Lg F1443Kd Drum Leaning Back

Are there any other symptoms Michal? Is something catching on the back panel or casing for example? In the case of the direct drive washing machines the back is weighted by the direct drive assembly. Essentially the motor driving the drum is attached to the back of the drum instead of underneath at the bottom like most other washing machines. However I'd expect LG to have adequately counterbalanced this with drum weights at the front. Maybe the direct drive assembly puts extra strain on the suspension and eventually it starts to lean back?

Michal,

I replaced the 3 springs and 2 dampers and it did not make a scrap of difference - a total waste of time and money in my opinion.

I think there is a clear lesson here. If 99% of washing machines have the inner and outer drum concentric with the springs and dampers on the outer drum, and 1% of washing machines (ie this LG one) do something totally different (ie have a fixed outer drum and spring / damp the inner one only) then the 99% are probably the better design.

You may remember a few year's ago when Dyson tried to re-invent the washing machine with even more disasterous results.

My advice is don't waste a penny on it. Keep using it until it toally breaks then buy a new one.....

Hello Everyone,

After 5 years of using this washer (LG F1443kds) I have the same issue as everyone here - DRUM LEANING BACK - the gap have around 3 cm already.

I goes through the topic and I did not found the clear answer what must be done/replaced to eliminate this gap.

First LG specialist has give up without touching the washer. Second want to replace these 3 spring but I'm not sure that the only issue.

Please advice is reparing of this washer is profitable.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Michał

Hello drgnb,

Thanks for your update! My case seems to be a little bit different: in the meantime I found out that this machine is very sensitive for being on level. My kitchen floor is uneven and I had some work to place the machine on level. We use it average twice a week and 50% of the time it will spin, mostly when it works with maximum load. We can live with it. In the Algarve doesn’t rain much…

Just to update. My machine has been banging during spin and the drum leaning back for over 3.5 years. I replaced the springs and dampers to no avail and the drum bearing had no play. I have continued to use the washing machine daily (I would estimate over 1000 cycles over the 3.5 years) and it has worked fine until yesterday.... It is now officially dead and I will take it to the washing machine graveyard on Saturday.

You may be interested in the cause of death - there is a big hole in the side of the plastic tub (presumably made by the drum hitting it) so water pours out whenever it is used (it actually works if I wanted to wash the floor as well as the clothes every day....) £156 for the replacement part and full dismantle to repair - Not economically viable for a 7 year old machine I feel.

RIP LG f1443kd

Does the gap decrease when a load is in the drum and full of water? Just wondering if it leans back when empty but the weight of a load makes it come forward a little?

Thanks for the replies -

Has worked fine but when engineer called he said not to use it. Has banged sometimes when loaded up but I thought that was just uneven heavy load. With the large gap I do wonder if any socks etc may be lurking inside !

I'll probably take the option to keep it if they give it to me but looks like I'll have to let them take it if they insist - thanks for that info.

Hi,

Mine has been banging, hitting back for over a year now and nothing has changed. We still use it every day and it has not got any worse.

Probably worth keeping it if it still washes and you can live with the banging (mine is in basement so it does not bother me) - it may go on for years without actually breaking.

If you get the option to keep it, then yes, sell for spares or try to fix. But, if they are giving you recompense for it, legally it will belong to them. Do the normal cycles work okay, or is it just the cleaning one?

Hi,

I have a F1443KDS with very similar problems - drum banging when on tub clean so no load - large gap - slows itself down as it starts to spin - programme takes longer than advertised etc etc

Luckily it is insured so it's being replaced (vouchers though as discontinued) but - do I just let them take it away OR how easy and expensive would it be to repair it myself ? Or how much to get it replaired ? Or would someone buy it for repairs ?

Would appreciate any thoughts,

Thanks

You'd think the out of balance protection would be the same for all cycles. It may be more sensitive to out of balanced loads on cotton washes, where towels and sheets etc can cause serious damage if spun out of balance but less sensitive on wash cycles for synthetics etc which don't get heavy when wet and are less likely to cause damage.

Thanks for the interesting article! What above all confuses me is the fact that if I use the special option rinse+spin, with the washer empty, it will refuse sipinning.

On the other hand when I use the tube clean cylce it will spin at 1.400 rev. perfectly!

Check this out valimar in case it helps - Why won’t washing machine spin just one item or very small loads?

Hi,

The machine spins only when load has more or less the same size and weight. Otherwise it turns for 10/15 minutes trying to spin and after it will stop and ask to rearrange load. I've been doing this for a couple of times but mostly without success. I have to inspect the washer and look if I can find something wrong.

Perhaps bearings, rotor or vibration sensor.

Hi,

I think the refusal to spin is a different issue from the drum hitting the back.

