Rear Drum Bearing Kit

i took apart the dryer and then took out the drum from the inside and then put the new bearing in and put everything back in

I disassembled the dryer as described in many of the other repair stories. One tip that I would like to share is to test the motor prior to assembly. I did this by removing the idler pulley and getting the drive belt clear of the motor pulley. Unfortunately I had already disassembled the top and front of the dryer so I had to jumper the door switch to test the motor. If you do it in this manner be very careful to ensure no wiring is shorted or going straight to ground. I found that my motor was shot and replaced it at the same time as doing the other repairs. I used a small magnet to hold the grounding ball in place while replacing the drum bearing, this worked very well and I was able to quickly assemble the parts without an "extra set of hands."

First, used a putty knife to open the top of the dryer. Second, unscrewed the front panel and removed it by pulling up and out. The drum drops down slightly after doing this. Third, open the back grating and disconnect the belt from the motor and idle pulley. Fourth, Pull the drum (with belt) out through the front opening. Jerk up HARD on the back of the drum to disconnect it from the bearing seat. Fifth, replace bearing parts and seat according to diagram. I found it very difficult to unscrew the bearing axle from the drum. Had to hold down the drum and press hard to get screws to turn without stripping. Finally, put back together in reverse, don't forget to put A LOT of grease in your new bearing seat before reconnecting.

We had the rear drum bearing replaced about three years ago. The company that serviced it was quick to take our money for the diagnosis but took over a month (and a threat to call the better business bureau) to actually make the repair. This time I decided to do it my self as I had successfully replaced the the drum drive belt two years ago. The dissassembly was challenging but the repair it's self very easy. I opted to use nuts and bolts to attach the bearing assembly rather than the supplied screws as they did not want to tighten. Reassmbly was a bit of a challenge regarding the drum drive belt but I had the entire repair done in less than an hour.

REMOVED TOP PANEL - DISCONNECTED HARNESS FROM FRONT PANEL- REMOVED FRONT PANEL- REMOVED ACCESS DOOR TO BELT TENSIONER ON BACK PANEL - TOOK BELT OFF TENSIONER- REMOVED DRUM

REMOVED UPPER FELT WITH WORN GLIDE PADS FROM FRONT PANEL - REMOVED MOST OF OLD GLUE FROM PANEL (SMALL FILE) AND GLUED ON NEW FELT STRIP WITH GLIDE PADS - LET SIT TO CURE

REMOVED THREE PHILLIPS SCREWS HOLDING REAR BRG TO THE DRUM AND REMOVED BRG - REMOVED TWO PHILLIPS SCREWS FROM REAR PANEL HOLDING PLASTIC BRACKET, SUPPORTING BRACKET AND BACK CLIP TO THE REAR PANEL AND REPLACED WITH NEW (USE A DROP OF GREASE TO HOLD THE LITTLE BALL BRG IN PLACE DURING INSTALLATION, MAKE SURE YOU DON'T LOOSE IT)

INSTALL NEW BRG TO THE DRUM (SINCE THEY ARE SELF CUTTING SCREW DIFFICULT TO INSTALL THROUGHT HE DRUM, I "PRE-CUT" ONE OF THE THREADS THEN INSTALLED THE REAR BRG TO THE DRUM, SCREW DRIVER WAS OF RATCHED TYPE WITH A LONG EXTENSION - FILLED THE PLASTIC BRACKET WITH THE GREASE - INSTALLED DRUM AND FRONT PANEL - TENSIONED THE BELT - INSTALLED TOP PANEL AND ACCESS REAR PANEL - DONE - I USED THE OPPRTUNITY TO VACCUM THE INTERIOR OF THE DRYER, LOT OF LINT
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THERE IS A PLASTIC GUIDE ON TOP OF THE HEATING ELEMENTS WHICH IS BURNT AND SHOULD HAVE BEEN REPLACED BUT I COULD NOT FIND IT IN A CATALOGUE. ANYBODY ANY IDEA? ALSO INSTRUCTIONS FOR GLIDE SAY TO CHECK THE PAINT ON THE DRUM, WHAT IF IT IS DAMAGED OR GONE?

