DDC4580BCL General Electric Dryer - Instructions

The job is simple once you know how to remove the front panel. The steps are as follows:
1. disconnect the power cord.
2. remove 4 Phillips-head screws under the lip of the front panel that secure it to the top panel (#1 point Phillips-head screw driver)
3. swing the top panel up, it is hinged in the rear.
4. making note of the connection points of the color-coded wires, disconnect the wires to the lamp socket and door switch (I used a felt-tipped pen on the inside of the front panel to mark the connection points, "R" for red, etc.)
5. remove the upper 2 hex-head screws from inside of the front panel (5/16" nut-driver)
6. loosen the lower 2 hex-head screws (5/16" nut-driver) accessible from outside the panel (you only have to loosen them since the bottom mounting tabs are slotted)
7. slightly lift (to clear above mentioned lower tabs) and tilt the front panel toward you. Swing the front panel to the right as though you were opening a door and position so it does not fall.
8. remove 10 hex-head screws from the black lower rear access panel (5/16" nut-driver) and remove the broken drive belt. Note that the narrow black panel securing the power cable can remain in place.
9. at this point take advantage of the situation and vacuum out the years of lint and dust you could not reach before.
10. stand in front of the dryer, lift the dryer drum slightly and slip the new belt (rib side down) around the drum. Position the belt near the rear of the drum along the wear-mark left by the old belt.
11. go to the back and place the belt in the motor's drive-belt pulley, making sure the ribbed side of the belt mates with the ribs in the pulley.
12. position the tension wheel so that the it takes up the slack in the drive belt. Note the flat side of the drive belt will mate with the flat of the tension wheel.
13. spin the dryer drum a few turns by hand to make sure the drive belt lines up properly with the pulley.
14. reassemble the dryer by reversing the above steps, starting at step 8.

It wasn't so bad taking it apart, but getting the drum back on was a problem. So what i did was too turn the dryer over and cut the heads off of three long screws and slid the drum over top of these and it lined up with the bearing housing.After a few tries it finally lined up and then i put the regular screws back in to hold the drum in place, one at a time.

There is a plastic female closure part in the dryer door that wouldn't close tightly around the metal male closure on the dryer. I popped out the plastic square with a screwdriver, popped the new plastic closure in with my thumb. Works great. I never even installed the new metal portion of the latch.

Watched the video on YouTube and everything went great!

My dryer started making a horrible high pitched squealing noise, gradually increasing in volume over a month or so until it was intolerable even being on another floor. Initially, upon reading online, I thought that the rear bearing might be going out. I unscrewed the top of the dryer, and removed the front. Turning the drum by hand, I could reproduce the noise, which sounded like it was coming from the back of the dryer. I opened the rear access panel and turned the drum again by hand to pin the noise down - it sounded like it was coming from the tension pulley or maybe the motor. I pulled the belt off of the drum and spun it again, no noise. I turned the motor by hand, no noise. My best guess was that the old belt was slipping and making the noise (it was in pretty miserable condition), but I decided to buy a pulley assembly in addition to a new belt anyway. Installing both of them fixed the problem (I didn't try only installing one, however, so I don't know which one fixed it).

the replacement part was easy to replace but remembering how the belt went back on took alittle more time..

The repair for the average untrained mechanicslly inclined " first off google directions/instruction picture step by step " we took off the wrong part which made this job difficult there is a part on the back that was removed prior to guided directions, called parts select they are awesome"our belt was delivered the next day on a 3 day weekend I was suprised second correct part sent anyone who took on this job , they will appreciatte all this . the belt was fairly easy to repair just do as directed follow guidelines. difficulty detaching a part that never should be"pain in the a" order your part from this company they rock" and picture guide and specific direction guideline @ this dryer has well outlived the money spent still kicking strong after several years of use hotpoint dryer

I watched Youtube videos on how to troubleshoot the dryer but I did not go through all the testing of the fuses and the heat sensor. I did not want to take the dryer apart if I didn't have to. I turned on the dryer and looked into the bottom grate and saw no glow from the igniter (it should be very bright) so I started there. (The Youtube videos test the igniter last). Unplug the dryer. Turn off the gas. Pry off the grate. Unplug the igniter connector and set the multimeter to tone on continuity. There was no tone so it was bad. I used a flashlight that I put inside next to the gas valve to see. Remove the top flat cover on the burner assembly, 2 screws. (Had to do all this laying on my belly in front of the dryer. Very uncomfortable.) Remove the old igniter from the clamp. It fell apart as I took it out. Now the tricky part: The clamp is very tight and the igniter is delicate. I tried to slide it in from the top holding it between my index and middle finger and lining up the slots for the igniter 'wings'. I struggled with that until many-swear-words-later, I decided to slide the igniter in sideways. Put the 'wing' into the clamp's left side opening and then gently but firmly squeezed the 'barrel' into the clamp. It worked. Plug in igniter plug, put burner cover back on carefully without banging igniter, turn on gas, plug in dryer. Turn on dryer. Igniter should be very bright when it lights. It takes a little while to heat up the heat sensor that will open the gas valve and the burner should light.

followed video direction ,pulled part ,compared to part on-line ,ordered part delivered in two buisness days and installed ,back in service .very simple and I will shop at your sight again and tell friends and family as well