Idler Pulley Wheel

1. Removed front of machine (2 screws at the bottom).
2. Removed 4 screws from inside the dryer, to take off the blower housing.
3. Removed 4 screws and took out the large metal piece which supports the drum at the front. Removed the drum.
4. Replaced the two rollers that support the drum in the rear. Cleaned the pins they run on, and oiled very lightly. Also replaced the idler roller. I was surpirsed to see that these rollers use plain bearings, not ball bearings.
5. On the front support piece, drilled out the rivets for the glides, and replaced the worn out glides with new parts. Applied a little glue (3M weatherstrip adhesive) to the cork pieces, to glue them to the metal. Attached the plastic pieces over the cork pieces, and riveted in place using rivets that came with the glide kits.
6. Replaced front and rear felt seals. This was not as tricky as I expected it to be. They were held in by metal tabs. Glued the ends where they came together.
7. Replaced the felt blower seal. Glued to the blower housing.
8. Reinstalled the drum, installed new belt, which came with good instructions (luckily).
9. Reassembled front support piece and the front of the cabinet.

I also cleaned the lint from the cabinet and from the vent hose.

In general, the job went without a hitch, and the machine probably has quite a few years left, despite the fact that it's 18 years old. This gives me a good feeling.

I'd say this would be challenging, though, for someone who is not pretty experienced with machinery repair. Also, the cost of the parts was significant enough that it would not have been unreasonable to have opted for a new machine.

I told my wife, "it's working fine. Let's just wait until it breaks, and I'll fix it." She said the noise is intolerable and if I didn't fix it, she'd "call someone to come and look at it."

The forums all suggested that noise during operation is due to worn out components that are involved with turning the tumbler. So I ordered a bunch of parts from Partselect.com and set to work. I replaced the belt, the belt idler wheel, and both of the tumbler support wheels.

I reinstalled the tumbler, plugged the dryer in, and started it up. Damn, the same noise as before. Wait! The tumbler isn't turning. In my haste to see if the noise was gone, I'd forgotten to rethread the belt. Analysis: noise unchanged but tumbler not rotating. Conclusion: the hateful noise has nothing to do with any of the components involved in turning the tumbler.

Looking and listening more closely, I determined that the noise was coming from the blower, the plastic squirrel-cage like assembly attached to the other end of the motor shaft. It seems to be rattling on the shaft, causing the noise. I remove it, clean off a couple decades of matted-on lint, and reinstall it. No change.

I do not have a replacement blower, so I remove the blower from the shaft, clean up the shaft with alcohol, then put a piece of plastic electrical tape part way around the shaft, effectively increasing its OD by a few thousandths of an inch. I reinstall the blower, put everything back together again, and start it up. No noise -- nothing but a low purring hum! Good enough for me, for as long as it lasts. When my improvised patch fails, I'll order a new blower and install that.

It's good that I was so stupid as to forget to reinstall the belt before I started the dryer the first time. Since the noise was still there, I was forced to re-examine my assumption that the noise was being caused by a worn-out tumbler-turning component. If i HAD installed the belt the first time, I'm sure I would have continued with the incorrect assumption that the noise problem was related to the tumbler.

My time and money weren't wasted, I don't think. The various wheels and the belt were over 16 years old and due for replacement anyhow.

Took the two screws out of the front of the dryer. Tilted the bottom out until the clips in the top came loose. Disconnected the door switch and put the front panel aside.
Removed 4 screws holding front drum support in place using small socket set. Pulled drum support off and set aside.
Took note of how the belt ran through the idler pulley, pulled up idler pulley until the belt slipped off idler and motor pulley. Drum pulls straight out of dryer.
With the drum out there is plenty of room to get to the screw holding the idler pulley arm in place, remove it so you can pull the old pulley and washers off shaft. Reassemble using new parts and reattach idler arm.
Put the drum back in place, wrap new belt around drum (non groove side against drum), thread the belt around the motor shaft and work it back around the idler pulley. This was the hardest part of the job since your working in tight quarters and you can only fell what your doing.
One the belt is in place, rotate the drum by hand to make sure the belt tracks properly. Finish cleaning up any dust accumulation inside the dryer/fan assembly. Reattach the front drum support, reattach the door switch wires and reassemble the front panel by tilting the panel until the top catches, swing down into place and attach bottom with the two screws. Done!

After much coercement from my wife, I listened to the squealing noise she kept telling me about. Then it quit working completely and I had no choice. Probably the motor. Not being one to want to do this more than once and figuring after 16 years all of it could be bad, I ordered all moving parts, as well as new front and rears felt seals for the drum and the blower seal. Everything in taking the dryer apart was straight forward and obvious. The tricky part was getting the belt back on the tensioner. Working from the front of the dryer, I did this one-handed via the lower left side around the motor while my wife held the drum in place.

Utilizing the online schematics, I disassembled the dryer, marked and disconnected all wires, and removed the drum. Once the drum was removed, I thoroughly cleaned the inside of the dryer and removed all lint accumulation from the heating element, motor, and blower fan areas. I replaced the front guides and drum support rollers/shafts, belt and idler pulley. I reassembled the dryer and it worked! Be sure to lay all the screws and parts in a logical sequence as you disassemble the dryer, it makes reassembly much easier.

Watched the video, removed the front panel, removed the 4 screws from the tumbler frame, and removed the blower cover. Snap ring off, old blower fan off, new one on, new compression ring, snap ring on, Put back together. Done.

Old belt and idler were OK. What surprized me was the amount of lint, fuzz, coins and dust in the blower housing. This was potentially a fire hazard and now its working perfectly and some peace of mind from a fire standpoint. The video really made it happen for me.

My husband and a friend decided to take the dryer apart to see what the problem might be and if it could be repaired. I had already decided the dryer is about 14 years old, it is history. They discovered the roller was broken, and other parts such as the belt, a pulley and so on. I went online to www.partselect.com. I was surprised to see diagrams of the inside of my dryer. That helped us order the right parts. I ordered the parts for a total of 68.00 (including shipping) The parts came, the dryer was fixed and runs like new. I saved 400.00, because I did not have to buy a new dryer. I am very proud that we were able to use this site to locate our needs and fix the dryer. The diagrams helped us perform the task without calling a repair person.
Thank you for this opportunity!

It was simply a matter of finding the two screws at the lower front face. After that, the dryer come apart easily. The drum support rollers were held on with one nut each. i lubricated them with Dow Corning silicon hi temp grease. The belt was installed the same as the old one was removed. Insructions were easy to follow as was the re assembly of the dryer. All the parts fit correctly and were the right replacement items.

Took off face of dryer (two lower screws below door in front) and then removed the drum which gave me access to the idler arm and idler pully. Vaccumed the interior to remove dust and lint. Replaced idler arm and idler pulley assembly. Replace old belt as drum was reinstalled. Opened rear access panel to complete final routing of the new belt over idler pulley and drive motor. Turned the machine on to check repairs and function. Closed rear access door. Pushed dryer back into place and re-leveled machine.

I observed that the top of the dryer was affixed by two screws at each front corner. With these removed the top of the dryer could be easily lifted and with the front support panel removed the drum, drive motor and idler pulley could be accessed. This allowed the installation of a new drum belt in a short period of time. Installing the belt from the front lower left hand side proved very difficult for me but with the top raised and coming in from the top it was accomplished in short order. Thank you, Wesley Harmon