GDG712 Maytag Dryer - Instructions

first, I unplug the power supply of the dryer then I removed the two screws at the bottom of the dryer then pulled out the front part of the dryer,unplugged the blue & yellow wire for the on/off switch for the door,at the back of the dryer I unscrew the pannel for the belt,disconect the belt,and I unscrew the four screws on both side of the front pannel to remove the front cover of the drum. Once I removed the front cover of the drum I can now remove the drum itself to access the drum support roller. I unscrew the rollers then replace it with the new once. It was an easy job.
Thank you.

Removed the front cover (screws on bottom 0f face)...removed blower cover....spring pliers to remove and install blower fan. the rest of the time was spent cleaning the inside of the shell as well as the vent. Reassembled and dryer runs better than it has for many years.

Unplugged dryer. Front came off easily. Removed front of blower. Wheel came off fairly easily - could then see that shaft of motor was circular with flattened side but inside of old wheel was rounded. New wheel popped right on. Took tumbler off so I could clean lint out more easily and get a good view of how the belt threaded through. Put the tumbler back on and reached back with both hands to thread it. Took a half dozen tries until I was sure it was seated correctly and not twisted. Put front... of dryer back on. So far (a week or so) the rumble is gone. Seems blower wheel was the cause of the rumble. Belt didn't seem worn but replaced anyhow.

1. Removed front of machine (2 screws at the bottom).
2. Removed 4 screws from inside the dryer, to take off the blower housing.
3. Removed 4 screws and took out the large metal piece which supports the drum at the front. Removed the drum.
4. Replaced the two rollers that support the drum in the rear. Cleaned the pins they run on, and oiled very lightly. Also replaced the idler roller. I was surpirsed to see that these rollers use plain bearings, not ball bearings.
5. On the front support piece, drilled out the rivets for the glides, and replaced the worn out glides with new parts. Applied a little glue (3M weatherstrip adhesive) to the cork pieces, to glue them to the metal. Attached the plastic pieces over the cork pieces, and riveted in place using rivets that came with the glide kits.
6. Replaced front and rear felt seals. This was not as tricky as I expected it to be. They were held in by metal tabs. Glued the ends where they came together.
7. Replaced the felt blower seal. Glued to the blower housing.
8. Reinstalled the drum, installed new belt, which came with good instructions (luckily).
9. Reassembled front support piece and the front of the cabinet.

I also cleaned the lint from the cabinet and from the vent hose.

In general, the job went without a hitch, and the machine probably has quite a few years left, despite the fact that it's 18 years old. This gives me a good feeling.

I'd say this would be challenging, though, for someone who is not pretty experienced with machinery repair. Also, the cost of the parts was significant enough that it would not have been unreasonable to have opted for a new machine.

The dryer was so old (33 years) that the customer service woman could not find the model number. However, she gave me the oldest Maytag model lint filter number she had and she had me compare online a parts drawing of it with mine. It looked so similar that I took a chance and ordered it. And it fits perfectly. She gave me excellent customer service. I regret that I did not record her name.

PartSelect showed seven different possibilities why the dryer wouldn't heat. I removed the two screws to remove the bottom panel and turned the dryer on and noticed that the heating element that ignites the gas was working fine. This meant that it was not getting gas so it could be the gas valve or one of the two gas valve coils which are located on top of the gas valve. I borrowed my neighbor"s ohm meter and touched the two probes on the coils terminals to check for continuity and found that one of the coils read zero. I then took both of the coils out by removing two screws and tested each coil again. One coil read 500-850 and the other read zero. This meant that it was no good so I called for the part and received it in three days. I reassembled the parts and turned the dryer on and it fired up after a few seconds. It works as good as new. The part plus shipping was less than $30. My repairman would have charged me $150-$200. While the dryer was apart I gave it a good cleaning with a vacuum and a toothbrush in delicate areas. I also removed and cleaned the lint trap housing by removing two nuts. I didn't know much about gas dryers, but thanks to PartSelect I easily fixed it myself.

If everything else is working ( tumbler and timer ) except for the heating. Your first bet would be checking your flat style igniter. Mine was cracked, something that I wouldnt have seen unless I had taken it off. Because of the crack no current was being passing through, therefore the igniter wasnt heating to its amber color. Since there wasnt any current the gas valve was doing its job by not allowing any gas to blow out. Dont worry about turning the gas off just disconnect your elecrical outlet. Remove whole front dryer panel by taking 2 front bottom screws out (philip screw driver). Dont pull to hard because there are two wires connected to the panel and dryer that you will have to disconnect. When you get to the igniter disconnect wire plug and use your socket set to loosen the single srew on the igniter, gently wiggle it out by just handling the white ceramic part of the piece, and replace new one in. Just remember to be careful since the dark part of the igniter that heats up is real brittle.

