GFD45GSPM1DG General Electric Dryer - Overview

First I found and watched three videos on how to open the dryer and replace the igniter.
Then I opened the dryer, but I did not remove the belt as suggested in the video, and then I removed the ignitor and flame detecter as the videos had shown.
I got on-line and ordered the new parts from PartsSelect in the afternoon and had them in my hands the next morning by 9:30 am.
I installed the new parts and everything worked fine again. You must be very careful with the igniter to not touch it with hands or anything else. I practiced puting in the old parts first.

The end repair was very simple and took minimal effort. The time and difficulty was all in the testing. I disassembled the dryer and removed the drum and then hard wired each thermo-fuse to determine where the fault was. After test all of those I was stumped. When I opened the door the light would not come on so I assumed it was a power fault closer to the source. However after all of my testing I couldn't find anything wrong. I then removed the light bulb and realized it was burned out which led me to the door switch being the fault. I removed the switch and soldered the three wire together and the dryer started right up! All I had to do was order a new $15 part, unsolder the wires and plug them in. Would have been so much simpler if that light bulb hadn't of been burned out causing me to over think my diagnosis. This was my first major appliance repair and I did it with only the help of the parts diagram provided on the website.

This part arrived at our house two days after I ordered it. I was stunned by how quickly it arrived.

Our dryer was making a very annoying squeaking/rubbing noise while drying and it became worse as the outside temps dropped (it's winter)...colder air cooling the exhaust line, causing metal in dryer to contract more.

I called an appliance repair service and they said, "Honestly, your money is going to be better spent to just buy a new dryer. The bearings on these are a pain to replace."

Yeah, right.

I've never taken apart a dryer, but it took me less than 45 minutes to complete this repair and our dryer is back to normal. Total cost was $18, including shipping. A $300 savings versus buying a new dryer.

There is another description of the process for this part so I won't repeat it all.

I did it a little differently than most, namely I did not remove the dryer drum. I simply pulled it out about six inches (make sure and slide belt back as you inch out the drum). But first, unplug the dryer, then remove the top, then the front.

A Philips screwdriver will quickly remove the top of the dryer (two screws on inside front, where door closes) and the front face (two screws at top of front, inside face). Lift the front up about an inch and it is free. I had to disconnect a couple wires, just make sure you mark before you disconnect them.

With that done, the drum will pull straight toward you (out). Make sure and support the weight of the drum as you slide it out. I found no need to remove the drum.

At the rear inside of our drum, there are three Torx screws that hold the bearing assembly on. I have a pretty long reach so I just removed two of the Torx screws, then reached around the back of the drum while removing the third screw, to keep the bearing assembly from falling onto the floor behind the back of the drum.

This plastic bearing is held to the bearing shaft by a little o-ring. Just pull the o-ring off, slide off the old bearing, slide the new bearing on and replace the o-ring (if yours is broken, any home store will have one that will work as a replacement in their faucet repair department).

Reattach the bearing housing to the drum with the Torx screws (get all three started before you tighten any of them), slide the drum back in - make sure you slide the belt as you move the drum back in and support the weight of the drum so you don't bash the bearing assembly into the back of the dryer.

You're doing this part blind, but in a few seconds, you can guide the bearing back into the hole in the back wall of the dryer. It just slides into the hole, nothing fancy.

Put the front of the dryer back on. Then replace the top (I had to remove the five screws on top of the dial panel to give it some flex so the top would pop back into place without stressing the dial panel), plug the dryer back in, and fire it up.

45 minutes after this part arrived at our home, our dryer problems were gone. Now that I've done one, I could probably do it in 20 minutes the next time (it's that simple/easy). And we didn't need a new dryer. Makes me think I should have the appliance guy who told me we needed a new dryer to direct all of these "pain in the fanny" bearing replacements to me because I could charge someone $50 total for the repair and make good money.

Hope all this babble helps someone else who doesn't need a new dryer.