Idler Shaft Washer

Took the two screws out of the front of the dryer. Tilted the bottom out until the clips in the top came loose. Disconnected the door switch and put the front panel aside.
Removed 4 screws holding front drum support in place using small socket set. Pulled drum support off and set aside.
Took note of how the belt ran through the idler pulley, pulled up idler pulley until the belt slipped off idler and motor pulley. Drum pulls straight out of dryer.
With the drum out there is plenty of room to get to the screw holding the idler pulley arm in place, remove it so you can pull the old pulley and washers off shaft. Reassemble using new parts and reattach idler arm.
Put the drum back in place, wrap new belt around drum (non groove side against drum), thread the belt around the motor shaft and work it back around the idler pulley. This was the hardest part of the job since your working in tight quarters and you can only fell what your doing.
One the belt is in place, rotate the drum by hand to make sure the belt tracks properly. Finish cleaning up any dust accumulation inside the dryer/fan assembly. Reattach the front drum support, reattach the door switch wires and reassemble the front panel by tilting the panel until the top catches, swing down into place and attach bottom with the two screws. Done!

1) Took off the front door of the drier (first unscrewed it in the sides, then lifted the door to lift the hinges up and pulled the door off)
2) Pulled the front panel down and off
3) I checked the belt to see if it was broken and it wasn't
4) I tried to turn the drier barrel manually to see if I can move the belt... it didn't move. Not knowing if there was just too much resistance, I tested the drier while looking at the motor and motor pulley as it ran.
5) I noticed that the motor pinion rotated, but the belt was slipping against it... that's why it smelled. The rubber was burning
6) Then I found that the idler pulley had stopped rotating, and the belt actually cut a channel into part of the plastic... That's when I realized that I had to replace at least the idler pulley.
7) Not knowing whether the bushing and other parts were going to be salvageable, I ordered parts for the whole assembly... but I wasn't sure how to best approach the repair...
8) Then I found partselect.com, and they had both diagrams of the assembly, all the parts easy to order, and best of all, a video of someone actually going through this repair! I was dumbfounded! :)
9) For swapping the parts I just watched the video on how to pull out the drier barrel... the only difference is that I didn't see a need to unplug the cables from the front top panel before removing the drier tumbler. (Obviously the power was turned off :P)
10) when I removed the barrel, I swapped the whole idler pulley assembly, just keeping the original spring.
11) Put everything back together, and it ran like a champ!

The video helped me save a lot of time though... it showed me how the whole thing is most easily serviced and made the repair a breeze!

disassembled dryer and removed and replaced rollers and shafts and installed new belt while i was at it. very easy fix, ordered parts from PARTS ELECT.COM , excellent website with great views of my machine made it east to order correct parts.very fast delivery , will use partselect again! HIGHLY RECOMMEND

Did an on-line search on Matag dis-assembly, pulled front panel, dryer drum, replaced idler pulley, rollers and belt. Also, vacuumed dryer cabinet , now the dryer works like new. This is an easy repair for anyone with any mechanical ability, and just basic tools.