MCE8000AYW Maytag Dryer - Instructions

DISCONNECT THE POWER. Double check the dryer is unplugged. Use a putty knife to free the latches holding the top of the dryer in place. Lift up the top of the dryer and secure it in place (be sure it's safely held open and won't come crashing down onto yourself as you work). Remove the two screws on the inside and near the top of the dryer, which hold the front and side panels. Gently lift up on the front panel (it may help to open the dryer door to get a better grip). Once free from the bottom clips, carefully rotate the front panel so that the door sensor wires are not strained. Once the front panel is out of the way, grab the drum and firmly lift it up and away from the back. (The drum has rollers and ridges at the rear and you'll need to pull the drum out of its "track"). Slide the new belt around the drum and position the drum about halfway inside the dryer. Loop the belt around the motor, but not the tensioner, (it will be easier to install the drum if you wait to tension the belt). With the belt around the motor, gently slide the drum back keeping the belt around the motor pulley. Press and guide the drum back onto the rollers at the rear. Check the belt is positioned correctly around the drum and motor. Reach back from the front and loop the belt around the tensioner. Rotate the drum by hand and make sure the belt is aligned and the drum spins smoothly. Position the front panel and slide it onto the lower clips. Install the screws being very careful not to drop them into the abyss... Close the lid and plug in the power.

I unscrewed the door catch and pried out with some resistance the strike part. Screwed in the catch and pushed in the strike. Closed door. Voila!! Back in business with assurance.

I replaced it

Removed the two screws at the back that hold the top of the dryer. Then I pried off the top at the front by inserting a screwdriver into the front to remove the top from the clips. Then I tilted up the top like a car hood.

I removed the two screws inside that held the front on and lifted the front off. Because of the wires attached to the front, I made sure to turn the front aside without pulling on the wires. After removing the broken belt, I put the replacement belt over the front of the drum, lifting the drum a little. Then I threaded the belt over the drive and around the tension wheel per a diagram I found on the web.

While I had the front off, I removed the lint trap and cleaned out probably decades worth of lint.

Then I replaced all the parts in reverse order, plugged it in and had a working dryer!

First, I printed one of these responses which were excellent and very detailed. The screws connecting the lint slot to the top of the dryer was frozen. Taking the front panel off was difficult because I did not read the instructions I printed out very well. After I took the top off I had a hard time finding the 2 screws located inside on the top of the front panel. They are located to the far right and left at the top. To take off the front panel you have to push it up to release the clips on the bottom, then it comes right off. Taking the drum out was easy. What was difficult was putting the belt on. There wasn't any slack and to put it around the pulley and the drum for me was difficult. After that is was a piece of cake. It works great.

i pop the top of the dryer lose and removed the 2 screws that held the front on and installed the new belt and put it back to gethere

I watched the video on replacing the belt and it was amazingly as easy as the video described. I had asked my son if he could replace it if I couldn't and I didn't have to ask him. If you are only moderately ept at repairing anything you could do this. I was waiting on it when it finally arrived and in no time I had it replaced and my dryer back working. Being a woman I like it when I can repair something myself and not have to rely on someone else to do it.

The repair was pretty simple.
1. unplug dryer.
2. use a med. flat screw driver with some cloth wrapped around the blade as not to chip the paint surface. From the front of the dryer,
carefully pry open the top surface of the dryer. There are 2 points to lift, about 3" from the right side and 3" from the left side.
3. The top will open like the the hood of a car, lift gently, you might have to move the dryer out if you can (if you are on a flexible service connection).
4. Unclip the push bottom elec. switch.
5. Carefully remove 2 sheet metal screws on the top left and top right (from the inside of the dryer cabinet. These hold the front of the dryer in place. You have to remove the front of the dryer to get the drum out. I can't believe that these 2 flimsy screws hold the dryer together.
6. Pull the front panel off, tipping it forward. More on this later, it's really important!!
7. Remove the drum, it's light weight, but bulky.
8. Now you will see the motor assembly and idle pulley.
9. Follow the belt diagram with the replacement belt package.
10. It gets a little tricky to get the drum back in because there's a bit of spring tension on the drum from the belt.
11. You're ready to re assemble. BUT, the next step is really important.
12. Since you have the front panel off, you can get at the lint trap. Yeah, lint. Ever wonder why your favorite Tee shirt gets thinner and thinner? Well, look in the lint trap. I filled a vacum cleaner bag with the hard packed lint.
13. By the way, you have to remove the 2 torx screws that hold the lint trap assembly.
14. Vacuum the whole exhaust pipe while u are at it.
That's it!

