Do-It-Yourself Story

First I moved the dryer out of its niche so I could easily get to the front and back. Then I removed screws holding the top to the front panel, having taken a photo of the wiring harness wires to the door light and switch and removing enough wires that I could prop the top up by laying it backward and leaning it on a nearby shelf. (I would not have just let the top hang.) Then I loosened the two screws on the bottom of the front panel and removed the two backward-facing screws on the upper inboard side to the left and the right. The front panel then swiveled to the right and leaned against the dryer. I took the time to remove the light to vacuum its socket and the chamber that holds the lint screen. On the backside, I removed the covers for the power cord, & the center bearing. I took off the power cord and the grounding strap for the bearing then removed the lower back access panel. I pulled the tensioner pulley in to remove the belt from around it and the motor pulley. (I did not take a picture of the belt, but recommend that for first-timers, because it's not always obvious how it goes.) Once the belt was loose I lifted out the drum pulling it with moderate difficulty through the front. Then I thoroughly inspected the heater coils and all the harness wires. I vacuumed out all the surfaces and the exhaust tube. Had it been really linty I would have opened and vacuumed out the impeller housing on the front of the motor. I replaced the glides on the front of the door (2 screws each on mine) and checked the felt ring around the drum. I found where a wire had rubbed against the frame until the insulation failed, which caused a short circuit and tripped the breaker. I took out 4 bolts to remove the bearing sleeve guide (rectangular) and its worn bushing. This was in the center of the heater coil panel. I took 3 screws out of the inside of the drum to remove the mandrel and that drum rotates on. It took two people to put the new one on, and it helps to mark the screw holes. Mine had 5 possible holes for 3 screws, and would only go on one way. Figure it out first. I could not find directions about greasing the center bearing, so I used white lithium grease. When I was throwing stuff out, I found two small tubes of grease in the packaging. The directions with the bearing were so badly translated that it was humorous. But don't be put off, it's not hard. If your old bearing was secured in the back with a C clamp, rejoice like I did that the new one has the bushing pre-installed and locked on with a pressure ring. A friend had replaced the center bearing about 5 years ago, and not replace the glides. That was a mistake. He did not level the dryer, so it leaned forward, that was a mistake. replace the glides and label your dryer left and right, and front to back. It's easy to tilt the dryer and turn the legs, then recheck the level. Re-assembly was the reverse of assembly. I observed that the side panel and top panels have metal tabs and slots to aid alignment. Sometimes I had to lean on the dryer to get everything to line up. It will. I did clean around the dryer's niche and vacuumed out the flexible exhaust tube. It runs like a dream! This took me 2+ hours, but I was working on a porch in over 95-degree weather with much humidity, so I took many cool down breaks. It was worth it. The "other" tools were a wire cutter/stripper to cut and splice the frayed wire, and a smartphone for taking pictures.