Have an LG front load washer that is now about 9 years old, that in the last month or so has gotten very noisy during a spin cycle. I suspect a bad belt or bad bearings, but don't know for sure.

I've had surgery recently so am in no condition to mess with it, but not sure if its worth the cost to get someone out to try and repair it, or if it's probably at end of life and it would be better to put that money towards a new unit altogether.

It's not. Replace.
Straight from experienced service tech

I had a slightly younger LG front loader inspected recently for similar symptoms. I was told a drum bearing was worn out, and you could hear it when spinning the drum by hand. The tech said it's more cost effective to buy new than try to repair.

I had an LG - probably 15 years old that started getting real noisy on the spin cycle. Looked into it, parts for bearing replacement are $150-$200. On You Tube the job was about 6hrs for somebody who knows what they are doing. A friend was quoted around $700 for the job.

We bought a new washer - top load - for $700.

I had the same happen while still under warranty so we proceeded with the repair. But yeah, I've heard you're better off replacing.

That being the case. Who makes the best front loaders these days? I would like a top loader, but the damn builders put cabinets at 53 inches in the laundry room so quite a few are too tall once the lid is open.

I bought the bad bearing one on here for 90 and replaced with japanese bearing, not painful but took half day. You can buy drum assembly for 400 on this one. But it has the same Chinese bearings the first one had. Have done Maytag Samsung lg. Absolutely can be done, is it worth it for you only you can say. Unfortunately i am a fan of simpler appliances and simple not what they build these days

we had a GE (pos) and after 10yrs it started to make a loud noise while on spin cycle. Service tech found several broken spot welds on mounting bracket of drum. He said it was time for new washing machine. Bought a whirlpool.

Applauding the long life of your washer & the care given it.
The most I can muster is only 5-6 years and will never again endure a front loading leaker.

Considering that rubber's working life is 7 years for important functions (e.g. timing belts, tires) going beyond that is a bonus & risk.
I've changed a washer belt .... never again, not worth it, esp. if something else then goes out, then another.
Should the noise be bearings, (a better bet) ..... again not worth it if other aging things are going out after this larger replacement cost.

So EZ these days to get overnight rteplacements, hooked up & old hauled away.
So now you have time to fix other things less complicated and easier to do ... it's always something, right?

tgivaughn said:

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Applauding the long life of your washer & the care given it.
The most I can muster is only 5-6 years and will never again endure a front loading leaker.

Considering that rubber's working life is 7 years for important functions (e.g. timing belts, tires) going beyond that is a bonus & risk.
I've changed a washer belt .... never again, not worth it, esp. if something else then goes out, then another.
Should the noise be bearings, (a better bet) ..... again not worth it if other aging things are going out after this larger replacement cost.

So EZ these days to get overnight rteplacements, hooked up & old hauled away.
So now you have time to fix other things less complicated and easier to do ... it's always something, right?

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You jinxed it! Now there is another "always something." My truck decided its no longer going to let me pump gas. Spoke to dealer, and apparently it's a known issue and likely is going to require a new evap line and gas tank. At least it's warrantied, but still something else to deal with.

Soooooo sorry but
perhaps I'm precipitating all your bad luck present and future so,
once past all this,
you can finally take a vacation far, far away from this reality
where everything breaks and there's no refunds, no sorries.

Our Samsung did the same thing. I pulled it apart over the weekend and replaced the drum bearings (with NOT ****ty Chinese ones) and seal and now we're good as new. Overall took me about 3 - 4 hours and less than $100 in parts.

But if you are not physically able or inclined to do it yourself, I would just replace the washer. I repaired mine figuring worst case it doesn't work and I'm out the parts and my time and I still have to buy a washer. The chance of getting another 5 years out of this one was worth it to me to give it a try.

If that noise includes a lot of shaking mine had that problem and I replaced one of the piston type shock absorbers and it was good as new. I opened it up and the problem was obvious, parts easily obtained. Now I'm looking forward to something failing so I can replace that leaking/molding front loader gasket with a new top loader.

Cromagnum said:

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That being the case. Who makes the best front loaders these days? I would like a top loader, but the damn builders put cabinets at 53 inches in the laundry room so quite a few are too tall once the lid is open.

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I would actually say 9 years is a pretty good service life for modern washer. Have had several whirlpools not last that long, after the first one did. Tried the top loading and hated it. Went back to the front loader and finally tried LG. HAd always avoided because my old school appliance influencers said they sucked. Going on year 5 with it and, honestly, it seems better made/engineered than the Whirlpool or Maytag products I have had. If I can get to 9 years I would replace with the same from Costco without hesitation.

I'm gonna have to look up the process on a Samsung. When I looked at our LG there didn't seem to be any chance of doing it that quickly and also may have need a bearing press.

I followed This Video

A bearing press surely would have helped, but I used a 3/8" extension and a deadblow and got both out. That was the most tedious part for sure.

Cromagnum said:

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That being the case. Who makes the best front loaders these days? I would like a top loader, but the damn builders put cabinets at 53 inches in the laundry room so quite a few are too tall once the lid is open.

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The couple of techs I talked to all said LG makes the best front loader. I was anti LG after dealing with bull**** w/ their fridges/compressors, but that's what we went with based on their recommendations. They also said the negatives of the front loaders are overblown now. Both of them said they owned front loader LGs.

They said Maytag or Whirlpool for top loader.

Color me impressed if you got that done in 3-4 hours! Samsung had more steps than I remember for the LG that I figured would take 8 hours!

Wasn't that bad. Lots of steps but they are quick.

Looks like having room to work would be beneficial and easier. Move it out to the garage.