DE412 Maytag Dryer - Instructions

Took off face of dryer (two lower screws below door in front) and then removed the drum which gave me access to the idler arm and idler pully. Vaccumed the interior to remove dust and lint. Replaced idler arm and idler pulley assembly. Replace old belt as drum was reinstalled. Opened rear access panel to complete final routing of the new belt over idler pulley and drive motor. Turned the machine on to check repairs and function. Closed rear access door. Pushed dryer back into place and re-leveled machine.

Removed front of dryer, heater element now exposed. Held in by 2 screws, had electrical wires attached with spade clips. Unhooked the wires, took the screws out, old element came out easily. Had to remove the high temperature reostat which is held on the side of the heating unit by 2 screws. Needed this for the new unit. Simply reversed the steps above to install the new unit, replaced the front panel and the dryer was ready. Took a bit over an hour total.

First I unplugged the machine; an essential to avoiding getting shocked during this repair. This is a must and should not be overlooked it could cost you your life.

Removed two screws from lower area of front panel, pulled bottom of front panel toward yourself so as to swing out and up, continue to swing panel up to your self until it comes free from top clips.

Once free set gently on floor and remove door switch wires, noting which wire goes to which contact is not essential but could be more convenient when putting it all back together.

Remove door switch wire from clasp at top inside from panel, set front panel aside in safe place.

Now look under the two top front corners on the inside and you will see a screw in each corner; these screws must be removed in order to raise top panel.

This is kind of tedious because sometimes these screws are long and difficult to turn and space is limited and tight in getting rachet or nut driver on the head of these screws.

Be patient , because they will come out with a little work. To make this process a little easier you might do the following step first but you cannot do this little trick when putting it back together.

Once these screws are out raise top panel and lean back against wall; be careful because the two enamel surfaces are slick and if leaned too far back the top will want to slide out at the bottom from being on a lean.

Remove four screws from tumbler front, lift slightly so as to come off side clips then pull straight out. Remove door wire from clasp and drop wire gently back inside so as to let it fall to the bottom of the machine and away from the tumbler, which is to be removed next.

Once this is done the tumbler will go down in the front due to pressure from belt. The belt could have been removed from pulley right from the start to relieve this tension but I just do it this way.

Once tumbler sags or leans down in the front gently work the belt off of the back of the tumbler; there will still be a little pressure on the belt and gentle force may be required in sliding it toward the back and then off; once belt is off gently lift tumbler up and out and put in a safe place.

Once this is done you will be able to easily see everything in the bottom of the dryer; motor, gas valves, thermal switches, vent pipe and pulley, pulley bracket and belt which by this time has fallen to the bottom of dryer; gently remove belt from pulley and set aside in safe place.

Make sure it is out of reach of children or it will be played with or used as a hangmans noose; it is long an flexible and children just seem to love playing with it.

At this point you can either continue to work from the front of the machine or the back; I f you choose to work from the back then lower the top panel so as to allow it to just sit back down on the sides of the machine, pull the machine away from the wall and work from the back; because I am experienced at this I continue to work from the front.

If you choose to work from the back then while standing in the back of the machine look to lower right corner and you will see an access panel with four screws in it; remove these screws and the panel will come free giving you a clear view of the belt pulley.

From either back or front view you will see a spring attached to pulley bracket which can easily be removed when pulley bracket is in relaxed position; remove this spring and put in a safe place if you have plans of reusing it. I installed a new spring on this repair.

Once this spring has been removed then look directly beneath bracket at what is easily seen to be its pivot point and you will see a mounting screw. Remove this screw with a nut driver and the bracket will then come completely free; slide through access hole and come out with it.

Once it is out the white spacer is easily seen on bracket; look at the bracket side of the spacer and you will see a mounting screw; remove this screw and spacer will come off.

When installing new space

Switch can be removed from outside of dryer and your video described the repair as having to work from inside dryer. But since wires were still attached to old switch, it could be popped out and wires switched. Since there were three wires on new switch to allow it to turn on and off a circuit, it was useful to check the resistance of the switch compressed or released to be certain I was attaching the two wires to the right two poles of the new switch. But that all required only a couple of minutes. Thank you.

We used previous installation instructions, which were quite good – we embellished the directions where we ran into some things that weren’t mentioned.

