How to Troubleshoot & Replace Whirlpool AP4043942 / 33002459 Idler Spring (Dryer)

Drive motor bearing was bad. Replaced motor. 

First replaced the drum rollers...that wasn't it..took dryer back apart and spun the belt tension wheel by hand (should have done this the first time I took the dryer apart) and it squeaked. so I ordered the full parts: wheel, idler arm, idler spring, arm sleeve, E ring..Put it back together and whoa..no more squealing!! 

It took me about 2 hours to take everything apart and get it back together & running again with no problems. All the parts I ordered were exactly what I needed to fix everything. Thank you all !!! 

Replaced all damaged parts, rear drum rollers, front drum 'bearings', felt seal infront of drum, idler pulley and arm. Lastly replaced motor. Hopefully will work for another 11 years?? Videos were awesome, telephone assistance was great as welll. Thank you. 

New belt, idler pulley, tension spring, drum rollers. Haven’t got it fully back together yet because while cleaning out blower fan I discovered that it broken in the center hub. Hopefully the squeak will be gone when fully reassembled. Can’t think of anything thing else that would cause it. 

Replaced the motor and rollers with a new belt and now it's working great, this unit is almost 50 years old and now sounds brand new. The whole repair took less than an hour but I'm a technician so for a non professional it would probably be longer 

From reading the possible causes on the site, and reading others who experienced similar symptoms, I decided to replace the drive motor as it was 22 years old and we have 7 kids. So, most likely we got 66 years of real use out of it :-). The repair video was very helpful and end-to-end my son and I completed the job in 2 hours (most of the time taking the dryer apart, cleaning it and putting it back together again. The dryer sounds like new and is running great! I recommend buying two retaining clips as they are a bit challenging to get off and may end up bending. 

I changed the drum support rollers and shafts, put on a new drive belt and installed new Teflon front bearings. Dryer is working fine now it Tumbles a heavy load now with no problems. 

Purchased multiple factory spec replacement parts through AppliancePartsPros.com. Culprit was worn out 1 of 2 drum support rollers and shaft bearings. Decided to replace all related parts: drum support roller x2 (comes with 2 washers); drum roller axle x2; drum belt; drum guide x2 (called tumbler bearing kit and comes with required replacement rivets); belt tension pulley/roller (does not come with required replacement washers); belt tension pulley/roller washers (x2); idler arm spring. Idler arm itself was still in good shape so did not replace - but did replace the idler arm sleeve. Note: use snap ring pliers to remove each snap ring holding the drum roller in place. Will save to time and hassle. 

Did general overhaul- replacement of belt, drum rollers & shafts, belt tension pulley and idler arm with shaft and spring, and front drum nylon friction bearings. Used high temp disk break grease to lubricate roller drum shafts and idler arm belt tension pulley shaft and motor mount friction point pivot bolt area. Also used shop vac to vacuum years of lint and dust accumulation from inside of dryer cabinet housing.