How to Troubleshoot & Replace Whirlpool AP5983729 / 661570V Whirlpool Drive Belt

Replaced idler pulley, motor pulley, and belt as it looked a little worn. 

Took off the bottom cover off and discovered the belt broke. Looking at the appliancepartspros website I found the belt replacement and noticed the broken belt micro switch and realized that's what kept everything from running. Excellent video's describe how to change the belt. It took more time to clean the dryer than it did to replace the belt. 

Removed and replaced start switch then motor, no joy. removed the timer for disassembly, found bad contact. soldered contact to the spring tab and assembled and installed the timer. All good now. 

I researched on the internet and it appeared that 3 things were possible... broken belt, bad switch, popped thermostat. Since the switch clicked, I assumed that was all right and followed Kenmore's instructions to get at the belt and thermostat. They said to take off the back.... wrong! The back doesn't come off. Through YouTube videos on my particular model, I learned to take off the front bottom panel first, then the main front panel. The belt was broken so I ordered a belt and just in case (since it was cheap), a thermostat too. They arrived the next day and I reassembled the entire dryer in almost no time. Taking it apart took hours as I learned. If I had to do it again now, I'm convinced I could do it in 1/2 hour, but the odds of needing that are pretty slim. Very proud of saving hundreds of dollars by calling a repairman. 

Purchased belt from appliancepartspros.com. Watched video on phone while close to dryer. Paused and backed video up when needed. 

Repaired by following video directions provided by AppliancePartsPros 

A friend's dryer was squealing. It was the idler pulley. I lubed it but I was sure it would only be a temporary fix. Sure enough, a bit later the drum would not spin. The metal bearing in the pulley fell to pieces. The shaft it sat on was scored. We decided to change the belt while we were at it. The first video I watched was on Appliance Pros. We used it as a guide. We had a bit of trouble getting the front control panel off since our model differed a bit from the one in the video, but we figured it out. The whole job took about 1.5 hours, but we cleaned the inside really good while we had it apart. Taking a few pics along the way was helpful....it's easy to forget where a certain size screw goes or where a cable plug should go once you remove it. 

I am not a repairman by trade, but I will try to fix almost anything. Figure if is already broken I can't hurt it. Diagnosed trouble down to the drum belt idler pulley. I tried to resurface and lube the pulley and shaft with emery cloth and dry molybdenum, it didn't work. It took awhile to find the right parts on the website, but once I did ordering the parts was easy. Prices were well below manufacturer's online purchase site. Parts delivered in two days. Disconnected the power cord, removed vent hose, removed the back and top of dryer. Access to the pulley assembly was easy. Released tension on belt, only one bolt to remove to remove the bracket/pulley assembly. Replaced with new assembly, plugged power cord back in, tested operation, noise was gone. Put housing back together, 're-attached vent hose, machine running fine. I spent more time trying to fix the old parts than it took to simply tear down and replace. I will definitely return to this website for future repair parts needs. 

I disassembled the dryer and replaced the idler pulley assembly and installed a new belt. This is the third pulley assembly I've replaced in this machine. You would think Whirlpool would improve the design of this part so it would last the life of the machine. Only attempt this repair if your comfortable with a major machine disassembly and reassembly 

Youtube is a time saver for sure. I found a video that gave step-by-step instruction to replace the motor. Appliance parts pros.com made it simple to locate the part based on the Maytag dryer model number. Ordering was easy and the parts were delivered quickly. I also changed the belt and cleaned it while I had it apart.