7 years later and your video IS STILL THE ONLY ONE that shows the comparison between good and bad. My 2 year old washer began to thump after a heavy load and I pulled one shock, it has some resistance to it so I wasn’t sure if it’s bad or not. But watching your video I see that mine are bad. I can pull them all the way out with medium to no effort at all. I see you struggle with pulling on the new ones so now I know how tight they should be
I was just wondering this same thing, and I just wanted to say that they wear out due to vibrations and motion so what you get is more clearance between the plastic and the metal cylinder. In my scenario I just put marine grease on all the metal cylinder shocks and that restores it because it makes it air tight again. So the theory is you are just filling the gap with a good grease that stays solid and higher temps. Thanks for the video!
Thank you so much! You are correct, I couldn't find a single other video showing this. Everyone is quick to jump to the bearings being the issue, and I'd rather not get into all of that. Thanks again!
Good video. Just found the same result after replacing the shock absorbers on my over 20 year old machine the other day. The originals were absolutely shot, and might as well have not even been there. Still recovering from bruises on my arms from working in such an awkward space, but it's done! And the price was right.
I think we need some Bilstein 5100s for our washing machines. Thank you for the video- didn't realize these are open air. My 1 year old Samsung has shock resistance that are right in the middle, which is why I'm here.
2 year old Samsung here. Began to thump so I pulled a shock and it has light to moderate resistance but I can pull them all the way apart easily. Wasn’t sure if bad or not, watching him struggle with the new ones tell me mine are wayy too soft.
It's made to be that weak, and there aren't any other options. A new set will just do the same thing in a year or so. A set of gas filled shocks would provide proper dampening.
The first place I was directed was to replace the tub bearings. Fortunately, I didn't do that. I found a good video that showed how to replace the shock absorbers, but as you stated, the video didn't explain how to tell if the shock absorbers are bad. Thank you!
This was a great demonstration of what a bad one feels like so when I remove it to check I'll know if its bad before I order do the replacement and find out that wasn't the problem. Only issue is the title could be better. "How to check if washing machine shocks are bad." would get more hits for this problem.
Yep, only one showing this. I did find a video that said they should have between 12-15 pounds of resistance, and to make sure all (4 on mine) were within a pound of each other. Don't know if that's true, but the ones I was replacing had about 6-7lbs each, and cheap ones from Amazon were only about 8lbs. Which was why I was wanting better info. My guess is they would have failed quickly. Same source said you can open them up and remove a grommet in a plastic fitting inside, put some card stock in the fitting behind the grommet to improve the tightness, grease them up a bit, and they'll be good for quite a bit more. Turns out my tub got damaged when my spider arm busted, so new washer for me... I guess.😖
Nice one, I've just taken mine out to check them, but they seemed OK. It's the last thing on the list to check, motor OK, Bearings OK, Springs OK, runs fine with no load in the machine. Anyhow, not got new one's to test but pulled against a luggage weigher and it's moving around 5kg once out pushed against a set of scales and it's about 5-6kg going back in. The one's in the video look harder, so will get new ones and report back. Thanks again for you video.
TY for this. Just pulled mine out and wasn't sure how to tell. They don't come out as easily as those ones but they're far easier to pull apart than the new ones
I was taking apart my Samsung front loader to replace the spider arm (Apparently it’s a frequent problem with many front load washers) and noticed that one of the shock absorbers was disconnected. Inspected the others and realized that all 4 came apart with little effort. Didn’t think it was good for them to be so loose and this video helps confirm my suspicions. Thank you.
What was your issues?? My os stuck on 8-9 minutes spin. It spin fast with alot of vibrations and suddenly stop and repeat itself. The shocks are tight when I take back cover to check the back visible two ...the bolts are tight but it is wobbly when I shake it
I know you've fixed your issue by now but how this issue progresses on first symptom = the shocks become worn (less functional) over time due to cheap design/poor factory tolerance on the plastic materials used and begin to allow excess vibration. This leads to failure of the spider arm, which is also of poor (idiotic) material. The spider arm is made of cheap metal, probably with a high Zinc content to prevent rust. This attaches to a stainless steel drum that doesn't ever rust. When you put dissimilar metals in a moist environment there is a process called "Galvanic shock", the electrolysis between the two component "sacrifices" the ions ("the Anode") to the better one ("cathode"). This is why boat motors that stay in the water have a "sacrificial" Zinc bar that gets eaten away over the year(s) and needs replaced annually. The cheap-o manufacturing of Asian "goods" means increased failure... in this case you will find your Zinc spider arm to be pitted, eaten away and ready to Crack or break, especially as the increased stress of worn shocks are a component of the system failure. Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote
Excellent, while mine are not nearly as loose as those bad ones, the drum shakes like mad on spin cycle. THey have about 3/4" of play before there is any tension at all when trying to pull them out or push them in.