There was no problem with lint build-up within the dryer & the exhaust vent. I removed the gas cycling thermostat & thermal fuse from system & dryer still was not operating correctly. The radiant sensor & hi-limit thermostat both seemed to be operating correctly. That left either of the two coils as the culprits. I replaced both coils & the problem was corrected.

I searched the internet and found my symptoms really seemed to indicate a problem with the blower wheel, which was very noisy. Feeling confident that was what I needed, I ordered the blower wheel, and also the tumbler belt (the belt was 12 years old). Both parts were genuine Maytag and arrived quickly. Before the order arrived, I went ahead and UNPLUGGED THE DRYER and disassembled the dryer using the partselect.com helpful parts diagrams and the repair notes of others. This allowed me to confirm the blower wheel was in fact loose on the motor shaft. I removed the old blower wheel and belt. Shop vac'd out the entire dryer cabinet. This way I was able to take my time with preparation, and when the new parts arrived, I was ready to just pop them into place. If you disassemble before you order, you can also determine if the tumbler front guide set and /or rear tumbler roller wheels also need to be replaced (mine did not), but this would have been the perfect time to replace those too. I saved a bunch of money and have the satisfaction of having done this job myself. Dryer works great now.

Timer wasn't working on the regular cycle so I replace it with a new one from partselect. It still wasn't working so I ordered and replace the cycling thermostat, the thermal fuse I also cleaned the vent and dryer it still didn't work so I read the diagram for the electrical and found that a coil for the gas valve is line with timer. I ordered the coils for the valves, replaced both valves and tested the dryer and it work just like when I first bought the appliance.

I have a 15 year old Maytag dryer that finally broke its belt.

First I unplugged the dryer from the outlet, and then I removed the access plate in the back of the dry by removing the four screws. Once I removed the plate, it was quickly obvious that the belt had broken, as bits of belt were all over the interior of the dryer.

I removed the front panel of the dryer (where the main door is located) by removing the two retaining screws at the bottom of the panel. After removing the screws, I was able to swing the entire front assembly up and remove the panel. The door sensor is attached to the front panel by two wires; I simply pulled the two wires from the door sensor, which allowed me to completely remove the front panel from the dryer.

I removed four screws on either side of the dryer which attached the front tumbler assembly to the dryer frame. The tumbler assembly also has the lint screen attached to it as well. Removal of the lint screen allowed me greater access to the internals of the dryer. I took the opportunity to use my Shopvac to clean out the accumulated 15 years of dirt and lint from inside the dryer.

Once the front tumbler assembly was removed, the main dryer tumbler came out easily. I removed the tumbler from the dryer and inspected it for damage. I also did more cleaning inside the dryer with my Shopvac. Removal of the tumbler is required for installing the new belt.

I wrapped the new belt around the tumbler and reinserted the tumbler back inside the drier. I reinstalled the front tumbler assembly, but I didn't tighten the four screws until I was sure the main tumbler was seated correctly on both the rear and front tumbler assemblies. Only then did I tighten the four screws.

I then went to the back access panel on the dryer and threaded the belt around the dryer motor rotor and belt tensioning roller. The new belt twisted a few times in the process, so I manually rolled the tumbler to straighten out the belt.

Once I was confident the belt was seated properly around the tumbler and motor rotor, I replaced the front dryer panel loosely. I also reconnected the two wire door sensor and then plugged in the dryer. I purposely left the back access panel off, so I could observe the motor and belt while the dry was running. I turned the dryer to a non-heat setting (i.e. air fluff) and started the dryer. I observed the rotation of the belt for about 2 minutes to insure it was rolling properly. Next, I set the dryer to a heated setting and ran it again for 2 minutes to be sure all the heating elements were working. It is good to check both the rotation of the belt and the heat elements prior reinstalling the back access panel. There is nothing worse than putting the dryer back together only to discover the belt is improperly tensioned/seated or the dryer heater elements are no longer working.

I secured the dryer front panel using the two screws. I reattached the back access panel with the four screws. Finally, I reconnected the dryer hose.

Dryer is running like new and haven't had any further problems.

Determining the problem was the hardest part. With multiple parts (coils,thermostats...)possibly causing similar symptoms, I narrowed it down to the two coil valves.
Un plug the dryer. Remove two screws at the base of the front panel. Turn the front panel 180 degrees to avoid disconnecting the door switch. Gas valve with coils on top are on the right in front. Remove two screws in bracket holding coils, disconnect the wires, replace with new coils and reconnect wires. One coil has 2 terminals the other has 3 no chance of crossing the wires. I used an offset/right angle screw driver for one of the bracket screws due to close proximity to the drum. A stubby phillips head will work. You can check the burner operation with the front panel off as long as the door switch is still attached. Swing the front panel around and lift back into place securing with the two screws. Dryer works fine now.