I have a frigidaire dryer about 5 years old.

I first removed the top cover being careful to watch how the wires to the controls are connected. It is best to snap photos with your digital camera so you can remember how to reconnect the wires.

Pulling up on the drum, I lifted it out of the rear sleeve. Once out, you could easily see why it squealed. The metal bearing had groves on it where is made contact with the holder.

The difficult part of this was getting the 3 screws that hold the bearing to the drum off. The phillips screw head was easily marred if you don't have the proper screw driver bit. I think a better screw head would make the job easier.

After removal, the replacement was a snap. When everything was back together, the dryer sounded like new. The job took me about 2 hrs due to the hard part of removing the screws.

First I removed the top, custom on mine, as it was originally stacked. Then two screws inside near the top come out, and the front was pulled out at the top and lifted off the clips at the base. Best access to the belt tensioner is to remove the air intake panel on the back.

With the belt off the tensioner and motor pulley, the drum can be lifted up and out through the front after removing three screws from the inside that hold the drum to the bearing assembly. The original screws are #2 square/phillips combo, better to reuse than the new phillips only ones if a square drive bit is used.

Then the bearing assembly comes off by removing two screws from the back. For reassembly, there is a steel ball that goes in under the plate in the back. It sits in a hole in the plastic shell of the bearing assembly to help align it. I stuck it in place with grease from the bearing kit, and used my knee to hold the plate over it while holding the bearing assembly with one hand and starting the screws with the other.

The basket seal and drum glide felt were peeled off. Repeated soaking with a citrus based goo remover, scraping with a putty knife, and a little scrubbing with an abrasive plastic pad got the old glue off. A rinse and quick wipe with acetone prepared the surface for the new adhesive. It only needed a minute to get tacky, before the new seal and glide were stuck on.

Washer & dryer are stacked so I had to remove 2 screws connecting dryer to washer and lower dryer to floor. Used scraper blade to release the lid, removed 2 screws and disconnected wire harness to remove front panel. Used chisel to remove seals and "Goof-Off" to dissolve glue residue - it worked great! Carefully cleaned surface, applied glue to seals and clamped to panel. While waiting for glue to set, I removed the drum to replace the bearing assembly (which was in pretty good shape) and vacuumed out the dryer which had a heavy coating of lint (it hadn't been serviced in 10 years). Put everything back together only to find that something was clanging around when the dryer operated (fortunately, I ran the dryer before reinstalling it). Removed the vanes (by removing screw from outside the drum) and found several coins that were causing the problem. All in all, it was a fairly easy project, though using an effective glue solvent, such as Goof-Off was the key to an easy project.

opened top .removed drum then replaced bearing kit.added a new belt .only made sense to do so.

Followed others directions and it went very well. I could not believe how much lint was packed in the bottom of the dryer! Need to clean this area out perhaps once a year.

removed the drum out the front and replaced

Took out the drum by removing rear bearing and replaced with new one. Replaced top glides at same time.

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 cutting the power, I used a putty knife to release the two holding clips ot remove the top,, 2 foward facing screws on either side of the front and two cap covered screws holding the bottom and unhooked the two electricial connections for the control panel and removed the front panel. Since this was a stack unit and in a closet most work had to be done from the front. By reaching inside to remove the belt from the motor,removing the drum was the easy part, to get to the bearing, but unfortunatly I had to remove the dryer from the closet to replace the back bearing clip and ball. After that replacing the bearing bracket and housing it was a breeze. Getting the unit back in the closet was a slight struggle, but it all worked out for the best got a chance to cleas behind the dryer, and the repaire was successful, phew.

First I pryed up the top cover then opened the access cover on the rear to remove the belt from the drum. Next I removed the front of the dryer to have access to remove the drum. I then removed the 3 screws that hold the drum to the rear drum bearing assembly and pulled the drum through the front of the dryer. I then removed the bearing and proceded to remove the ground ball and reassembled in reverse steps.