After watching about 15 video's your video was the only one on How to check a bad one from a good one. I'm still not sure if mine are bad, they are not as bad as yours. Thank you
Just wanted to agree that I searched for a while trying to find a specific example. Good video. The other decent video was for a top load washer and basically said you test it like a cars suspension, Press down and it should spring back up and stop and not continue bouncing.
I spent extra money on getting genuine replacement Beko washing machine shock absorbers and new pins and the holes for the pins are too small for either the old and new shocker absorber pins. I've returned them twice just received a delivery and they have sent me EXACTLY what I returned.
mine where smaller two. It looked like the old shocks also had small holes to begin with and they where just pried apart when the bolt was hammered back in.
Chicken / egg scenario: Cheap plastic in Asian "goods" leads to early failure of shocks. The cheap metal of the spider arm (high in Zinc to prevent corrosion) attached to the stainless drum (noncorrosive) including other steel used in the frame without the added Zinc means that Galvanic Shock occurs and the weakest metal acts as the Anode (an- = "take away") and the other components (stainless, regular painted steel without Zinc of frame, the atmosphore) takes up this sacrificial ions (cathode/+) and over time the high in Zinc spider arm loses its structural integrity as seen by the pitting and moth eaten photos on RU-vid of cracked/broken spider arms. Boat motors are designed with replaceable "sacrificial zincs", small to soap bar sized Zinc plates that mount to the lower unit. Otherwise, the motor housing would "rust" and get eaten away. It's best to replace a $10 Zinc that a $3500 lower unit! So what comes first... do the worn shocks stress the weakening spider arm past failure, or does the spider arm lose of integrity lead to over-stressing of the shocks? See... chicken or the egg? Check your shocks but also buy the spider arm... you're gonna need it. One wonders if connecting a boat Zinc on the spider assembly would increase the life of the spider arm, or perhaps a Teflon washer between the drum and spider arm bolts (sold individually yet you need 8!) Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote
A very good comprehensive explanation, I imagine the shocks naturally weaken over time with constant out of balance washing which would then strain the spider brackets. Would you agree though that if the drum spins perfectly quite and smooth when empty the bearings and spider arms must be still in good shape at this point ?
Excellent video! Any thoughts on a video )maybe next service call) of a balanced front loader and symptoms when machine starts the spin cycle that led to diagnosis to replace the bad shocks?
@@crushin-it It was incredibly helpful, I watched like 10 videos and nobody actually showed how to determine if a shock was bad or good. I was about to just order new ones and hope that was the problem but then I found your video and determined the shocks on my machine were fine. So yeah, really good video and really appreciate you uploading this.
Thanks for this! My GE front loader had 3 that were broken at the top U bracket . Thought it was just the brackets I would need to replace. I also noticed " black - grey" grease on the bottom pan. So over time these just start to fail. Looks like Im buying 4 replacement shocks (that come with that upper brkt )
This was very helpful. My Maytag Maxima started vibrating more than usual, but all the shocks "look" fine. But it's possible one or more have lost their full damping properties. Thanks for showing how to tell this.
Appreciate the video, now i know mine are bad, not as bad as these shown here but way more loose then the new one you have. So this video is great for reference.
Great great information Unfortunately the new shocks I purchased from OEM dealer aren’t showing nearly the same resistance as yours. They are marginally better I am suspecting some dealers selling refurbished parts or it greatly depends on washing machine brand or model. Mine is Samsung front load machine which gets stuck at rinse spin cycle and keeps adding time.
Hi, thanks for your video. I check with my Samsung washing machine, the shocks are very easy to take it apart as you said those are bad shocks? How come some people said even the new shocks can take apart very easy with little resisstant, not the way you show on the video have to use force? Can you tell us where you can order the new shocks for $20 each? Thanks.
How do you know it is the shocks BEFORE you remove them? Is there a specific amount of force that one can apply on the drum and observe if the shocks move easily?
@@wyt168 They're supposed to damp the spinning drum, so if the drum is banging around or knocking during a spin, or noise is getting worse during a cycle, it could indicate a problem. These things look under-engineered to me, they should be more like car shocks, where there is a spring back, it's more like a friction fit and the grease is just there for lubrication. I have grease all over the lower bush, which supposedly means they're no good, but there is resistance in the shock, but not as much implied in the video. However, as the guy stated, he exaggerated the effort, which is not exactly helpful
Biggest rip off there is, I had done some searching around and found the reason that those pullout so easily is the manufacturer uses, "damping grease" it is a grease that almost works like superglue, but can allows movement of the pistons for many cycles or years. about 40.00 bucks on ebay
Are the shocking supposed to have any free travel.in them? All 4 of mine have about a 1/4 inch of free travel before any resistance forward or back. They have great resistance but the free travel is my concern. It's a samsung frontload washer. Had major vibration issues. Thought the rear spider was bad, it's not
I have the Samsung as well and have the bad vibration issues. I checked 3 out of the 4 shocks and all of them had at least 1/2 inch of play before you could feel the resistance of the shock. Don't want to spend 100 dollars on shocks if this "play" is normal.. Nothing else looks bad though and the drum inside the carrier is tight..
