I removed the dryer top and saw that the belt was intact. (I had suspected the belt or something stuck in the exhaust fan or somewhere.) I watched a few youtube videos and took off the rest of the top plates and front door and inner structure that held the barrel. After i inspected and cleaned out the fan blades and exhaust areas, I looked at the pulley rollers (motor and idler rollers). The idler roller looked a little melted and chewed up. I replaced it with the new assembly. Also replaced the belt. Putting the barrel and new belt back on was harder for me than the videos indicated because the spring was very tight and the area to put my hands was small and didn't give me enough leverage. I eventually got someone to give me the third hand pulling the idling roller a little further over and the belt was back on. It didn't take me long to put the whole dryer back together. It is running fine now.
These are not instructions as much as warning that although it is a one-person job, the idler pulley assembly is not as easily manipulated with the barrel there. Doing the fix was straightforward: one screw holds it in place. The men in the videos seemed to have no problem with easily replacing the belt, but I needed help with the tight spring. Perhaps now that I've done it once, I could figure out how to reach around the barrel and yank the roller enough to replace the belt, but with the extra hand it took seconds and was super easy.
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