AEM197 Speed Queen Dryer - Instructions

Early in the life of my dryer, the Cylinder Seal came out. For the past two years I put off buying the part. When it came in, I p[opped the top of the dryer, removed the two screws holding on the front panel, and pulled the Cylinder of the back wall of the dryer. I then placed the seal in the right spot, glued it down and reassembled. About Fifteen minutes of work and a cheap part, and now my dryer dries a l;oad of clothes in an hour instead of three.

unpluged the dryer,and removed the top.
took the front of the dryer off,release the belt and removed the drum.
unbolted the idler lever.

then I put it back together.
the bolt that holds the idler lever will be a little hard to replace for some.

I just took the bottom front panel off and the parts I needed to rplace where in the back and very easy to get to . I decided to replace all 3 while I was in there. The parts were not to high, so that is why I did that.

Dryer stopped tumbling, so bad belt was my first thought. Dryer is in vacation home so did not have immediate access to it to diagnose. Ordered belt and discovered that the poorly designed motor pulley had broken and the belt jumped onto the motor shaft and burned through the original belt. Week 2 after ordering pulley, installation went per YouTube video. Glad I also replaced the belt because it was brittle and cracked. Suspect it had been slipping because sheets would ball up into a log, possibly because the drum wasn't spinning fast enough. Anyhoo, after repair all seems OK.

I removed the dryer front and replaced the door switch.
Next I replaced the drum glide reassembled the dryer.

Removed lower panel, door assembly, belt and drum.
Removed blower wheel cover.
Used dremmel tool to cut plastic from metal that attaches the blower to the motor shaft.
Used adjustable wrench to keep motor shaft from turning.
Used vise grip to clamp on metal and turned to loosen blower wheel.
Attached new blower and re-assembled.

I followed the instructions and it went very well. The only confusing part was the drive belt for the tumbler barrel I just had to visualize the threading arrangement to get it right. Much like a car fan belt.

I first watched the video and disassembled the dryer to see if I could determine what part was squeaking. All looked good except the wheel on the Idler lever which was tight. I vacuumed up the years of lint and reassembled the dryer and waited for the parts to arrive. I ordered the idler lever and also the 2 drum support wheels, belt and 2 drum guides since I thought that is was a good idea to go ahead and replace these parts once I had the dryer disassembled again. Good choice on the belt as once I removed the old belt there was a crack on the underside of the belt. I bought snap ring pliers at home depot but the tips were too big to fit the holes on the snap rings on the drum rollers. I bought another snap ring plier set from an automotive store that came wth 5 snap ring attachments - but again all were too large to fit the snap rings on the drum support rollers. I used a nail and small screwdriver to expand and pull off the snap rings but this approach was frustrating and time consuming. Not sure where to get snap ring pliers that are small enough to fit the holes on the snap rings - so hope that you have better luck locating a set thats small enough! I was able to return the pliers that I purchased - so all good. I was surprised at how easy the dryer came apart and how easy it was easy to work on. When disassembling the dryer - we took pictures of the wire connections before we disconnected them, however at one point we tilted the dryer back to clean behind it and the top slipped a little away from the side panel of the dryer and one of the wires that was connect to the wire block that is up by where the power cord connects cam loose - and it took some time to find and figure out a wiring diagram for this connection. Suggest that you take a pictire of this wire connection block once you lift the lid - just in case a slip occurs and a wire may disconnect. When replacing the idler lever -
have a little grease available when you install the new idler lever (between the arm and the bolt area as it constantly moves and the old brease has probably worn away) . After making these repairs I dont think I will ever buy a new dryer as any part , including the heater and motor would be easy to replace and cheaper than a new dryer.

I had already taken the dryer apart prior to changing the felt seal. Had oiled the rollers, greased the bearings & vacuumed the whole inside of the dryer out. Had used a high temp lubricant on the seal & had stopped squeaking for about a month. I ordered 2 seals & when they arrived, I popped the top of the dryer off using the putty knife to pry the spring latches. I opened the top up & leaned it against a wall. I disconnected the wiring to the light & the switch in the door, making note of the wiring order. Then used a nut driver to take the 2 screws from the inside out, that holds the front cover in place. Then the same for the 4 screws holding the front bulkhead in place. Then lifted up & out from the unit. Then used the putty knife to scrap the adhesive & old seal off the bulkhead. Cleaned as much of the adhesive off, then applied some high temp silicone adhesive to the bulkhead, placed the new seal on, using some clamps to hold it in place. After making sure it had adhered to the seal & bulkhead. Did the reversal of the above mentioned steps. Moved the unit to laundry room, plugged it in then started it & voila no more squeaking dryer.

I first unpluged the dryer. Then I
Removed two screws and removed bottom cover, Then removed the door assembly.Here I had to unplug the light and door switches. I then removed the four screws that holds the tub mount in place, Then I removed the eight screws that hold the blower cover in place, then removed the blower. replaced blower and reassembled in reverse. I started the dryer and it worked fine.

I pretty much followed a lot of the earlier postings on partselect.com that provided encouragement to pursue replacing this part on my 17 year old dryer (sorry, money is tight these days and I prefer repair to $800 replacement).

I'd like to add that I borrowed a pair of snap-ring pliers from work which made removal and later securing of roller onto shaft much easier and probably avoided a lot of knuckle bruising and cursing.

I erred though in a couple of places during the replacement. Disassembly took about 20 minutes. However, when I re-assembled I had mistakenly already put the roller onto the shaft before trying to put the drum back in. That isn't possible so I had to remove (an initial groan but only a few extra minutes in the end) the roller from the shaft, then reposition the drum and then the roller back on the shaft.

I also decided to replace the belt while I was in there and I should have taken a picture or made a drawing of the belt route before I took it off since I was later left pondering how the heck to snake the belt onto the shaft and also the tensioner. A quick trip to the internet though showed me a similar route and reminded me how to route it.

I'd also like to add to be cognizant of the wires on the door and front panel when disassembling.

Anyone with any sense of mechanical ability and a little common sense ought to be able to do this repiar.

Thanks Part Select!

First of all I would not have done this if it wasn't for
your website. Using the schematics to figure out
the right parts was easy. It was also helpful in the
actual repair process. I have added your website
to my favorites in my browser. The parts arrived in 3 days and I live in Reno. Great Website.

M.B.

Removed power and front panel, removed broken latch, pushed in new latch and replaced the front panel and power. Done

I took out the old worn out part and replaced with the one I order.

Very simple repair. Remove front panel, door, drum etc. Try to keep everything seperated, screws etc. I put lockjaws on the back to get the nut off the front. Make sure to check the housing for "melted on" blower wheel residue. Easy enough to remove. I checked with my local parts dealer he wanted twice the price and needed to order it (at least a days wait). PartSelect sent the exact same part in a day and a half. Put everything back the same way I removed. Hardest part is the drum and belt. While you have everything apart don't forget to clean the thermastats etc. PartsSelect was quicker and cheaper.