Appliance Spares
Quick answer: A front loader that rumbles or roars louder as the spin speed climbs usually has worn drum bearings. One that bangs, wobbles or scrapes the door seal on spin usually has a cracked spider — the three-arm casting bolted to the back of the drum. Both sit on the same shaft and come out in the same strip-down, which is why repairers replace the spider and the lip seal and bearings together. Below is a five-minute test to tell which has gone first, and a table matching Samsung, LG, Fisher & Paykel and Haier models to the combined kit.
Last updated August 2026
A drum bearing kit typically costs $50–59 AUD (median $56.95), as at August 2026.
Spider and bearing kits by brand and model
Each kit pairs the spider (the drum shaft casting) for the models listed with the matching lip seal and bearings kit, priced $15–17 below buying the two parts separately. Confirm your model number on the model sticker — inside the door frame or on the back panel — and if yours is not shown, send us your model number and we’ll check.
| Brand | Headline models | Spider & bearing kit |
|---|---|---|
 Samsung | WW75H5400EW, WW85H5400EW, WW80J4413IW, WW85K5410WW, WW85K6410QX | Samsung DC97-14369G spider + DC62-00008A seal & bearings kit |
 Samsung | WF1752WPC, WF1804WPC, WW75J5210IW, WW75J4213IW, WD8704EJA | Samsung DC97-15185A spider + DC62-00008A seal & bearings kit |
 Samsung | WF8750LSW, WD8704EJA, WD0754W8E, WF0754W7V1, WF9854RWE | Samsung DC97-14370E spider + DC62-00008A seal & bearings kit |
 LG | WD11020D, WD12021D6, WD13020D1, WD14022D6, WD14023D6, WD14024D6, WD14030D6 | LG 4434ER1008B spider shaft + seal & bearings kit |
 LG | WD1409NCE, WD1409NCW, F4J8FNP2W, F4J8FNP2S | LG MHW62021601 spider shaft + seal & bearings kit |
 LG | WD-8013F, WD-1015FB, WD-1223FB, WD-1236TD, WD-1050FH, WD-1074FHB | LG 4434EN1002A spider shaft + 4036ER2003A seal & bearings kit |
 Fisher & Paykel | WH7560J1, WH8060J1, WH8560J1, WH8560J3 | Fisher & Paykel drum shaft & bearing kit |
 Haier | HWF75AW1, HWF75AW2 | Haier H0020100583 spider tripod + seal & bearings kit |
A few Samsung and LG models appear in more than one kit’s list; if yours does, send us the full model number and we’ll check which spider suits it. Bosch and Electrolux front loaders have no combined spider kit at present, but bearings-only lip seal and bearing kits exist for both — see the Bosch loud noise guide and the Electrolux bearings and seal kit guide. Every current kit is collected in the Repair Kits category.
The five-minute drum test
Unplug the machine, turn off both taps and empty the drum. You need a torch and nothing else.
- Rock the drum. Grip the drum at the top of the opening and lift, then push side to side. A healthy drum barely moves. Free play with a knock at the end of the movement points to worn bearings. A drum that sits low or off-centre points to a spider arm that has cracked and let one side drop.
- Spin the drum by hand. Give it a firm turn and let it coast. A gritty rumble, drag or a sandy feel through your palm is bearings. A scrape or tick once every revolution — the drum touching the door seal or the tub — is the spider.
- Look through the drum holes. Shine the torch through the perforations in the back of the drum while turning it slowly; on many machines the spider arms are visible behind. Look for white powdery corrosion, a dark line across an arm, or a break.
- Check the washing. Rust-brown streaks or grey smears on light items mean water is getting past the lip seal and carrying rusty grease back into the drum.
- Look under and behind the machine. A rust-coloured trail or crusty deposit at the rear of the tub means the seal has been leaking for a while and the bearings are on the way out, loud or not.
Play and a rising roar: bearings. Wobble, a once-per-turn scrape or a visible crack: spider. Either way the answer is the same kit — the part you have not yet found is rarely far behind.
What the spider does — and how it fails
The spider is an aluminium casting with three arms bolted to the back of the stainless steel drum. Its hub carries the shaft that runs out through the rear of the outer tub to the pulley. It spends its life in warm, wet, slightly alkaline conditions: detergent residue, fabric softener and long gaps between hot washes leave a film that slowly eats into the aluminium, the arms thin, corrosion pits form, and eventually one cracks. Because the failure is a crack, the symptom often arrives suddenly: hard banging on every spin, even with a balanced load. The full write-up is in Front loader banging violently on spin? Broken spider arm explained.
