Maytag Neptune Tub/Spinner Bearing Replacement

Maytage Neptune washers over 5 years old are having tub bearing failures due to seal failures and water leaking into the bearings. Maytag only sells the bearing as part of the $435 tub but the bearings on the MAH4000 were replacable. The same may apply to other Neptune washers. This applies to machines using the older seal which uses a white plastic spacer in the Matag Lip Seal kit part number 12002022. The bearings needed are a 6207RS (double seals) and a 6206ZZ (double shields) which can be purchased for $10 to $15 each. The seal kit costs $40 to $50. The 6206 is at the drive pulley and may be OK if you catch the problem early enough. Follow the seal replacement directions up to the point of removing the original seal. Remove the clip ring at the rear of the tub and pull the 6206 bearing. A spacer sleve will come out with the bearing. Next pull the 6207 bearing inside the tub. Clean everything and put in the new or old 6206 bearing and clip. Put a 100W bulb in the tub bearing housing for 30 minutes befor installing the bearings and the housing will expand and make the bearing insertion much easier. Put the new 6207 bearing and sleve on the spinner shaft and install it in the tub without the seal. This is to set the 6207 bearing in the correct place and clamp the spacer between the two bearings. Remove the spinner shaft and continue with the seal replacement instructions. This takes quite a bit of time but reduces out-of-pocket repair cost by about $600 and probably more since most would chose to buy a new washer rather than put that much in an old machine. At least you get reasonable pay for the time spent. The bearing set can be found at www.neptunewaxmotor.com for about $35. Don't forget to replace your door latch wax motor # 12002535 if you still have the original one (with brown actuator pin) before it damages your upper control board. The above mentioned site offers a repair kit if you have suffered the no spin / no door lock wax motor failure already. Now, you can try to repair your machine control board instead of spending $200 on a new one. Can anyone tell us where to locate these parts? Thanks! Originally Posted by Jay in Texas Maytage Neptune washers over 5 years old are having tub bearing failures due to seal failures and water leaking into the bearings. Maytag only sells the bearing as part of the $435 tub but the bearings on the MAH4000 were replacable. The same may apply to other Neptune washers. This applies to machines using the older seal which uses a white plastic spacer in the Matag Lip Seal kit part number 12002022. The bearings needed are a 6207RS (double seals) and a 6206ZZ (double shields) which can be purchased for $10 to $15 each. The seal kit costs $40 to $50. The 6206 is at the drive pulley and may be OK if you catch the problem early enough. Follow the seal replacement directions up to the point of removing the original seal. Remove the clip ring at the rear of the tub and pull the 6206 bearing. A spacer sleve will come out with the bearing. Next pull the 6207 bearing inside the tub. Clean everything and put in the new or old 6206 bearing and clip. Put a 100W bulb in the tub bearing housing for 30 minutes befor installing the bearings and the housing will expand and make the bearing insertion much easier. Put the new 6207 bearing and sleve on the spinner shaft and install it in the tub without the seal. This is to set the 6207 bearing in the correct place and clamp the spacer between the two bearings. Remove the spinner shaft and continue with the seal replacement instructions. This takes quite a bit of time but reduces out-of-pocket repair cost by about $600 and probably more since most would chose to buy a new washer rather than put that much in an old machine. At least you get reasonable pay for the time spent. Jay, thanks for making this post. I hope you are still out there! I have read many tutorials on replace the Neptune tub bearings. You are the only person to suggest using the spinner to press in the inner bearing and spacer sleeve. I have seen others use wooden dowels, etc to locate the sleeve. Your technique seems like the best. Did you have any problem removing the spinner after using it to press in the inner bearing? Also, how did you pull out the old bearings? Thanks. I purchased a set of 6206-2RS 6207-2RS bearings from Fremont Industrial Supply for $11.10 including the shipping. Parts arrived in a couple of days. Great people to work with. they have a website. Bill Just finished bearing replacement on my Maytag Neptune. What a job! My advice to anyone undertaking this step is to rent the Tony Tool. It comes with the right bearings and seals and should make the job easier tho I doubt its quite as easy as the video shows. If you have tools and a grinder wheel you can make your own. Here's what I did: Go to a nut and bolt store and get a piece of 1 in. threaded rod, fine thread;it will be 3ft. long so ask if they can cut it in half. Get 5 nuts and a 3 1/2 in. washer. Take your new bearings and get washers that are just a bit smaller diameter than the bearings. You will pull your new bearings with these. Jam 2 of the nuts together in the middle of the shaft and grind them down to where they will just pass thru the inner bearing but catch on the rear bearing. Get a section of 3 in. schedule 40 pvc, cut off a 2 in.section and glue or tape the big washer on one end. This is your bearing cup. Pass the rod with jammed nuts thru the inner bearing till they contact the rear bearing. With your pvc cup on the rear thread a nut down to the washer and pull rear bearing. Use a foot long piece of 2 in. gas pipe with end cap and drive out the front bearing. Helps to use a good solvent on the bearing first and use a heavy hammer. Clean everything and apply grease to races where new bearings will sit. Now install rear bearing by passing your 1 in. rod thru bearing with slightly smaller washer and nut on rear. Put the large washer and nut on the inside of tub and have a helper start to tighten nut while you use a small hammer to tap,tap, on bearing to make sure it starts even. Do the inner bearing the same way and don't forget to put that spacer between them! Also helps to have helper whack the end of the rod while you tighten the nut on rear. I used a repair man to take the washer apart and get the inner tub out cause it's tricky. Then I did the bearings and he came back and reassembled the washer and seals . Hope this helps and saves you the 99 trips I made to the hardware, Home Depot etc. This link has good photos of do the Neptune bearing replacement. Maytag Neptune Drum Bearing Replacement Some things that I found helpful in doing the bearing replacement: 1. There is no need to remove the boot from the plastic fascia panel when disassembling the machine. Just remove the whole assembly by removing the 13 clips. 2. The large snap ring pliers are an absolute necessity to remove the large snap ring. Nothing else will work. 3. The light bulb trick for heating the aluminum bearing housing worked great for reinstalling the bearings. Also put the bearings in the freezer for a day or so prior to installing them. The large front bearing slid right in with no trouble but the rear bearing needed to be pressed in. I used the Autozone rental strut spring compressor tool so I didn't have to beat the bearing into place. Just reverse the strut compressing blocks and use the old bearing to press in the back bearing and use a piece of 2x4 wood block with a hole drilled in it on the other side of the housing and just tighten the screw to press the bearing into place without pounding on the drum. Also use anti-sieze lubricant on the aluminum housing bearing surfaces to prevent galling and corrosion. I hope this helps. Thanks for the additional tips to a PITA job.

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