Mine refused to spin regularly until LG did a software update which solved the problem totally. Unfortunately this also involved replacing the program board so it may be that LG won't do it out of warranty, but it may be worth trying as this appeared to be a very common (almost universal) fault with these machines. Does it stop with the Unbalanced load error?

Thanks for the quick answer. Probably that would not be an issue. However rearranging the load 75% of the time is driving me mad! The machine washes perfectly, without any vibration and it's like a paradox that by tub cleaning it spins without any problem. I think I have to take a look inside.

Mine is the same, so was the one I looked at, I don't think this is an issue.

Hello, this is my first post and I hoop someone will come with some useful clues before I'll strip down my washer.

I have a LG F1443KD, out of garanty, that most of the time refuses to spin showing that I have to rearrange load. Doesn't matter if the machine turns empty or with heavy or small load. On the other hand by the tube clean cycle it spins at 1400 rev. trouble-free.

When I push back the drum with my hand it touches easily the back of the machine.

Any help would be appreciated.Thanks in advance.

Well, I went to look at the one for sale (spares/repair), and was initially disappointed, as it was the same symptoms as mine - large gap at top between drum and seal.

He said the fault was a controls issue; it had a new PCB, new rotor, and new stator. All to no avail, so with their insurance a new machine was provided; the new one is basically an 'up-to-date' variant of mine... With exactly the same gap too!

I guess it must have been there all along & I didn’t notice it until I rebuilt it... I'll plug/plumb it back in and test it, not with the best linin I should add!

The rear suspension is holding the rear of the drum about dead-center of travel, it would take ~5kg I guess, to start to compress noticibly.

The (2) dampers I can easilly push in/out, I think you may mean the (3) spring units? If so, they are very hard to compress, I took one apart, to clean/paint it, it was vey hard to get back together.

I'm going to look at another (similar model - 2nd hand) machine today, if the gap around the front of the drum is different to mine I'll buy it and investigate. Although he reports to me the gap is bigger at the top of his, but I doubt it will be as big as mine (hopfully).

If I take the dampers out of my machine, I can't compress them easily at all, they are stronger than a bullworker. Remember those things? lol

Those springs look pretty strong. Looks like they aren't the main suspension as I can see dampers too.

with nothing in the drum, you would expect a suspension strut to be near the top of its travel, or all the way up. Its no good it being very compressed with no weight in the drum, or it doesn't serve any purpose. How much movement does it have before it bottoms out when you push down on the drum? Pushing down towards the back that is.

Hi Andy, it is the same spring, as it had surface corrosion (from the leaky drum) and I treated/painted it... Plus the other 2 stayed attached to the legs.

It almost seems, if I space the rear spring up from the base, the drum would be in the correct position - as the gap issue is only at the top; but I don't think that is good practice... Also something I discounted is: I doubt the drum would rise up to the seal when spinning, there is nothing that would give it 'lift', although that would be nice as it would be in alignment!

I will have to strip it down again to see if the nylon/plastic white disk part is dimensionally the same as the old one.

That gap between the inner drum and outer drum is way too big. You will always lose items of laundry down there. I haven't worked on one of these so not familiar with it. Is it possible one of the springs has got swapped round? I would expect it's possible at least one of the springs has a different tension.

Hello, I am having a similar issue to some of the above. I purchased my F1443KD on eBay as a factory return with 'cosmetic damage'... or so I thought.

The machine threw up a fault code (forgot what one) that indicated a leak, the float switch in the base had activated.

I stripped the machine down to its component parts, and found the culprit, a sock - not mine. It had got stuck between the inner/outer drum and got wrapped around the drive shaft (see pic). Causing a small occasional leak, which built up over time.

I have reassembled the machine but am now faced with a problem, the drum looks to be leaning back, the rear spring looks more compressed than the other 2 (ignore the colour, I painted it due to corrosion from the leak), there is an obvious gap at the top between the drum and door seal (see pics). Also if I gently push the drum it easily hits the back casing.

It ran perfectly before I overhauled the damaged parts, I'm almost certain it is back together correctly (I fix jet engines for a living), I changed the bearings, the pictured nylon disk, and the rubber bearing seal. I have not run it yet, because the gap can't be right... can it? If I lift the drum from the rear, it does line up perfectly, as if the rear spring is too compressed. Having read other people above with the same symptoms, and had it fixed, no mention was made about the gap; normal/fixed? The white replacement disk/seal is slightly different, with additional fixing points, but think it is the same dimensions where it matters.

I have loads more pictures if it will help.

Don't forget you can buy spares from links on my site 4washerhelp (there's a banner link to it on every page after the first post). The spares are the same price as Partsmaster and many others but using my links help keep my site going

Problem solved - it was nothing to do with the suspension!

