble.

i removed the door,placed it on the kitchen tabel and removed 8 screws that hold the innerpart to the outer part and exchanged parts . there was a spring and a vent piece that snap on and off too. then i reinstalled the door and ran a load to check for leaks and there were none it was very easy but the best part of the repair was that i ordered the part on saturday nite and recieved it on monday , part select .com i thank you for your excellent service.......

Not much to add to others' descriptions of the repair except for two things- one, the procedure for removing the front shroud on a stackable unit is somewhat different than what is described in the seal kit directions. The door switch assembly gets in the way; though the whole repair can be done by one person, it would be better (and safer) to have a second person helping at least during this part. The whole shroud is unwieldy, with two drain hoses attached, along with two dispenser hoses, the door switch/light, and the side & bottom mounting brackets, and it has to be eased out one step at a time. During the last part of this you will have to lift up the front of the dryer at the same time.

Second, our particular washer has a 90xxxx serial number. The bearings are Chinese-sourced, not the good NSK bearings. Though the listed bearing numbers are the same... the rear bearing is held in by a retainer that is permanently fixed into the outer tub. There is no easy way to drive the bearing forward, either, as the retainer covers nearly all the bearing outer shell. The chances are very high that the outer tub would be damaged beyond repair if the retainer or bearing was removed. Fortunately in this washer, the back bearing was still in reasonable shape and had some grease left; I was able to pop out the grease seal and re-pack it with wheel bearing grease. The front bearing & seal are replaced as others have described. The front bearing takes a majority of the load, so others may have similar wear.

This washer was only 3 1/2 years old; we bought six Maytag appliances at the same time, and four of the six have had major repair problems (two were cheaper to replace than repair). That, and the $678 replacement cost of the outer tub, explains why the Maytag repairman is so lonely...

First I sent the local repair man away. I recieved much better advice from this forum. Partselect saved me literally hundreds of dollars. The local repair man was headed in the totally wrong direction.

After identifying the problem with the online partselect repair forum I ordered the part. It was in stock and delivered the next day.(local dealer needed 2 weeks to get the same part) The repair was fairly easy. The pressure switch sits on top of the water manifold for the pump. Removing the old pressure switch required disconnecting the connector and then pulling it free from the snap clip on the backside of the switch. After taking out the old switch I took off the pipe boot that the pressure swich inlet tube seats into. This pipe connects directly to the drain hose that runs into the manifold. I would recommend this to make sure this pipe is not clogged. The pipe needed to be cleaned as a plug of old detergent was totally blocking the pipe.( In fact this was probably the cause of the problem as no water could make it to the actual pressure switch. I had already ordered the new swith so I installed it anyway.) After cleaning out the pipe I put the boot and retaining clip back over the top of the pipe. This was the most difficult part of the repair. It took some time as the clip is very difficult to replace. From there it was just snaping the new switch into place, plugging in the connector and it was done. After putting the front washer cover back in place it was ready to go.

Thanks to all the others who gave detailed information I was able to replace the front & rear bearings and front seal. I must say it was a time comsuming job but at least I am alot clearer on the quality of clothes washing machines. I do believe I could give a manufacturer / designer some design points after working on this Maytag Neptune. I was able to knock out the bearing shaft that held the stainless perforated tumbler inside the plastic tub/drum by using a #3 LB hammer I reinstalled the old screw in the shaft which held the plastic pully on because this would keep the end of the shaft from being damaged. After several blows it started moving I was afraid I might damage the plastic drum but fortunately no damage was done to it. After removing the stainless steel perforated tumbler here is where it really got interesting. The Hub that held the old seal was shot! pretty much deteorated from corosion it seems. Here is where I could significantly help a manufactured/designer out The bearing/seal hub should have been made out of stainless instead of Pot metal/ aluminum or whatever they made it from. After much cleaning with a small wire brush and vacuming all the debree out of the Tub I didn't have much hub left to install the new seal. Also the three armed Spinner was very coroaded it attaches to the back of the stainless tumbler I removed it from the stainless tumbler and wire brushed it the back side was full of crud, it looked like left over washing powder or soap and Corosion debree it was a job just cleaning it up. I pressed on and on though replacing both bearings front and rear. Thanks to another person who explained the easy way to remove the bearings and race I was able to do so without removing the Drum/Tub as others stated they had to do. The Dremmel and a few Cutter blades did the trick I cut a wide V notch in the bearings and the bearings fell out I then cut through the bearing race being careful not to cut too deeply although if you did slightly cut beyond the race it really wouldn't matter because the front seal will keep it from leaking anyway. Anyway when I cut through the race it made a ping sound and the race pulled away and fell right out of the HuB. The front & rear bearings a definately serviceable and it doesn't have to be a beat/bang ordeal. after cleaning up the hub I tapped the new bearings in place and discarded the metal spacer that went inside the middle of hub. I then brainstormed on how I could install the new Lip Seal upgrade and then it dawned on me that since the inner Hub that holds the seal was so far gone and only enough left to barely hold the new seal in I remembered the ole saying Don't Discard just use JB Stick or JB Quick I used JB Stick to fill in around the new seal because it is supposed to bond to metal and it did just that I pressed the putty in quickly before it hardened bringing it out even with the plastic drum where the origional hub should have been and made the repair to the deteriorated Hub so that the Seal would stay in place it Worked! This Maytag Neptune was given to me by my mother in-law she did not want to wait on the repair after I tried to previously repair the problem with it I just did not delv deeply enough into the problem with this washingmachine at first. I previously removed both Pumps thinking they were not pumping all the water out because the Towels especially were staying soaked. Both the pumps were nasty with alot of debree inside of them now I know that because of the deteriorated Seal Hub on the inside had done the dirty work. The Pumps can be easily taken apart only a few screws and the plastic impeller can be gently pried off also that is where I found alot of particles from the deteoriated Seal Hub I then reinstalled the pumps and they worked fine pumped out the water. Then that is when I noticed it wasn't cycling properly also Ha Ha I thought to myself what else could possibly be wrong with this washing machine? Thanks to Parts Select site I wa

