NAH6800AWW Amana Washer - Instructions

With a torn boot on this front load washer, (nails in the pocket of my jeans) water leaked out on the floor with every wash. I knew it would cost a fortune to get fixed, so I decided to try it myself. I can take anything apart!
I heard of Parts Select.com from a friend and checked it out. With their help, I found the model and part and just ordered it. It was easy!
When the part arrived, I was obligated then to do something!
Since this is a stack unit, with the dryer on top, I thought I would take the dryer off and try the repair from the top. But there was no way that dryer was coming off! I tryed every screw and it wouldnt budge.
So I saw two screws in the front and started in on the washer below. I was careful to make notes on how I took this machine apart so I could put it back together!
I got down to the drum with a spring close guywire that holds the boot tight to the drum. It came off easily and I took the old torn boot off and put the new boot in place.
The tough part was getting that guywire and tight spring back on! The lip that holds the boot to the drum is very shallow and the book would not stay on all the way around and allow me to string the guy wire around in the little channel without coming off. FRUSTRATING!
I improvised and used duct tape to tape the boot to the drum to keep it in place so I could string that wire around. Man, did that take some doing!
I managed to get that wire around with the help of the duct tape, but the second big challenge was putting the spring on, as it was under alot of tension. It was tough to puuuuuullllll it together without pulling the boot out of the channel I had to duct tape it into!
By the grace of the Almighty, some prayer and some cussing (forgive me Lord), I got the spring into the rings on both ends of the guy wire. VICTORY!
Putting the boot front back in is easy, just put it into the holes that receive the projections under the front of the boot. No problem.
After all that, putting the washer all back together was a cinch!
And....
IT WORKS!!
I did it! No more leak! No expensive fix it job!
I did it myself, am prouder than heck!
Oh.....
No more Nails in the jean pockets!

My husband completed the repair by himself. He said that the "string trick" was helpful.

Very easy.I used a screw driver to remove and install the new hinges. Three screws on each hinge. Door closes like new again.

The repair was simple as you can imagine. Thought I could buy these legs at any big box store or at least at the local hardware store. No such luck. Partselect had the right product---easy to order and easy to install. Things around here are great.

removed one panel and front door to access under tub.leak solved!!!! thanks

removed door,Opened the front panel, opened the top and proped it out of the way. Pulled the boot from the front cover disconnected the drain, released the boot clamp and pulled the boot off. I cleaned the inside of washer and soap tray. cleaned debris from the drain hose. repaired a broken soap dish connection. changed supply hoses and new valves. Generally checked cleaned and overhauled the washer.

Wow! Thanks to the customer info/hints already posted the repair went super smooth and was relatively easy to accomplish. $70.00 for an easily replaced part sure beats $1,000+ for a new washer. Super fast shipping reduced down-time significantly!!! From start to finish the job took less than 30 minutes. Thank you so much.

Basic disassembly as described earlier.Some tips I found helpfull. Use vice grip pliers on spring.it will keep a grip on the spring hook and you can exert more force to pull the spring.Th bellows was very sticky and hard to slip into place. I put a litle silicone lube ( stuff you use for pool pump gaskets )on the bellows. It made it slip into place easly.

Download machine service manual from internet. This makes dismantling easy and prevents damage to component parts.

Dismantle as per manual and remove old bellow - easy.

Re-install new bellow on tub rim - EXTREMELY difficult. The spring that tensions the wire that holds the bellow in place is extremely powerful and in attempting to stretch it it often slips off the tub rim taking the bellow with it so you have to start all over again. It took me 2 hours to realise I would never be able to do this alone. With the help of a second pair of hands this was accomplished in 20 mins with some difficulty.
The rest of the installation and re-assembly was done without difficulty.

Despite the reviews by people who installed this part themselves, I knew that any type of repair was beyond my ability. I enlisted the assistance of a cousin who is a trained, professional appliance repairman. Despite not having instructions, with his experience things went well until he found he did not have the unique wrench that would have made life easier, but he was able to adapt and use the tools he had at hand. Unfortunatley, after more than twos hours attempting to install the wire around the boot, he realized that he could not do it alone, I had to help him and together, we were able to install the wire. It would have been helpful to have step by step instructions and a list of necessary (or at least useful) tools.

Off with the door. Off with the front panel. Lift the top and you are looking at the boot. Remove the boot retaining wire . Remove the boot and reverse the procedure. It's a snap.

Removed the door and front panel with ease. Then came the spring and cable. People who say it was easy are not telling the whole story. Removing the spring was okay except for it flew across the room. Putting the new cable on with a pair of needlenose pliers did not work for me. I had to get a spring tool like you use on brakes on a car. Once I had the tool and secured the cable in place with a piece of wire I got the spring on. Everything except the spring took about 15 minutes.

Disassembled washer as per directions with seal kit. Removed inner tub. Cut both tub shaft bearing in half; punched out from outter tub. Installed new bearings using .5 inch threaded rod, washer and bolts. Installed new seal on inner tub shaft. Installed inner tube. Re-assembled washer.

Followed the PartsSelect video for the seal replacement, which was step by step and spot on, I just had to add the bearing replacement part myself. Once it was dissembled I drove each bearing out by tapping them with the hammer and drift. My model had no bearing retainer ring. I did not remove the outer drum from the washer. Clean the aluminum hub real well, scrape it with a utility knife to remove corrosion, wipe with a solvent soaked rag, etc. I disagree with other methods ive seen while researching, like a wire brush in a drill, because you will remove aluminum material from the hub and the bearing wont fit as tightly as designed. tap in the rear bearing til fully seated. I did the rear first because gravity then held the spacer in place. Set the spacer in place, noting that one end is "flared" to a larger diameter, so it seats against the larger race of the front bearing. Align and start the front bearing in place. The spacer needs to align with the bearings so it bears against the inner races of the bearings. So to hold it in place I rolled up a piece of light cardstock, slid it thru the spacer and bearing, and as it "uncoiled" it aligned the spacer. Pretty well. I did have to tap the spacer a little with the drift after the bearings were in, but just a little. After that, back to the video for the seal and reassembly. Only other comment I have is to locate the bearings early. I ended up going to grainger for one and Napa for the other. And no one could seem to cross the "DU" part of the original NGK bearing. The DU means it just has seals on both sides. Pretty standard stuff. That could have been easier. Also hold off ordering extra parts. I have found PartsSelect is really quick getting stuff out. I ordered an inner drum because i heard from other research that that could cause the banging noise. My banging noise was from one bearing disinegrating and the balls breaking up inside the hub. Shipping the drum back cost 70. UPS wanted 160. So that could have gone better, but I didn't want to let the machine sit too long. Next time I'll let it sit a couple days.

Set my iPad on the dryer and played the video. Could not have done it without it. Putting spring back on was the hardest, fell off once. Took that long because video connection timed out and had to get another coffee. Part delivery was quick. Found the drain tube out of the bellows was clogged. If it wasn't for the mildew on the bellows could havw fixed the problem if I had known about a drain at the bottom of the bellows.