Hi John, I took the drum out of a hotpoint washing machine hoping for a cheap bearing replacement only to find that one of the three arms that the drum mounts onto had broken. I had read this before, but had to strip it completely to find out!
The symptoms were the drum had too much movement and was banging the top when spinning. I thought the dampers had gone so replaced them as I couldn't feel knocking play in the bearing when moving the drum from inside.
To actually answer your question though(!) I'm certain that the drum had to come out through the top of the machine meaning it required a lot of dismantling which is possible but tedious - I can't be 100% sure that it was the only way, but I'm sure that's what I had to do. Having found the problem I opted for a new m/c.
If you think you may have the same problem as me though look for the drum flexing rather than knocking and a witness mark on the inside if the drum where the broken arm is, about 100mm ish from centre.
This may not be your problem at all, but at last I've got it off my chest and hopefullly repaid my debt to someone at last on these ever helpful forums!
PJ, March 2009
