LG WB12311FD bearing - dont fit

Sorry WM-12311FD is the model number, my mistake. Web sites dont seem to use the hyphen. The serial number is 511KWLR00056 In the photo top are the set supplied and bottom the set removed

It's often extremely difficult to find the right parts. Even engineers with all the manuals have constant trouble. They commonly fit different parts to different production runs for the exact same model. I've known some models have 3 possible different types of part fitted depending on the month and year they were made. To my knowledge there are very few spares counters left. Try searching for appliance spares counter near where you are. However they are likely to be working on the same information as the online ones.

Most spares shops are likely to get their parts from the same company that runs Buyspares and my own 4Washerhelp - even the official LG web site's washing machine spares page is run by the same company that runs them and most other big spares web sites.

Thanks Andy, that is I expected but of course not what I wanted to hear. Very happy to buy it from 4Washerhelp if you have it!! It sounds like I should look at other washers (or washer driers?) from LG of about the same vintage and see if any of the seals look about the right dimensions as most likely that was what was substituted. Surely bearings are standard parts used for a variety of machines not just domestic appliances. If they are the right inner and outer diameter and thickness would they work?

Thanks. Yes it helps a lot if people buy appliance parts from Ransom Spares - The small commission I get helps keep my sites running. The prices should be exactly the same as on most other big spares sites including Buyspares. The company that runs them all is massive in the spares industry. I've been using them since the early 1980s.

My honest opinion is that these days if drum bearings fail the machine is generally scrap. It's such a massive job to try and replace them. Most machines can't even have them replaced thes days anyway as most of the popular manufacturers are fitting them inside sealed drums. I would only recommend trying to replace them yourself if extremely determined and stubborn and have a lot of engineering experience.

You can usually buy bearings from a bearing company as yes, they tend to be very standard design with only the sizes changing. The numbers on the old bearings can usually be used to source from a bearing company. The seal that protects them however is not available elsewhere.

Thanks for the advice. The spider was broken and I have the machine disassembled down to the drum and it is a job I have done a few times on different machines over the years. In fact I am so old I fixed my granny's twin tub as a kid, and a Hoover keymatic with my dad. So as I had it stripped down it makes sense to replace the bearings and carry on. It is quite a lot of disassembly. In fact the screws on the spider were the hardest part as they were s/s screw corroded in to the alloy spider. That needed precission drilling as well as suitable drill bits. EDIT I was just reflecting compared to the last time I replaced a bearing on a hot point in the 1990s, it was so easy. Direct drive motor so no belts AT ALL!. Not really that much to dismantle . Nice tidy easy to remove wights. And plenty of videos on you-tube so you know what to expect. I was really pleasantly surprised by the engineering of this LG, until I got to the spider. Uncoated aluminum alloy, fastened to stainless steel and to mild steel in a corrosive electrolyte. Someone at LG needs to go back to metallurgy school - unless this is planned obsolescence.

I now realise that the new spider has the new bearing sizes, so actually I need a new rear drum casing with bearings. That solves it but it is annoying that LG cannot use consistent parts and tell suppliers what they used.

Thanks for that important update. Nightmare.