The dryer belt had broken

The dryer belt had squealed almost since the dryer was new. It finally broke so I had to replace it.
It actually is a very simple process to replace the belt once you know that you have to take the two lint trap screws out to get the top to pop up. I then took off the front by lifting up on it and removed the dryer tub. That is when I found the reason the belt had squealed from very early on. Instead of having a tension pulley like most dryers, this dryer had a teflon pad for the back ot the belt to ride on which created undue friction and wore the belt out very quickly.

I ordered a universal pulley tensioner to replace the Mickey Mouse pad set up and reassembled the dryer. It now runs better than it ever did before. If you have to replace a belt and see that your dryer has a teflon tensioner pad versus the tensioner pulley then I would strongly recommend replacing the pad with the pulley.

My wife says the dryer operates much better now and dries the clothes in half the time as before.