DGA500F1W Kelvinator Dryer - Instructions

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

I unpluged the dryer, raised the top cover up, removed 2 two screws & pulled front cover out. Removed the old seal, cleaned the area & installed the new seal. Reinstalled as new. Very, very easy.

popped in one in

First of all, I've purchased a belt from local service center that cost me more than $21 (local tax is 8.5%). But, I can not find the idel pulley assembly so I searched on the Internet and ordered from PartSelect.com.

Surprisedly, my order came just one day - they must cross-ship from local distribution that it's even faster than to get those in local stores (driving .. and hope they have what I want ..).

I've replaced the belt 2 days ago - it's easy with 4 screws removed to pull out the front door. The back panel is opened with 2 screws remove, and very easy to replace the pulley.

It's a heavy duty gas dryer made in 1989 and this is the third time I changed the belt and the first time to change a new pulley. I would recommend to change the idle pulley because I may not need to change the belt if I have had replaced it last time. A broken or not functional idle pulley may damage the belt in a short time.

Appliance such as gas dryer like mine will last forever with replaceable belt and pulley. I'm really happy to see a working dryer (almost 20 years old) and my wife is asking a small component for her washer .. that I think I can easily fix that too .. with the help of PartSelect search.

Hope this will help.

John

I first looked at your directions then felt I could do the repair. So I ordered the part. The video was extremely helpful and allowed me to follow each step in the process. Last time I paid $270 for the exact repair. This time I costs me under $30. Plus I was able to clean out the entire inside of the dryer. The sitr instructions were very helpful and on target for any level of experience. I fixed my own dryer and saved a ton on it! Thank You, Randy In Colorado

I lifted the top at the front edge, slid the top back, disconnected the ground wire connected to the top at the rear edge, just slides off.
Then removed the phillips screws on the inside front edge, only one on each side,near top of dryer disconnect the wiring harness at the right side, cut the nylon tie strap holding harness also.
Tip front panel out a little and lift up, comes right off.
The coils are in plain site on the gas valve, remove the wires, and the two screws holding the bracket that holdes them in place, slide the old ones off and start putting back together.
I also used a vacume and cleaned all the lint and dust off everything I could, including the air intake at the rear of machine, "Peice of Cake"

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.

First removed the top of the dryer, then the front of the dryer. Took the plate off the back left of the dryer to disengage the belt off the pulley.
Took the three screws out that hold the drum in place, of course the third screw stripped and had to use a screw remover, which didn't work, but the adjustable pliers did so then lifted the drum out of the plastic reservoir in which the bearing laid. Next unscrewed the two bolts holding the plastic reservoir which also loosened the small metal piece on the back of the dryer where a small bearing is located. Put the new parts in, but instead of putting the larger bearing that fits in the plastic reservoir, I decided to put it on the drum first and guide it into the reservoir all at once, this worked well . Prior to that I put the new plastic piece on the inside and taped it there while holding that piece put the small metal piece with the small bearing on the back of the dryer. I'm sure it is alot easier with two people doing this part, but it worked and I didn't lose the small bearing. Next put the front of the dryer back on and then put the belt back on the pulley, then the top.
It definitely helped immensely to read how someone did this, just follow the instructions given and there you go, no more annoying squeak and also a feeling of accomplishment and thanks to the person who wrote the story on how to do this job, appreciate it.

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.

Took front door off, top off, frunt off, removes screws holding rear bearing pivot, and then removed drum. repainted bearing surface on drum, installed parts, let paint dry for a day and reassembled.

Cover of the dryer pops off and hinges back. Use a flat screw driver to pop the clips on the front sides. Two phillips head screws hold the front panel on. Remove them then lift the panel off the clips at the bottom. Two phillips head hold the Ignition Coil bracket in place. Take note of the direction of the cable connection, it's not marked. Dryer would ignite intermittently. Clothes were not dry after 1 hour.

I took the new screen out of the box. I removed the old lint screen from the dryer, and I put in the new screen. Real simple!

All I had to do was pop in the new door catch. Works perfectly.

my experience was just like the other responses. top comes off, 2 screws and the front comes off and the screws to the solenoids come off. Replaced the solenoids and put everything back together.

Unplug dryer.
Put up the top of the dryer at the front, remove 2 screws holding the front of the dryer to the sides and remove front of dryer. Locate ignition coil on lower left. Remove 2 screws and bracket over the two ignition coils. Replace coils and reassemble in reverse.
Everybody's happy.