What the bearings and lip seal do — and how they fail
The spider’s shaft runs in bearings pressed into the rear of the outer tub. In front of them sits a lip seal, a rubber ring with a sprung lip that rides on the shaft and keeps wash water on the drum side. The seal is the wear item: its lip hardens, water creeps past, grease washes out and the bearings rust and pit. The noise builds over months — a hum on spin becomes a rumble, then a roar, always louder as the spin speed rises. LG owners can compare the two sounds in LG front loader loud on spin — bearings or spider shaft?. On Samsung, the same DC62-00008A lip seal and bearings kit is the bearing half of all three Samsung spider kits.
Why one kills the other
A cracked spider lets the drum run off-centre. Every spin then hammers the bearings sideways and flexes the lip seal, so water gets past a seal that would otherwise have lasted years. Fit new bearings under a cracked spider and the wobble sends the new seal the same way. It runs in reverse too: rough bearings let the shaft run out of true, and that vibration works on the corrosion pits in the spider arms until one gives. A new spider on tired bearings is noisy again within months.
Both parts also come out in the same strip-down: once the drum is out and the tub is split, the spider unbolts from the drum back and the bearings and seal drive out of the same tub half. Replacing one and not the other means paying for the whole afternoon twice — which is why repairers replace both, and why the kits pair the two.
Do it yourself or hand it to a repairer?
Honest answer: spider and bearings is the biggest job on a front loader. The drum comes out and the tub is split, and it takes an afternoon with a socket set and a rubber mallet. Many owners do it with a teardown video for their model open on a phone; others buy the kit and hand the parts to a local repairer or tradie — ring first, as most are happy to fit customer-supplied parts. Fisher & Paykel owners have a step-by-step lip seal and bearings fitting guide to follow.
Doing it yourself — pros:
- The parts are a fraction of the cost of a replacement machine; Washing machine bearing replacement: worth it or buy new? runs through the decision.
- You see the fault — a cracked arm or a rust-brown bearing confirms the diagnosis — and the same strip-down lets you clean years of scale out of the tub and check the door seal and hoses.
- Corroded spider bolts can be swapped at the same time — Samsung spider hex bolts and LG spider hex bolts are sold separately.
Doing it yourself — cons:
- It is an afternoon, not an hour, and the machine is out of action until you finish.
- Front loaders are heavy — the concrete counterweights make it a two-person lift — and old bearings can be stubborn to drive out.
- If the drum itself is badly corroded or the machine has other faults, get a repairer’s opinion before buying anything.
Frequently asked questions
How do I tell whether the spider or the bearings have failed without taking the machine apart?
Unplug the machine, then rock, spin and inspect the drum. Free play and a rumble that rises with spin speed point to the bearings; a drum that wobbles, sits off-centre, scrapes once per revolution or shows a cracked or powdery arm through the drum holes points to the spider. Both lead to the same spider and bearing kit.
Can I replace just the bearings and leave the spider?
You can, and if the spider is clean and uncracked some repairers do. The risk is that corrosion pits or a hairline crack you missed will wobble the new bearings and seal until they fail again. Because the spider unbolts in the same strip-down, replacing both adds little time and avoids doing the job twice.
What exactly comes in the kits?
Each kit pairs the spider for your brand — a spider shaft on the LG kits, a spider tripod on the Haier kit, a splined drum shaft on the Fisher & Paykel kit — with the matching lip seal and bearings kit, and the listing title spells out exactly what’s included. Match by model number rather than part number, and confirm it on the model sticker.
My model is not in the table. What now?
The table lists headline models only; each product page carries a longer list — the LG 4434ER1008B kit, for example, is listed for well over a dozen more LG models than shown above. Use the part finder or send us your model number and we’ll check. Bosch and Electrolux owners: see the bearings-only guides linked under the table.
How long does the job take and what tools do I need?
Allow an afternoon. The drum comes out and the tub is split, so you need a socket set, a rubber mallet, room to lay the tub halves and ideally a second person for the lift. Unplug the machine and turn off both taps first.
Disclaimer: this article is general information only and is provided without warranty of any kind. Appliance designs vary between models and production runs — always follow the manufacturer’s instructions, switch off and unplug the appliance before starting any work, and confirm parts against the model number on your appliance’s model sticker. Any repair is undertaken at your own risk and Oz Appliance Spares accepts no liability for injury, loss or damage arising from work performed after reading this guide, to the maximum extent permitted by law. If in doubt, use a qualified technician.
