Sheered Drum Pulley Bolt
Hello.
Helping a neighbour who owns a Haier washing machine. The problem is that the bolt that holds the main spider to the drum has sheered so that the stem of the bolt is still in the drum's part.
Can this be drilled out and a new bolt purchased and replaced please?
Or is there any other way it can be fixed as the machine is in perfect order.
Regards,
Solution Summary
AI-generated from this discussion
This thread was marked as solved. Here's a summary of the problem and the fix, generated from the discussion below.
Haier washing machine with sheared drum pulley bolt
- The problem
- A Haier washing machine had the bolt holding the main spider/drum pulley assembly shear off, leaving the threaded stem stuck in the drum-side part. The question was whether it could be drilled out and replaced, or repaired another way.
- Likely cause
- Confirmed cause was a sheared retaining bolt with the remaining threaded section seized in place. No further root cause was established.
- What fixed it
- The accepted advice was that the broken bolt can be carefully drilled out, but re-threading may be needed with a tap if the original thread is damaged. A better option, if possible, is to remove the remains of the bolt by unscrewing it rather than drilling. If any of the bolt protrudes, cutting a slot in it and trying a large flat-bladed screwdriver was suggested. Screw-remover drill bits were also suggested as another possible method. It was also suggested that a replacement drum pulley may be available as a spare part. The exact repair carried out was not confirmed.
- Checks to try
- Confirmed that the bolt had sheared and the stem remained in the drum-side part
- Consider whether any of the broken bolt is still protruding enough to cut a slot and attempt removal
- Parts or tools mentioned
- Replacement drum pulley
- Tap tool
- Hacksaw
- Large flat-bladed screwdriver
- Screw-remover drill bits
- Drill
Safety: Further diagnosis should be carried out by a suitably qualified appliance engineer.
2 Answers
It can be carefully drilled out, but without a tap tool to re-bore the thread you may not be able to get it all out and may have difficulty screwing in a replacement. You should hopefully be able to buy a drum pulley as a spare part, you always could, but these days nothing surprises me as to what is or isn't available as a separate spare part. You could try searching 4Washerhelp spares site which has the largest stock of washing machine spare parts in the business.
If you could manage to still somehow unscrew it though that would be much better than drilling it out. If there's any part of the bolt still sticking out carefully saw a small slot in it with a hacksaw and try to undo it with a large flat-bladed screwdriver.
Failing that, there are drill bits designed to undo screws where the head has become damaged. I've had mixed success with these bits. You use a drill set to undo instead of tighten and the drill bit is supposed to cut into and then grip the shaft. The ones I got believe it or not were from Poundland and obviously very cheap quality. I bought them because I'd never seen them before and thought they might come in handy one day. If you have to resort to this method try to find some decent quality ones.
This Google search may help drill bit screw remover
Need Professional Help or Spare Parts?
Thanks for the speedy and informative reply!
I have passed the details on so we will see what they do about it!
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