Whirlpool WP6-3037050 Idler Pulley Wheel OEM Part

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.

I removed the front panel of the dryer by removing 2 screws and lifting it up and out. Then I removed 4 screws from the bracket holding the tub in place. I had previously removed the 4 screws from the rear inspection cover so I reached in and released the spring loaded belt that turns the tub and then removed the idler pulley wheel. The tub just lifts out at that point, exposing the 2 Drum support rollers in the rear. I removed the 2 rear drum support rollers and decided to order 2 of those plus 1 new retaining clip, an idler pulley wheel and a new idler arm. I also ordered 2 new tumbler bearing kits, the plastic and cork strips the front of the drum rides on. I placed my order online and was told I would have the parts the next day. I received an email the parts had shipped about an hour later and they arrived the next morning at 9 AM. After I placed my order I decided to ask a technician if the bearings on the 3 rollers needed to be greased as I installed them. I sent an email and received my answer in minutes. "No grease is advised because they would gather lint and wear out even sooner." Full Disclosure: I did apply some dry spray lube to the shafts and let it dry before installing the rollers. In my 80 year old world, metal to metal always needs some sort of lubrication. It was a little difficult for me to reach back inside of the dryer to replace the retainer clips on the drum support rollers so I laid the dryer down on it's back on a couple of 4" x 4"'s and let gravity give me a hand with the clips as well as placing the drum into the opening and replacing the tub bracket. (Replacing the plastic and cork tumbler bearing kits in the tub bracket requires a pop rivet gun.) I stood the dryer up, reached back in at the top on both sides to position the belt in the proper place and went around to the back to hook up the new idler arm and pulley wheel. After checking by hand to make sure everything was turning properly, I put the front back on, plugged it in and turned it on. The machine was, once again, running silently, good as new. Outstanding service and support from Appliance Parts Pros.com!

Knowing that several things could be causing the noise, I ordered parts to cover all possibilities; once I got inside the dryer, I found the Idler Arm and Idler Pulley were worn and loose; replaced them and the Tumbler Bearings; the dryer now runs quiet again. Was going to replace the Drive Belt but believe it to be the wrong model, it was narrower and had 4 ribs whereas the old one seems to be OK and I believe has 5 ribs. The Drum Rollers and Shafts were OK Also replaced the Door Latch.

I replaced the motor and all other moving components along with the felt drum seals.drum glides and drive belt. The wiring instruction is where i had the most problems. Because my wiring had only 4 wires in the harness not 5, and one was a different color then the instructions call out, I believe was because it might have been and older model. the instruction called for a gray wire but mine was white with a blue piggy back wire attached. but after finding a few videos on line i figured that the white wire was indeed the gray wire and the piggy back wire was the 5th wire meant to be attached to the blue terminal.

Fix was trivial. Took less than 30 minutes to change the old parts out. This dryer is about 20 years old and now we hope to get a few more years out of it.