Whirlpool WPY312959 Dryer Drum Belt OEM Part

I watched your initial video which gave me some insight into the repair. I removed power from the dryer and positioned it for maintenance. Since my dryer was a Maytag, I needed to remove to two front bottom Phillips screws from the front panel of the dryer prior to pulling the panel and door assy. from the unit. The top of the dryer now needs to be removed. Two screws, one on each side holds the top of the dryer in place accessible from within and under the top of the dryer. Once those two screws are removed, slide the top backwards slightly to detach the top and then swing the top away from the dryer to gain access to the tumbler. After the assy. was detached, I removed the four screws holding the tumbler support and heat duct from the machine. You will need to support the tumbler while doing this. The tumbler can now be removed from the machine. In my case the belt was broken so I did not need to slip the old belt off of the tumbler. Once the tumbler is removed, I took the opportunity to remove and grease the roller wheels that the tumbler rides on. To assemble, install the belt flat face against the tumbler and insert tumbler into machine and line up with roller wheels. Once the tumbler is roughed in, re-install the tumbler front support and heat duct to hold the tumbler in place. My machine had an access cover in the rear of the dryer which need to be removed for access to the belt drive and motor. Once access is obtained, follow the manufacturer directions for belt install on the motor and belt tensioner. Re-install the top of the machine and front door assembly. Power up and test. Once working and you see the belt running correctly, re-install the rear access cover.

In the past, I replaced some electronic components on our gas dryer, the solenoid and the electronic ignitor, but the rest of the dryer looked more difficult to repair if needed in the future. I was wrong. I went unto AppliancePartsPros.com and watched some repair videos on dryers like mine that make big thumping sounds while drying. This happened when I googled my dryer model number in an attempt to find out is capacity, because I wanted our new dryer to have the same capacity. I found out through the repair videos I could have a broken blower wheel, could be two worn back rollers, could be stretched out drive belt and worn drive belt idler pulley. So I ordered all those parts, $130. Anything I didn't remove from its packing I had 365 days to return for full refund minus shipping. The repairs didn't appear to be too difficult. This is what I found when I took the dryer apart. -The two back roller wheels that support and allow the rear big dryer drum rim were riding off track on the drum leaving evidence of skid marks out of the track, like the drum was wobbling some as it rotated. When I removed the worn drive belt, I noticed black skid marks on the plastic idler pulley., likely the drive belt had stretched some and was slipping on the idler pulley. This could be some of reason for the thumpy noise, though I was not convinced that I had found the root-cause of the noise. The back roller steel drive shaft axles looked fine, so I didn't replace them, just cleaned them up and put anti-seeze paste on them (molycote lube that I use so brake pads move easier would've been a better choice). It would've been very difficult to remove them, and as I learned after doing this repair, a waste of effort. The two front teflon bearing pads that support and allow the front of the drum to rotate looked good, so I didn't replace those two items. I still was not certain as too what was causing the loud thumpy noise when the dryer was on. I then opened up the blower housing, and sure enough the blower's hub had worn out and was not rotating and blowing hot air out the dryer and house, just being banged around by the electric motor drive shaft causing the thumpy sound. So, I replaced it with the new one. Our dryer was a fire waiting to happen. The inside and all the duct work in the dryer was clogged with lint. With the blower now fixed, that should solve that build-up issue and I placed a Gorilla Tape patch over a small hole in our lint screen filter, and ordered a new one in case that patch fails. (the patch is working just fine after two weeks of drying clothes) I took me about 3 hours to clean the lint out of the dryer as most of the dryer drum assembly removed. It took me about 2 hours to replace the worn out parts. In hindsight, which is always 100%, I should've gone outside and put my hand down where the dryer air is being blown out of the house. That would've told me right away that my dryer was clogged with fire starting lint, or/and my dryer blower is not working for some reason. This job was far easier than doing a car brake pad job, and I did the work in a air-conditioned room. Total cost was less than $150. The new dryer that I was going to get cost $1100. I sent the few parts I didn't use in their unopened packages for refund. I was a little concerned that the drum rotated by hand seemed too stiff, but when I ran it, it ran great. Since then I was at home depot and hand rotated a Maytag dryer drum by hand, and found the rotational stiffness was the same. So, I am convinced the re-build was done right. I found out dryer light bulbs are special like oven bulbs... they're designed to take the heat. So, I got one of those from amazon and it works great now. (I had to do a small repair to the lamp holder to keep it in place, which is more secure than it was originally.) C7 size Christmas tree bulbs, night light bulbs, or LED bulbs will burn out quickly inside hot dryers. When the plumber comes to hookup our new gas water heater, I am going to have him put a yellow gas flex hose so I can move the dryer out to vacuum behind the dryer and more easily get to and repair the metal flex that exhausts hot dryer air out of the house. Currently our dryer gas feed is all metal pipes and I can't move the dryer out. This almost made it impossible to tilt the dryer housing top up so I could remove the dryer drum. Also, since I couldn't move my dryer away from the wall to get at the rear access door to re-thread the dryer belt on the idler wheel, I found that with the damaged blower out, I had easier access to do that job from the front. I used a telescoping mirror to make sure I put the belt on the idler correctly. I used a strap hung from the ceiling to keep the front rim of the dryer drum in its mounting position while I did this brief task. I looked at a few maytag dryer belt replacement youtubes to make sure I did this belt install correctly, it is a bit unusual the way the belt is routed through a metal guide and wrapped on the idler pulley. I make this sound difficult, it wasn't, it took 5 minutes. The appliancepro video does show the correct belt orientation, but it takes a bit to freeze the right youtube frame to see it clearly. You need a cheapo box store snap-ring tool, the rest are common tools that most people have. I had spine surgery a year ago, so I don't move like I use to, so this job took me longer to complete. A 12 year old minus their iPhone could do this job with guidance in about an hour.