I noticed a rattling noise coming from the dryer. I disassembled the dryer to troubleshoot. I assumed the rollers were bad, but I discovered that the blower wheel was loose on the motor shaft. The rollers were fine. I also discovered the belt was worn.

I ordered a new blower wheel and belt. Replacement was as described elsewhere.

I couldn't get to the screws on the front panel because my screwdriver was too long. So I put a pressure treated 2x4 under the front dryer legs to elevate it. I used pressure treated lumber because that's what was in the garage. Untreated wood would also work.

After removing the front panel screws, the bottom of the front panel needs to be tilted away from the dryer. At about 20-30 degrees of tilt, the front panel will suddenly drop away from the top.

Rotate the front panel to your left so that the wires don't get stretched. It isn't necessary to unplug the wires. But after touching the wires and getting shocked, now is a good time to unplug the dryer. In fact, it would have been better to unplug the dryer before you start any work on it.

Remove the front bulkhead and lint filter housing as a unit. 4 screws hold it to the dryer.

Remove the screws holding the faceplate of the wheel assembly, and remove the faceplate.

Next remove the spring clip from the blower wheel shaft. Then remove the circlip using a circlip plier. The wheel will now slip off the motor shaft.

Put the new wheel on the shaft, making sure to align the flat part of the shaft with the flat part on the wheel. Install the circlip and spring clip.

Replace the faceplate, Note that the perimeter of the face plate goes inside a groove. Install the screws.

Replacing the belt has been covered before, so I'll leave it at that. Just make sure that the belt goes on the proper side of the belt guard.

Install the front bulkhead-lint filter housing. Make sure the lint filter housing lines up with the blower wheel housing and goes inside the felt.

Install the front panel. Make sure the felt doesn't get pinched by the drum.

The first time I disassembled the dryer, it took about 1.5 hours. The second time was only about 45 minutes. The third and subsequent times were even quicker. Practice makes perfect.

I told my wife, "it's working fine. Let's just wait until it breaks, and I'll fix it." She said the noise is intolerable and if I didn't fix it, she'd "call someone to come and look at it."

The forums all suggested that noise during operation is due to worn out components that are involved with turning the tumbler. So I ordered a bunch of parts from Partselect.com and set to work. I replaced the belt, the belt idler wheel, and both of the tumbler support wheels.

I reinstalled the tumbler, plugged the dryer in, and started it up. Damn, the same noise as before. Wait! The tumbler isn't turning. In my haste to see if the noise was gone, I'd forgotten to rethread the belt. Analysis: noise unchanged but tumbler not rotating. Conclusion: the hateful noise has nothing to do with any of the components involved in turning the tumbler.

Looking and listening more closely, I determined that the noise was coming from the blower, the plastic squirrel-cage like assembly attached to the other end of the motor shaft. It seems to be rattling on the shaft, causing the noise. I remove it, clean off a couple decades of matted-on lint, and reinstall it. No change.

I do not have a replacement blower, so I remove the blower from the shaft, clean up the shaft with alcohol, then put a piece of plastic electrical tape part way around the shaft, effectively increasing its OD by a few thousandths of an inch. I reinstall the blower, put everything back together again, and start it up. No noise -- nothing but a low purring hum! Good enough for me, for as long as it lasts. When my improvised patch fails, I'll order a new blower and install that.

It's good that I was so stupid as to forget to reinstall the belt before I started the dryer the first time. Since the noise was still there, I was forced to re-examine my assumption that the noise was being caused by a worn-out tumbler-turning component. If i HAD installed the belt the first time, I'm sure I would have continued with the incorrect assumption that the noise problem was related to the tumbler.

My time and money weren't wasted, I don't think. The various wheels and the belt were over 16 years old and due for replacement anyhow.

FIRST unplug dryer from electrical source, CAUTION, the top of this dryer does not open with clips, do not pry on top to open! On the front of the dryer look under the lower panel, and find two screws, one on the left side, and one on the right, remove these screws, and pull slightly down on panel to remove. Behind this panel find two screws holding the door panel, one on the left, and one on the right, remove the left, and support the door panel while removing the right side. Gently pull the bottom of door panel outward, and the clips on top of door panel will unhinge from top, carefully rotate left side of door panel to floor, and note the wire connections on switch, and orientation of switch, then unplug wires, and move door panel to a comfortable working positon. Door must be open to remove switch, then depress the two plastic retaining keepers on each side of switch, and push switch through toward door. Replace with new switch, reconnect the wires, and reassymble in reverse order. Remember, door assymbly must be inserted in dryer top at an angle, and then bottom rotated downward, and bottom panel nylon guildes inserted into door panel bottom.