1. Remove the back access plate to release the belt from the pulley.
2. Remove the two screws at the bottom front of the dryer, rotate the front to release it at the top. Remove the wires from the door status switch.
3. Remove the 4 nuts holding the drum support frame and pull straight out.
4. Putting one hand inside the drum and supporting it, gently pull the drum toward you until it clears the rollers. Reach in along both sides of the outside top of the drum and slide the belt off the back of the drum. With a hand inside supporting the weight of the drum tip the drum slightly forward and out the front. Set it out of the way.
5. Remove the two bolts holding the thermostat cover (silver odd shaped metal plate at the front of the dryer).
6. Remove the dryer blower cover plate by removing the 6 bolts holding it to the blower housing with a short ¼” nut driver. Remember to remove the bolt holding the plate to the bottom of the dryer.
7. Release the door status wire from the clips on the left side of the dryer and set the blower housing plate to the right, out of your way without removing the wires.
8. Remove the blower wheel by removing the snap-ring at the front of the shaft and then removing the collar- compression clip.
9. Pull out the blower wheel (this was a bear as it was very tight on the shaft – the shaft-collar of the blower wheel has grooves in it. We used very small screw drivers to carefully pry the segment of the collar between the grooves away from the shaft and used a penetrating oil and with a very slight rocking force muscled the blower wheel off then removed the rear snap-ring from the motor shaft.
10. Release the 5 wires attached to the motor.
11. Remove the ground wire on the back of the motor by backing the screw out.
12. Release the front and back motor clips (Use a large straight-blade screw-driver to press down and out on the end of the clips.
13. Lift out the motor.
14. Remove the rear pulley from the motor using an Allen wrench and transfer it to the new motor (We used heavy duty thread locked on the Allen set screw. – When we removed the pulley it was necessary to heat the Allen set-screw area with a propane torch to soften the thread-locker cement. IF YOU NEED TO DO THIS MAKE SURE YOU LEAVE PLENTY OF TIME FOR THE PULLEY TO COOL BEFORE YOU HANDLE IT!
15. Set the new motor in the support frame, ensuring the lips of the vibration isolation rings are pointed down to slip over the frame and are not facing up towards the clips ( makes clip installation much easier).
16. Hook up the wires, following the color coding on the motor controller you are attaching to.
17. Hook up the ground wire on the back of the motor.
18. Reinstall the rear snap-ring, blower wheel (went on a lot easier than it came off), front snap-ring, collar-compression clip, blower housing front cover (Including the bolt to the dryer bottom) ,
19. Re-route the door switch wire up the left side and secure with clips.
20. Reinstall the thermostat cover,
21. Reinstall the drum and belt (use scotch tape to temporarily secure belt) , the drum front support frame (ensure the felt seals for the drum and the blower cover are properly aligned and seated correctly),
22. Reinstall the belt through the back access panel over the pulley and idler wheel (make sure the belt smooth side is against the drum, the grooved side against the pulley and the belt is inside the belt guide on the idler wheel and remove the scotch tape from the belt). Make sure no tools are in the dryer cabinet.
23. Rotate the drum clockwise a few revolutions to align the belt and reinstall the rear panel.
24. Hook up the door status wire before you set the front cover and install the 2 screws,

We previously replaced the front drum felt seal and the tumbler glides, the belt and both drum rollers.

First step was diagnosis. I unplugged the dryer and removed the front panel to access the heater. I disconnected the push on terminal at the heater over temp sensor and tested heater for continuity using a dvm. No continuity meant the heater element was bad. I visually inspected the tumber belt and found it to be split. I ordered the parts heater element and belt from partselect on a thursday at 2:00 pm. I received notice that they shipped the same day! Fedex delivered the parts by saturday. It took me about an hour to remove the heater and replace the element (its the 2nd replacement in 28 years) and about another hour to replace the belt and do a general cleaning of the dryer interior. All in all, it was a fairly easy repair (for a technically inclined guy).

First I unplugged the dryer. Then I removed the two phillips head sheet metal screws near the bottom of the front panel at either side, swung the panel out from the bottom until it unhinged at the top for removal. I disconnected the wire to the door switch and placed the front panel out of the way. Next I unbolted the top from the side panels by removing the single bolt at the front top of each side panel. This allows the Top panel of the dryer to be raised enough to remove the drum. I slipped the drive belt off the back of the drum, lifted the top a few inches and removed the drum. Next I removed the face plate of the blower channel to get at the squirrel cage blower and disconnect it from the motor by removing the outer snap ring from the motor shaft and then used pliers to remove the spring clip from the hub of the blower cage allowing it to slide off the shaft. There was a second snap ring to remove behind the hub. With the blower off the 3 screws holding the blower channel to the motor mount were accessable and able to be removed along with a couple of scews holding the air channel to the dryer base allowing the whole assembly to be moved out of the way to get at the motor. Two more screws at the motor base were removed to free the motor. Three color coded wires were unclipped from the motor and it was out after removing the drive belt from the pulley. Getting the pulley off the old motor after 29 years of service proved to be the most difficult part of the repair. Had to heat the pulley with a propane torch until the glue holding the allen head set screw decomposed enough to allow me to break the set screw loose. Releasing the spring clips holding motor to frame was easy using a large screwdriver to push down in the end recess of the clip while prying against the frame. Reassembly took less than an hour. The color coded dots on the electrical connector block were identical to the original motor making the electrical reconnection a snap (These dots were clearly seen in the photos of motor on the PartSelect website so I knew I had the right motor). The drive belt reinstallation was a little tricky as you have to spool the belt correctly around the pulley then put the drum back in 3/4 of the way and start the belt on the back of the drum and work it forward about 5 inches to its running position. Rest was easy, no parts left over and it works like new again.

