This is a 15 to 20 minute repair. First and foremost, ALWAYS UNPLUG THE MACHINE!!! After that you pop off the lower cover of the dryer with a putty knife. You pull the heat shield out, then the single sheet metal screw holding the heating element in place and the load line (2 wires) for the element. You pull the old element out and replace it with the new one and reinstall the wiring, heat shield and lower cover for the dryer and you are drying your clothes once again. This is the quick repair version. I do not do it this way.
Our clothes dryer is used heavily every day so I always do the full service and maintenance version. I pull the top off of the dryer, then the front panel with the door, this comes off with the two front support wheels for the drum. Next I pull up on the tensioning pulley for the drum belt and remove the drum entirely, it is light in weight and slides out very easily. Now you have a very clear view of the motor, heat chamber, blower fan and exhaust venting. I grab the shop vac and vacuum out all the lint in the bottom of the dryer. This lint build-up is one of the main causes for house fires every year.
I then remove: the blower fan and shroud; heat chamber with heating element; and the exhaust venting. I thoroughly clean all of these with the shop vac and a damp soapy shop cloth. I check all four drum support wheels, two in front on the front panel and two in the back of the machine, for lint build-up and entangled hair. I lubricate them very lightly with a spray lubricant to ensure smooth operation.
I have found that is easier to reinstall the heat chamber in the machine before reinstalling the heating element. Sometimes it is a tight fit and you can get better leverage this way.
Even though you have vacuumed it out, there are areas that you cannot get to by this method. I reverse the hose on the vacuum and blow the entire base out.
After this I reverse the dismantling procedures, put it all back together and we are back to drying our clothes once again.