Whirlpool WP6-3129480 Dryer Drum Roller Axle OEM Part

I replaced the belt, belt tension pulley, both dryer drum roller axles and both drum support rollers. Although I bought 2 tumbler bearing kits, because those still look good I am saving them for when they go bad. The videos were fantastic! I also took pictures as I went of wiring so there would be no question where things went when reassembling. It should be noted some models have extra terminals near the sensor terminals... just be aware and look closely/take pics as you are taking things apart. I did purchase a split ring tool half way through the job to remove the split rings after fiddling with a flat screwdriver. It was well worth it and took literally seconds to remove and later replace the rings! I used a spin handle with sockets instead of nut drivers and it worked fine. The right rear drum support and axle appeared to have been the problem; the axle was darkened, the roller was more yellowed, and the nut was very difficult to loosen - all consistent with having been overheated. The belt tension pulley does not come with washers so be sure to save the two to reuse if you are replacing this part. Also if you suspect your problem is coming from the pulley you might consider buying the idler pulley arm that comes with the shaft permanently mounted to it. Mine looked fine and I did not replace it. All in all the job was very simple because of the videos that showed where all the clips were and the order of disassembly and reassembly. I am a smaller woman and the only thing I needed help with was to get the right rear drum roller axle loosened. Had I been alone I would have had to tried to fit a cheater bar on the end of my wrench handle which would have been a challenge due to the tight working quarters on that side. I was able to easily do everything else by myself.

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.

Info on the Appliance Parts Pros website was great. Excellent diagnostics. I entered the dryer model number and said it was "noisy". The top 5 problems were immediately listed and I knew from their explanation it had to be the drum support rollers. Then I watched the "how to repair" video and determined from that video that I could give it the DIY try. Things to note. First, the model number in the video (LDE9316ACE) was the same but my dryer was not exactly the same. My dryer was purchased in 1997 by the prior homeowner so I got 23 years out of it before any problems. I must have had an older model, nonetheless, the steps to repair the dryer were in line with the video so no problems there. Second, the video shows the repair in a wide-open space. If you're like me, your dryer is not in a wide-open space, and therefore you could have some limitations (for me, I could angle the top of the dryer up but I could not lift it all the way up because I have a dehumidifier installed above the dryer). This was not a big deal but is something to note. Third, you should change as much as you need while you have it opened up. For example, I changed the belt along with the drum support rollers. Lastly, and this was my only beef. The hardest part of the repair was the limited access, both physically and visually, to the belt and the belt rollers. In the video, it appeared there was plenty of space and light to get two hands easily to the belt and unhook/re-hook it. I could only get my left hand in around the motor and drum then had to push up the belt tension spring (on other side of the motor) with a 1x2 piece of wood using my right hand, and I had no direct line of sight to the belt rollers. I also took a video using an iPhone of how the belt was connected PRIOR to taking it off the belt rollers (VERY IMPORTANT when you need to reattach). You should video the belt system prior to disassembly from multiple viewpoints and you should note where it wraps around the drum. Anyway, got it fixed on my own at about $100 in parts and shipping costs and it now runs very quietly. So 5 stars to Appliancepartspros for the web and video info.

My dryer was making a squealing noise when operated. In researching the fix, I came upon your website through Google. I found your videos for repairs very good. The videos also told me how well the Maytag dryer is engineered. I purchased some of the parts as preventive maintenance, such as the belt, and tumbler bearing kit. It was a good thing that I bought two felt seals when I did. Both were in terrible condition. I believe my rear felt seal was not installed properly when originally manufactured. The worst part because of the blown felt seals, lint had gotten all over the inside of the dryer. Most of the repair time was spent cleaning up. You are missing the rear seal replacement from your video series. It is better for you to remove the rear bulkhead to replace the rear seal. The second part involves making sure the over-connection end points of the felt seals are really secured. When installing my drum again in the dryer, it knocked the felt seal out of the clamp at the cross-over points. The third part involves making sure both felt seals are outside the drum. When you are reinstalling the front bulkhead on the drum, the felt seals may have gotten inside the drum for both the front and rear seals. BTW, the felt seals should be on the outside of the drum. Don't worry if the felt seal is inside the drum when assembling everything. Take your fingers and run it into and around the gap where the drum rests. You can tell when the felt seal is on the outside the drum and inside the drum. You should be able to poke the felt seal if it is inside the drum to the outside of the drum with your fingers. Do this for both felt seals. Your fingers should be able to go around the gap with no stoppage. At this point, you can tell that the felt seal is in the correct position.

This was a Maytag DE312 actually a Whirlpool labeled as Maytag) and is 27 years old. Replaced motor, drive belt and drum rollers. One tricky part was the motor because the new motor comes with integral starter and it was necessary to cut off existing female spade connectors on some wires and crimp on new connectors. Instructions were adequate but need to be carefully followed and a decent electrical stripping and crimping tool must be at hand. I bought a new motor drive pulley because another user indicated the hex set screw was difficult to remove and all went well. The belt installation always gives me fits but if you are patient and look carefully at the supplied instructions it can be completed with some effort. Note that the grooved side of the belt mates with the pulley and the flat side runs against the drum. It is also very helpful to have the right snap ring tool because they are very difficult to remove without the proper device both for the fan removal and the drum rollers. I used a Dremel tool with sanding disk to reduce diameter of the pins on my snap ring tool to fit holes in snap rings which worked OK. This is the second repair on this dryer (replacement of heating element & drive belt) and all went well and she is up and running again.