Update: the new set has the play - it seems to be a "feature" for whatever reason? Can't honestly tell if they Are better not not but I'm gonna install them anyway to see if it at least helps. I had this "travel" or play in my whirlpool duet front loader. I don't think it's normal for them to do that and it's shot, but if I'm wrong and the new ones show up with the same play out of the box I'll come back and update this comment, but I'm thinking that's the problem on a 7 year old washer.
I have the issue of the drum riding against the door seal half way. When I spin it by hand you can hear the rubbing and if I run it, smoke starts a little and you can find small pieces of shaved off rubber. There is no bearing squeaking or grinding. And the tub and basket have no movement or play. It’s either the shocks are bad or corrosion issues with the drum’s spider mount.
shock absorbers and open and close just like the old ones,and I've been looking for so long what a problem the washing machine has, With this video I realized that the new shock absorbers are cheap and damaged,if we put a spring ,we can not put shock absorbers? would be happy if you knew ,and you answered,thanks
@@Donnie_Prestwood Well the old ones were such bad shape it’s hard to tell. I compressed each one by hand before installing them and they seemed perfect to me…
so i am watching video for the first time great one now where do i buy the genuine shock ?for this machine whirlpool wfw8300sw02 oh and how to install lol
I bought a new set of four for $50 on Amazon and they are the same as the old ones (8rs). They have 1/2" free play and then pull out like the best old one shown in the video. Needless to say, my problem with the spin cycle resetting is still a problem. Question: Should I buy OEM ones for $35/each and expect them to be like the hard to pull new ones in the video or are they all the same? Thanks for the video!
I may have over exagerated a little on the pull. There was a noticable difference between the old and new is what I was trying to show. I can't remember if I bought OEM ones or not as it was 4 years ago. The shocks did not fix my problem. It was a corroded spyder gear. Im not really sure what the shocks actually do as I still had the problem on mine after the change.
@DBRising I changed my shocks and used original ones. Still have some noise. I do not think the bearing is bad. Maybe the springs are worn out? The springs are not broken though.
Are all shocks supposed to be that hard to pull and push? I have a Whirlpool Duet WFW72HEDWO and the shocks are not hard to pull apart or push in. Nothing as loose as the ones in your video. They have a loose play of about one inch. I ordered some from ebay and they have the exact same play and they can be pulled apart also without a lot of straining. I am planning on sending them back and ordering new ones from a more reputable place. Are they supposed to be that hard to pull apart and push in for all models of front load washers?
The ones on mine just about fell out when I pulled them open. The new ones were much harder to push in and pull apart. The video pulling them apart was a little exagerated but I was just trying to show a noticable difference. What I did not mention in the video was that changing the shocks did not fix my problem of the drum vibrating. What problem were you having that led you to believe it might be bad shocks?
@@crushin-it I got my washer from a friend that called for service because the washer vibrated violently during the spin cycle. It shook and slammed around. The repair man told him it was the bearing and seals. They wanted $850 to fix it so he just got a new set. He gave me the washer and dryer. Whirlpool Duet. I decided to take it apart to replace the bearings and seals myself. When I saw the bearings they were clean and looked new. there was no sign of corrosion of any kind. Also the washer does not make any grinding noise when the tub is spined. It sounds smooth and quiet during the wash cycle. It's during the spin cycle that the washer starts to thump and slam. I took the rear shocks off and pulled on them. They are not totally loose like the ones you showed. But they didn't take much pulling to get them to slide out and in. What I think is the key is that they have a free play of about half inch (I measured them after posting my question). I ordered new ones (supposedly) from Ebay and they came in yesterday. When I checked them they feel just as loose and have the half inch play in them like mine. They were not wrapped in a sealed plastic bag like the ones I see shown from major retailers. They were loose in the box with no sealed package. I am returning them but don't know if the ones in my machine are bad or not now. Your video is the only one that shows the difference between the new and old shocks. The ones my machine uses is W10261492. Sears has them since Whirlpool make some of their washers also. They are about fifty dollars a piece. I want to make sure mine are bad before putting out two hundred dollars for shocks.
In dire need of advice the plastic piece on the shocks you have does it come with the shocks when you buy the replacement, the piece that connects to the tub itself not the lower, if so what is it called all for of mine busted HELP