I watch the video and played it again while I was working.
I am a 54 year young woman and I did it.

I removed the lint trap then the dryer cover from top and front side. I placed the belt around the dryer drum being sure to put it on the correct side with the grid side against drum. I coiled the belt around the pulley and motor tract. Replaced everything in opposite order in which it was removed.
Video from website was very informative and helpful. I was able to follow along step-by-step to replace the dryer drum belt. I am officially a do-it-your-selfer!!!

First thing was to disconnect power to the dryer. I lifted the top lid and found 1 screw on each side at the top near the front and removed them. I also removed the door switch (CLIPPED ON) leaving the wires connected to the actual switch. Then the front panel lifts up and outward. I was able to install the belt from the front, guiding it back to the pulley/idler arm. Reassembled and it worked great. The belt I bought from this site appears to be better than original stock. It should last a long time. :)

Opening the dryer to discover the problem was easy. We put the belt up on a workmate bench - I think this made access better at the bottom. Getting the new belt on past the rear drum seal was ok, the instructions could benefit by including wording describing how to roll the belt flat under the 2 rear drum support pulleys to bring it to the drive motor shaft pulley. The instructions included with the belt had a diagram showing the position of the belt take up idler (the idler was found loose inside the bottom of the dryer), our dryer had a hole in the metal spring clip of the idler arm, so we thought at first that a screw to the chassis had broken - this is not the case the idler pulley is held in place by belt tension, so pulling the spring clip open while feeding the belt would have been useful in the instructions too. Other than those 2 head scratchers the repair was easy and saved us the cost of calling a repairman. Thanks PartSelect.

lift top of dryer unscrew the top of the pull out filter from the top of dryer. then unscrew the screws near top on the inside of the front panel and have an old soap container handy to hold up the dryer drum. lift the front panel up for removal and put the old soap container under the drum to keep it from falling out. Then mess around with the idler pulley and look up information under pictures of idler pulley in place with belt in Google to see how the belt fits through it.. Finally replace belt, check front and back of drum to insure proper fit and put the dryer back together to see if all works well. and see if the reason for belt breaking is apparant and more than just old age and use.

I yanked up the front of the lid, the broken belt laid across the drum like a dead snake. Pulled that out, then removed the two screws holding the front. Using the pliers, pulled off the two wires snapped to the door switch.
Lifted out the front panel, and lifted the drum, (added a bit of a yank to get it out of the two rollers in the back).
Vacuumed out the dust and dead bugs, then tried to figure out how to thread the belt on the idler and motor. (This was the hardest part) the picture that shows the parts is an exploded view, and does not show the way that it goes together. After about half an hour, I asked for help, and we found a slight rubbing on the idler and figured out that the tensioning spring pulls on the lower part of the idler arm, not the top. Putting the belt on, and getting the spring into the hole in the base was tricky, but not hard. Reassembly was straightforward, and took less than 5 minutes. (put in the drum with the belt on it, hook the belt on the motor and idler, push the rear of the drum into the rollers, then put on the front panel, re-attach the door switch, and the two screws holding the front, and close the lid).

Pry up front of top and lay back. Remove two 1/4" srews at top corners. The front of dryer will then swing to the right. The drumb will lift out easily. Remove broken belt. Inspect the drum rollers on the back wall. Replace if loose or not turning. Mine needed replacement. The assembly part is not easy. You need the drum in place and after it is in place you can't get the belt on. After 8 tries I got smart and made a prop to hold the idler pully up, then put the belt in place and let the pully down slowly. It worked! Put the front back on and the 2 screws and pop the top back down. Also it is a good idea to unplug the electric cord and turn off the gas (if app).