This pertains strictly to a Maytag model LDE7600, new in September, 1990. In service ever since. After watching How-To videos presented by Appliance Parts Pros, I decided to tackle the repair. I ordered a new belt, two new drum support roller wheels, and two new tumbler slide bearing kits. Parts arrived the next day! For this model I found it necessary to remove the front panel, top, and front shroud. all easy to get to. I also disconnected and removed the control panel. Marked each wire color next to it's pin with a felt tip maker. Then I could put the top out of the way. Finally, very easy to lift out the tumbler drum and set aside. Got out the shop vac and cleaned 27 years of lint. Removed drum support roller retainer using retainer pliers, piece of cake! Fit new rollers in a matter of minutes. Drilled out old pop rivets from the slide bearings, and popped in new sliders. Really needed to be done. Wrapped the belt around the tumbler, used the belt as a strap to re-position the tumbler into the machine. Attached the front shroud. For this model I believe one MUST use the rear access door to position the belt onto the motor and idler roller. Since I'm old and decrepit, I needed to use a wedge block and long screw driver to back off idler spring tension. But, not too hard with the long lever. Replaced the top, wired up the control panel, and attached door switch wires to the still off door panel. Plugged her in, and she run better than new. For this model I believe it was much easier to remove the top and control panel than to try to work around them. And, I suggest that if you'er going to replace the belt, it makes perfect sense to also replace the rollers and slide bearing at the same time. One thing I didn't do, but should have, is to also replace the worn out rubber cups on the bottom of the four screw leg levelers.

First unplug the dryer! There are two Phillips screws near the bottom of the dryer front. When they were out the front came off. Be careful with the spring clips at the top of the front panel. Then using a 5/16 nut-driver I removed drum mount. With that loose I was able to slip the new belt over the drum, this is part 1. Put the drum mount back and make sure that the drum spins smooth. It should rest on two plastic pads. Then turn the dryer around to get to the motor access panel. Using a 1/4 nut-driver I removed the panel to see the motor and the belt idler spring assembly. I pulled the belt into position and using the diagram from the bag put the belt onto the motor pulley and idler pulley. A couple of extras. There are wires on the front panel and the drum mount. I used a sharpie to write the wire colors on the metal so that I could remove then for easier access and still get then back correctly. When you put the front back on, you'll need to angle it out a bit to get the spring clips to engage. Then gently push the front down and put the two Phillips screws back in. The big part! There is a depression / ring around the drum that looks like it should be the place for the belt to ride. If you put the belt there it will rub on a metal bracket on the idler assembly. If you leave it run there the belt will be chewed up in no time. Get a flashlight in there and look a bit back from the depression, you'll see a line where the old belt ran. It'll be this black line made from the old belt wearing against the drum. Put the new belt on that line and over the pulleys. Then spin the drum by hand and you'll see that it is working correctly, nothing is rubbing where it shouldn't. This is where you get someone else to help. One to spin the drum from the front while the other looks at the motor to see that it's running like a clock. My 13 year old son was the perfect helper. We had it drying a load of jeans in no time! OK, it took a bit more that 15 minutes to fix because we got the vacuum cleaner out and sucked out the lint that accumulated around the bottom parts of the dryer. Don't stop there, clean the floor under the dryer too. Do a neat job and everyone will be happier : )

The blower wheel had been previously “repaired,” but the repairman did not install a retaining clip or clamp, so the new part was destroyed in about a year and a half, as the motor shaft rounded all the square edges in the plastic hub. The old blower wheel came off easily and the new part was a perfect fit. The center clamp that comes with the blower wheel kit would probably hold it in place by itself, but I also purchased and installed the retaining clip (#35) as well, because the end of the motor shaft is grooved for it. Everything is solid now, and I don’t expect the new wheel to strip. The drum belt was very worn and needed replacement. The new belt was a little tricky to install at first, but I figured out the easiest way was to drape it over the drum, while the drum was already in place, then feed the lower part of the belt through the pulley system (much better than trying to feed the belt through the pulley system first, then insert the drum through the remaining loop). This requires you to do a little bit of the pulley threading by feel, because you can’t always see it very easily with the drum installed, but it seems the easiest way. I think the belt requires a twist when you install it. When it comes out of the pulleys, the flat side of the belt would naturally lay against the drum, but this doesn’t seem like it would have the proper friction, so after it was in place, I gave the belt a turn so that the ribbed face of the belt was against the surface of the drum. The belt now does a twist before entering the pulleys, and it has worked very well like this. If I got this detail wrong, perhaps someone here can correct it. An unassociated video on this site showed the belt installed with the ridged side against the drum, but it won’t feed properly into the pulley system like this, so the twist seems necessary to make it all work. Perhaps a specific belt install video would be a helpful addition to the site. Belt routing: https://forum.appliancepartspros.com/posts/t25960-dryer-belt-diagrams