Seal failure, leading to bearing failure

Not much to add to others' descriptions of the repair except for two things- one, the procedure for removing the front shroud on a stackable unit is somewhat different than what is described in the seal kit directions. The door switch assembly gets in the way; though the whole repair can be done by one person, it would be better (and safer) to have a second person helping at least during this part. The whole shroud is unwieldy, with two drain hoses attached, along with two dispenser hoses, the door switch/light, and the side & bottom mounting brackets, and it has to be eased out one step at a time. During the last part of this you will have to lift up the front of the dryer at the same time.

Second, our particular washer has a 90xxxx serial number. The bearings are Chinese-sourced, not the good NSK bearings. Though the listed bearing numbers are the same... the rear bearing is held in by a retainer that is permanently fixed into the outer tub. There is no easy way to drive the bearing forward, either, as the retainer covers nearly all the bearing outer shell. The chances are very high that the outer tub would be damaged beyond repair if the retainer or bearing was removed. Fortunately in this washer, the back bearing was still in reasonable shape and had some grease left; I was able to pop out the grease seal and re-pack it with wheel bearing grease. The front bearing & seal are replaced as others have described. The front bearing takes a majority of the load, so others may have similar wear.

This washer was only 3 1/2 years old; we bought six Maytag appliances at the same time, and four of the six have had major repair problems (two were cheaper to replace than repair). That, and the $678 replacement cost of the outer tub, explains why the Maytag repairman is so lonely...