The inner door panel was damaged by something getting caught in between it and the tub wearing a hole in the plastic.
Remove door hinges.
Remove screws on sides(2 on each hinge)and 4 on otherside and 2 on bottom.
Pull inner door panel (plastic) out.
Remove doorlatch by flipping up center tab and squeezing sides together.
Remove metal tabs by tilting up the backside and tilting down the front (screw hole side) and pulling through the back.

Reverse for reassembly - relatively easy.

I found your site where other people worked on their washers . I removed the front & rear panels. at the front I found that removing the rubber tub seal was easy, then I removed the 3 agitaters that cover the nuts that hold the tub to the support drive shaft ,I saved the plastic shims nuts & washers then removed the tub,I removed the drive wheel, I put the bolt & washers back in the shaft end & knocked it out with a 1lb hammer.I removed the motor and all the hoses also the front & rear WeightsI left the switches connected to the wires, for everything I removed including screws I taped them all to the parts that they camefrom .Then I knocked out the rear bearing with a 8" long 1/2'dia.piece of steel rod taking care to drive evenly around the circomference of the bearing. the front bearing was in 2 pieces with the bearings in a pile inside the hub because of the spacer between the bearings there was not a lot of bearing to hit but eventually it came out I saved the spacer & the rear bearing clip & cleaned them up for reuse.The face of the crap metal insert was badly corroded ,I cleaned it and all surfaces inside the hub with a wire brush in my drillmotor I found bearings at an industrial store and found NO problem matching the old bearings I ordered the lipseal kit from Part select It came with 2 seals & dubious instrutions I found the revised seal did not fit my support shaft but the other one did ,it comes in 2 parts that are stuck together with grease pry them apart with e small screw driver. I then tapped the new bearings in rear first then the spacer. then the front bearing I tapped it in enough to get it started then I inserted a cardboard toilet roll center folded enough to go in through the spacer & the rear bearing this lined up the parts so the shaft will go throughafter the bearings & new seal were in I used a marine silicon to put over the corroded face & made shure that it snugged up to the seal ,sealing it good I let it set for 24 hrs Then I putthe shaft back onto the tub put the agataters back on, then put the outer shell with the new bearings back in place connected the hoses, the weights, the switches, the wire clips,the motor,hooked up the springs ,inserted the tub, put the drive wheel back on the shaft then the belt , then put all the front panels back and IT ALL WORKED. total cost $36.00 for bearings $53.00 for the seal kit so about $90.00 total & two weeks at about a couple of hours a day .shure beats $650.00 + $300.00 at a repair facility . GOOD LUCK .IAN

If you are using the newer style seal be sure the taper part of the seal is toward the front of the machine. Installing it backward will ruin the seal and burn up the motor and or controller. The seal installation tool will fit on the side oppsite the taper. It will require a helper to hold the drum support while torquing the nut on the pulley. Better instruction would help too.

I haven't finished the job yet. I was very surprised and very happy with how fast PartSelect got my part to me. I ordered a lip seal kit (maytag neptune bearing replacement) in the morning, and the very next day it arrived at my door. I'm very impressed. I have everything cleaned up and ready for the new parts. I just have to finish.

Thanks for the speedy service. I'll be highly recommending PartSelect.

Frank

Removed washer back panel (after unplugging unit). Installed new belt. Reinstalled back panel. Belt wAs very tight getting it to roll onto the drum.

I followed the extensive instructions others had posted on this site about the need to replace the "non-replaceable" bearings. The hard part is getting the old bearings out of the outer tub as they were very corroded. I left the outer tub in the machine and after attempting to beat them out unsuccessfully, I resorted to using a Dremel tool with a small grinding disc on the end to cut the bearings apart, first cutting through the center and removing the ball bearings, then cutting through the outer rim and edge being careful not to cut to deeply, once the bearings were weakened, they came out pretty easily. Installing the new bearings and putting the machine back together was pretty easy. The machine works like new, so for me it was well worth it, thanks to everyone who shared their experiences so I felt comfortable giving it a try!!