My wife advised me yesterday that the tumbler in the clothes dryer was not spinning. It's a Maytag dryer, so I guessed that the tumbler belt had broken. I went to the parts store and bought the correct belt and brought it home. Instructions for belt removal and replacement were clearly printed on the bag containing the new belt.
However, before beginning the project I also looked up a few appliance repair sites on the Internet and printed out pictures of the repair procedure. I read the instructions several times and examined the pictures until I fully understood how to do the job. Armed with all this knowledge, I set forth to accomplish the repair.
I disconnected the power and removed the front panel (two screws). That was easy. I then removed the tumbler bulkhead (four screws) with no problem. I pulled the tumbler out and, as I had suspected, the tumbler drive belt was broken and laying on the bottom of the cabinet. I checked the motor pulley and the idler pulley to make sure they were not excessively worn. They appeared to be fine.
Now comes the interesting part. The drive belt has to be routed around the tumbler and then around the motor pulley and then around the idler pulley in a serpentine fashion. And the drive belt has two sides, smooth side and grooved side, so you have to make sure that the smooth side is against the tumbler and the grooved side against the motor pulley. Also, you must be sure that the belt is properly aligned and passes through the belt guide. The tricky part is, you have to do this entire belt routing by feel because with the tumbler in place, it blocks your view of the pulleys! It looks like this:
Well, I started the repair at 3:30 this afternoon and finished up at 7:30 this evening! That's right, it took me 4 hours! But I must admit, 3 1/2 hours were spent on cussing that dryer! It works just fine now. Thank goodness, now I'll have clean underwear.
It just goes to prove that there is nothing like hands on experience. If I had to do this job again I am sure it would take me no more than 30 minutes from start to finish, because I now know the entire procedure.
However, before beginning the project I also looked up a few appliance repair sites on the Internet and printed out pictures of the repair procedure. I read the instructions several times and examined the pictures until I fully understood how to do the job. Armed with all this knowledge, I set forth to accomplish the repair.
I disconnected the power and removed the front panel (two screws). That was easy. I then removed the tumbler bulkhead (four screws) with no problem. I pulled the tumbler out and, as I had suspected, the tumbler drive belt was broken and laying on the bottom of the cabinet. I checked the motor pulley and the idler pulley to make sure they were not excessively worn. They appeared to be fine.
Now comes the interesting part. The drive belt has to be routed around the tumbler and then around the motor pulley and then around the idler pulley in a serpentine fashion. And the drive belt has two sides, smooth side and grooved side, so you have to make sure that the smooth side is against the tumbler and the grooved side against the motor pulley. Also, you must be sure that the belt is properly aligned and passes through the belt guide. The tricky part is, you have to do this entire belt routing by feel because with the tumbler in place, it blocks your view of the pulleys! It looks like this:
Well, I started the repair at 3:30 this afternoon and finished up at 7:30 this evening! That's right, it took me 4 hours! But I must admit, 3 1/2 hours were spent on cussing that dryer! It works just fine now. Thank goodness, now I'll have clean underwear.
It just goes to prove that there is nothing like hands on experience. If I had to do this job again I am sure it would take me no more than 30 minutes from start to finish, because I now know the entire procedure.
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