I replaced the 3 spring / damper units and the 2 other dampers on the suspension, and it made no difference. The drum still leans back, and it continued to sound as if is hitting the outer drum whenever it moves.

HOWEVER. last week the drum stopped spinning all together. The motor sounded if it was trying to run but the drum did not move. I removed the rotor from the direct drive motor (2 minute job once back of case off) and found the rotor engages on the drum spindle with PLASTIC teeth which had stripped. Thus the rotor was rotating, but the drum was not.

Ordered a new rotor (£28 from Partmaster) and I note the new one has metal rather than plastic teeth - so hopefully it will not fail in the same way.

Having installed the new rotor the banging noise has gone, so I now assume the banging was from the drum slipping on the rotor as it was gradually wearing out and had nothing to do with the suspension!

The correct treatment was easy once the diagnosis was obvious...

I have a hotpoint machine, and it has 2 suspension struts, one either side central to the drum. The top has 2 large springs, holding it centrally back to front of the case. I noticed that the spin wouldn't start and the drum was banging. I opened the door and noticed the drum leaning to my right. I pushed on the top of the drum, and only the right side was dropping and springing back up. This suggests that the working strut is the way the drum tends to lean towards, because that spring is still giving. I purchased two new struts off the internet, not hotpoint ones, but cheaper. MISTAKE. They lasted about 3 weeks. So I purchased the more expensive genuine parts a year ago and it's still working fine. It actually bounces much less when spinning now.

Apperently the drum is supposed to lean back, though I am not convinced! I would say though that the motor should deffinately not touch any part of the casing.

I don't know that the dampers hold the drum forward so much as the springs hold the drum in position, but the diagonal dampers do seem to center in them selves and thus keep the drum in 'a' position.

It's been a few years since I looked inside a Direct Drive machine and they were pretty standard apart from the direct drive attached to the back of the drum. Photo's?

Andy,

The design of the lgf1443kd is not like that. The outer drum is totally fixed and the inner drum is suspended inside it. The direct drive motor is mounted on an 'A' frame which goes vertically down and then has a 90 degree bend forward under the fixed outer drum. This frame is mounted off the floor of the washing machine case with 3 spring loaded dampers (all vertical) and two angled dampers. There is a gasket at the back of the outer drum that provides the seal to the motor / inner drum assembly and allows movement

I do wonder if the metal A frame has bent backwards causing the problem so I will open up the machine again tonight and look.

The outer drum should be held in place with the suspension dampers, the springs at the top hold it centrally so if one breaks or comes off the drum will lean in the opposite direction. If the top springs are OK but the drum leans heavily in one direction the suspension is the suspect. In the old days the metal tub brackets used to bend and cause tubs to twist but it shouldn't happen now.

I have a F1443kd with exactly the same fault. Drum rotates freely and has no play on bearing but the drum is leaning backwards and the direct drive motor actually touches the back of the case when rotating. The machine still 'works' but you can hear the drum bang the back of the case.

I have opened the washing machine and the drum and motor is supported on a frame from the bottom of the case by 3 spring loaded struts (two at the front part no AGM72924801 and one at the back part no AGM72924802. In addition there are two diagonal dampers part no 383EER3001U mounted from the floor of the machine up onto this frame holding the drum.

On inspection the back spring was very compressed, and I assumed that the spring had failed causing the drum to fall back. I have replaced it but this has made no difference. I am unsure if the dampers help hold the drum forward and up (so I may try changing these next) but would welcome any help / advice before I waste too much time and / or money.

This machine was fixed today by an engineer that was recommended by LGs support service.

He came down two weeks ago, looked, took a photo (of the inside of the drum!) and left saying the bearings were the fault and would come back in a fortnight to fix it! Two weeks... I could have gone to the moon and back in that time!

Now it's fixed and he says it was the balance sensor, so who knows, maybe not even him!?

I guess it does at least work... for now anyway...

I'd forgot about the LG direct drive. In that case it could do with an engineer. Please do report back, it would be interesting and useful to others for sure.

That isn't an option, it doesn't have a belt... it's direct drive! I guess you're not familliar with this model?

I have decided to bite the bullet and pay to have it fixed. I'll report back incase it's of any interest to anyone else.

With nothing in the drum there should be virtually no vibration at all. Something strange is going on. See if it's the motor making the vibration by running the machine on spin with the belt off. Also try unplugging the machine, taking the belt off and spinning the drum by hand to see if it's the drum causing the vibration. If you can't detect anything, with the machine still unplugged try bouncing the tub around from the top to see if anything makes a noise it shouldn't.

Hi,

Thanks for your reply! :-)

t tries to spin, but before it can get up any speed it is vibrating so badly that it stops. Even empty at very low R.P.M. it has an imbalance, so maybe the drum?

I get the impression from videos that the machine has some sort of balancing mechanism, maybe that is failing?