DE271EDW5 Frigidaire Dryer - Instructions

Remove top cover and front and remove drum and install a new bearing kit and new belt.

Open the back plate. Broken pulley was already out of place. Put the spring on the pulley and placed it. It took me less than 10 min

Watched on-line video, then applied those steps.
1. Pop the front of the deck loose using putty knife to depress clips;
2. Disconnect wires from light and door switch;
(Before I disconnected wires from door switch and light, I made wiring sketches to make sure I reconnected in original manner.)
3. Remove lint filter mount screws and mount from bottom of door opening;
4. Cut drum belt with wire-cutters and removed it;
5. Remove drum support clip from top center of front panel;
6. Remove (1) screw from each side of dryer body that hold front to sidewalls, removed front panel;
7. Remove drum by lifting the rear out of the bearing, then moving it forward through the machine front;
[While I had the dryer disassembled, I thoroughly cleaned it of lint, dirt & metal filings. The metal filings were from the worn ball hitch and drum support bearing cup. I spent as much time cleaning it out as I did working on it.]
8. Stand drum on gallon paint bucket while removing ball hitch (Use a #2 drywall phillips apex to obtain sufficient seating & torque to remove and reinstall ball hitch screws at rear of drum.);
9. Have a second person hold the new ball hitch in position while starting screws, if necessary;
10. Use nut driver w/5/16" socket to remove bearing retainer & ground ball clip;
11. Install new bearing into retainer clip, insert attachment screws through the holes in both, stick grounding ball in depression on back of bearing as screws are fed through back panel;
12. Hold ground ball clip in place to start one screw, then the other & tighten with nut driver;
13. Start drum belt on motor shaft and position against tensioner pulley;
14. Feed drum through front of machine and loop belt over rear of drum;
15. Slide belt forward on drum as drum moves to rear to keep it aligned with position of tension pulley;
16. Lift rear of drum to place ball hitch on top of bearing, then press down to seat it into bearing;
17. Turn drum to ensure belt alignment, then re-accomplish steps 6 thru 1.

Unplugged the dryer, removed the top of, disconnected the electrical connectors, removed the front panel, disconnected the belt, removed the drum, removed the old Safety Thermostat, installed the new Safety Thermostat and assembled the dryer again.

Have done this before - dissembled, cleaned everything, re-assembled with new parts - rear bearing, idler, and belt. Hardest part is getting the spring back on the idler pulley.
You take the top lid off, remove the front panel and then the drum. remove the access panel on the back to release the spring tension on the idler pulley, then remove the drum. Vacuum clean everything, then reassemble with new stem and bearing, new belt, and idler pulley. Test spin drum by hand - if belt comes off it's likely twisted. Put belt back on and try again. Try operating with air mode to spin drum. If belt stays on, complete re-assembling and make sure you have no screws left over!

After changing the drum support bearing, and the front felt ring, the noise continued. It turned out to be the tensioner pully. The harmonic vibration travels throughout the dryer box like an instrument so you can't tell where the sound is comming from. Before you do anything, spray a little wd40 between the bushing and the shaft on the belt tenioner pully. If the squeel goes away, you have found your smoking gun.

Removed two screws in the inside of the front after opening the top by releasing the two clips. Front comes off of bottom clips easily. Drum can be removed and repairs made. Takes less than 30 minutes Be sure to remove door switch wire & unplug unit first. Drum belt can be re-installed easily thru the back access panel.

remove the top and front of the dryer, then removed the idler assembly. This enabled me to rimove the belt form the drum and replace it and the idler assembly. Not difficult at all.

Popped the topped using a putty knife to free two clips in front. Remove two screws now accessible on the front inside panel. Remove two wires to door switch. Remove rear access door, two screws. Remove belt from tensioner in rear and remember or take picture of how it goes. Lift barrel slightly and pivot front panel out of the way. Lift barrel free from ball socket in rear. Lift out from front panel area. R & R kit and put back in reverse order.

I first diagnosed the problem using a Google search. Amazing how many hits I got and after reading a few was pretty certain what the cause was and what parts I probably needed to make the repair.
Some of the articles I read had links or mentioned PartSelect, so I searched for my model # and found the parts I would probably need. Knowing that I could probably get the parts I needed I disassembled the dryer (pretty easy really) and removed the old suspect part. It was devoid of lubricant and the bearing and ball showed some wear so I ordered the Bearing Assembly suggested by PartSelect (the illustrations looked just like my old parts). I left the dryer disassembled while I waited for the part, figuring it would take a week or so to arrive.
Much to my surprise, the part arrived three days later and after cleaning the dryer innards of all collected lint I put it all back together in 30 minutes.
So for a little research, a $30 part, and about an hour of my time, I have a clean and quiet operating dryer. I see no reason I can't get another 10 or so years out of it.
I consider myself a reasonably handy guy but had never worked on a dryer before. I'll be unlikely to ever call a repairman without first doing some investigation and seeing if the parts are available. With the internet and PartSelect I think I could take on a lot of other repairs I'm not familiar with. Thanks for a great outcome this time around.
Kevin

pulled dryer apart removed drum replaced bearing ass. and heat element and then put it back together. works great now. no squealing and heating great.

After watching the video that explained and showed how to replace the bearing assembly, installation was a breeze. Great company to do business with. Ordered the part and had it in two days, and the dryer was working again asap. Thanks PartSelect
PS this dryer is 23 years old.

Removed drum and replaced drum support bearing.

removed front of drier , removed rear access panel, replaced the belt. reinstalled front of drier and rear access panel

Removed the top of the dryer above the dryer door by pulling the pop out plastic holds. I then removed the dryer plug in at the top inside dryer that controls the start when dryer door is closed. I thenremoved the screws that are located at the back of the dryer tub where the bearing is located. I then replaced the support bearing. I just replaced every thing I took off in reverse.