Frist I removed the front cover panel via removing 2 screws. Second I disconnected the door switch wires. Third I removed the 4 screws that hold the drum onto the rollers and guides that allows access to the blower wheel assembly cover. Fourth I remover the blower wheel assembly cover to gain access to the blower wheel. Fifth using the retaining removal tool removed the retaining ring from the shaft then removed the blower wheel using plyers. Then reassembled all of the parts and enjoy a quiet dryer again.

Thank you parts select!!!

Piece of cake. Used flat screwdriver to pry out female part on cabinet side, same with the male part on door. Every new replacement part was tight and operated like new. Thanks Part Select, you'll be forever on my list of online parts buying.

Had replaced the heater element a few week earlier under the thought that it had failed just because the dryer was old. But shortly after replacing the element the dyrer started making a lot of noise when started. A few dryer loads later the hearte element had faild again.
The design of the Maytag Dryer makes most repairs easy. The machine is very well made.
Since I was investigate the noise that the dyrer was making, I did a complete teardown of the dryer to check things out. Fould that the drum drive belt was old and the blower fan had spun off the locking tab and also that the heater element was burned out. again. Did a complete check of all moving parts and orded the parts that needed to be replaced. Did a clean up of all old lint in the dryer vent system and fan unit. The fan and belt parts were easy to replace. The heater element does take time and care when working with the ceramic holders. But since I had done it before I did not find any surprised.
The dryer works like new now. Just hope none of the sensors or ideler wheels give out.

How to disassemble the dryer has been covered in past repair stories. I will add a make shift repair that will get you up and running until you get your replacement blower wheel. We repair gas dryers for a living and this repair works and some machines are still running for two years. Remove the blower wheel. Cut a piece of plumber strap of similar sized metal to about 3/16" x 1/2". Hold it with vise grips and then heat it with a torch. When it is hot melt it into the hole in the blower wheel. This will give you a flat spot in the shaft hole that will keep the blower from spinning on the motor shaft. Some trial and error fitting is involved. If you do it carefully the blower wheel will fit very nicely and will not vibrate or make noise.

The repair was very simple. I took off the two screws on the fron of the dryer to remove the front panel which gained me access to the drum. I used a nut driver to remove the two screws that held the orignal short baffle and screwed in the new short baffle. Very simple very quick. The amazing thing with this problem is that I ordered the part on Thursday and recieved it on the very next day!!!!!!

I first unpluged the dryer, then I removed the front cover of the dryer. The Heating unit in located in the lower right side of the machine. I unscrewed the heating "tube" from the dryer and unpluged it from the dryer. ( good idea to mark the wires because they are same color.) I unscrewed the two halves of the heating unit and saw that indeed the heating coil was broken. I unscrewed the coil and fed it through the insulators. The coil was old and uncooperative, so I decided to cut it at each insulator with wire cutters. This sped up the process and protected the insulators. I carefully fed the new coils through the insulators and attached the ends to the terminals. Be careful not to over tighten or you may break the insulation on the terminals. I reinstalled the heating unit and attached the wires and tested the dryer. Job Done! Thanks Parts Select!

I set the dryer on its back to make alignment of the front drum guide cover easy to reinstall in the seal after completion. I removed the 2 screws at the bottom front then removed the white and yellow wires to the interlock switch and set the front cover aside. I then removed the 4 nut screws holding the front drum cover and removed. On the back side there are two teflon and cork "bearings". I had ordered two even though only one was worn down to metal. On each one I then removed the two rivets by drilling them out. Then I placed the corks into the bearing slots with a little glue then inserted the teflon into the slots and riveted them into place with the rivets that came with the kit. I replaced the drum cover, connected the switch and screwed the dryer front cover back on. I set the dryer back up. Connected the vent hose and turned the dryer on. Beautiful sweet smooth and quiet operation. I had replaced the front and back drum seals a few months ago and saw the teflon was missing but did not have the kits at that time. With a complete job I would recommend replacing the front and rear drum seals and the two teflon/cork bearing kits at the same time.

This was pretty much as easy as most other folks had described on this site.
1. Removed the two screws at the front bottom that are holding on the fromt panel, and then lift up and remove the panel.
2. Disconnect the door-open-safety-switch, remembering which color of wire goes on which connection.
3. Remove the four screws (two on each side) on the front bracket that supports the drum and tthat contains the front glides.
4. Remove support bracket and lint trap, letting the drum rest gently on the stuff underneath.
5. Remove the screws holding the lint trap to the support bracket. (My model had five screws.) Remove lint trap from support bracket.
6. Drill out the two pop rivets on each of the two glides, noting the orientation of the teflon pad and mounting strip.
7. Secure - and here is where I had a little problem - new glides in place with pop rivets. (I hadn't use a rivet gun in a while, so I messed up the first pop rivet and had to go to the hardware store to get a replacement. I didn't hold the pop rivet in all the way while I was accuating the gun!)
8. Reverse the process for assembly, and you are all done.

It's simple.