MDG5500AWW Maytag Dryer - Instructions

We went to Lowe's to look at a new washer/dryer set. We told the sales lady what our dryer was doing, she said she had that problem before and told us it was probably the rollers had gone bad. The next morning, 5 a.m my wife couldn't sleep so she took the dryer front off, pulled out the tumbler and found the rollers, the lady was right . My wife already had your web site pulled up on the computer so I could look to see what parts I needed. We called to order our parts, we were told it would be 2-5 days before they would get here, they were here the NEXT DAY!!! That was awesome!! I put the new roller on, my wife put everything back together, she turned the dryer on and.... it was so quiet we weren't sure if it was on so I opened the door and held the button to watch it turning, peacefully. Thank you all and the sales lady at Lowe's for saving us $1200. We did our repair with your parts and only spent $85.00.

First - I did some research on line as to the possible problem with this dryer.
I had already taken the front apart before, so I knew what was needed to remove the door and front.
Remove the 2 screws that hold the dryer door in place with a Phillips screwdriver. Remove the two screws on the opposite side of the door also. Place the door out of the way. The front panel of the dryer now tilts forward. The front panel sits on two clips, tilt forward and lift out of place. The door switch has two prongs that hold it in place, pinch the prongs and the switch slides out. Disconnect the two wires on the switch and connect the wires to the new switch. The new switch slides into place. I tested the new switch before I put it all back together. Took me no longer than 15 minutes.

The third time was finally the charm. If I would have seen that there was a "maintenance Kit" , with the rollars, shafts, tensioner and belt, this would have saved me ordering 3 times! The tensioner was the problem, but now we are a whiz at tearing down the dryer!! My old dryer runs like new now.

Replaced bower wheel, drum rollers,belt and Idler pulley while the dryer was apart. so far so good. Easy repair
Motor bearings seemed tight so hopefully will get another ten years out of dryer.

This was a pretty easy repair. The idler wheel bearing was bad and I replaced the wheel, the two drum support rollers, idler arm and belt. The video for replacing the idler wheel was spot on for my model and made it easy to complete the job. My thanks to PartSelect for a great repair experience.

Removed power to the dryer by turning the dryer AC breaker in the breaker panel "off". Removed dryer door and front panel with phillips screwdriver and/or nut driver. Removed spring tensioner from idler arm and shaft assy. Slipped off drive belt and removed idler/shaft assy with 5/16 open end wrench (or maybe 11/32, don't remember the exact size). No need to remove drum, you can get both hands in there, also used a flash light and mirror to locate the mounting screw. Mounted the new pulley on the new shaft assy, using the old washers and clip. Glad I ordered the shaft assy because it was scored up pretty bad. The pulley just has a bushing/sleeve, not a roller bearing. (I put a tiny dab of light gease on the shaft before mounting the new bearing.) Replaced the shaft assy, hooked up the spring and replaced the belt onto the pulley. Reassembled the front panel and door and was good to go.

I read all of the reviews and what people used to fix the problems. I ordered a drum support roller and a shaft. I didn't realize you needed two of each. After taking everything apart, I didn't have the tool to take off the retainer ring around the shaft. I pryed off the ring, and replaced the support roller. The second roller looked worse so I replaced it with the other used roller. It took forever to get the ring on with out the correct tool. I did get the rings on with a needle nose pliers, but it doesn't have much tension left. The dryer sounds great. It did take me some time to figure out how the tension worked for the drum band, but I eventually figured that out. Now I bought the tool for the ring retainers, another new drum support roller and shaft, and I plan on installing them all some day soon. The ring retainer took most of the time as it kept flying off with the washer. Don't start the project with out the proper tool to install the ring, unless you a lot of time on your hands.

Unplug power to dryer!

First I removed the two screw holding the front door, and the screw on the other side, which hold the front panel in place. Then remove the next panel, which has the lint capture basket in it. Two screw in opposite corners hold this in place. After you remove these, the drum (part where the close go in) will drop and come out. Keep in mind, you will have to un-attach the belt from the motor. This is very easy, as its help in place by a tensioner pulley. Self explanatory on that one.
Next pull the drum, so you can get to the bearings. Use your snap-ring pliers to remove the snap rings and swap out the couplers. Follow the procedure in reverse. If you're mechanical, it should take about a hald an hour or so, but if you're not, your looking at an hour and a half.

When done, plug dryer back in and test tub rotation.

Good luck!

I watched all of the video provided for repairing each of the parts and used them several times! They were excellent and beneficial! I used the suggestions provided and found the involved correction to do exactly as planned. The end result was very good and the dryer now works like it is supposed to without any noises. I thank you for all of your help.

3 times I simply lubricated the roller shaft which only bought me a few weeks of peace. The metal on metal shaft/roller simply wore out and needed
to be replaced. By now I was getting very good at
disassembling the dryer so installing the new parts was quick and easy. The real trick was using
the model number to get a full detailed break-down to order the correct parts. If you don't see the diagram, keep trying variations on the model number until you do.

I removed the back plate on the lower right corner, unfastened the spring on the tension gear, removed the belt from the tension roller and motor pulley. Removed the front panel of the dryer, then removed the drum panel, which holds the drum into place and also the air flow. Removed the drum and belt. Using the snap ring pliers, removed the snap rings from each of the support drum rollers. Removed the rollers and replaced them with new ones, replaced snap rings, replaced drum which was easy along with the belt, replaced the drum panel, went to the back of the dryer and replace the belt on the motor pulley and tension roller, re hooked the spring. Returned to the front of the dryer and replaced the door switch kit. Overall it was very simple operation. The hardest part is to get the belt in the proper place.

I watched the very helpful video provided by Parts Select. The repair went smoothly except for two problems. After reassembly, there was still a noise coming from the rotating drum, which I later discovered was the result of not making sure the felt gaskets around the front and back edges of the drum were not being pinched. Smoothing the felt solved the problem. The other issue was that after the repair the dryer was shutting off prematurely, before the clothes were completely dry. This was again my fault. When I first removed the bulkhead, a wire to the automatic moisture sensor came loose without my noticing it, hiding itself deep inside the cabinet. Since the model used on the video did not have such a sensor, disconnecting/reconnecting the wire was not mentioned. Upon reopening the cabinet, I noticed the loose wire and reconnected it -- problem solved. Thanks Parts Select, and thanks to the other user reports that provided useful tips.

It was obvious that the noise was coming from the drum support rollers. All of the ordered merchandise came quickly and as ordered. Be sure to order 2 drum roller kits and 2 roller shafts because there are 2 on the machine. Disconnect the power to the machine. Take the panel directly above the washer door off. Take the control panel off, but no need to disconnect the controls. There are a few wires that you will have to remove from the door, so make a note as to how these are put on so you will get them back correctly. Remove the dryer door. Once the two panels are removed you can see the dryer motor and Idler Pulley. Draw a picture as to how the belt goes around the motor pulley and the idler pulley. Slip the belt off of the motor pulley and carefully remove the dryer drum. When you accomplish this, you can see the drum rollers and the idler pulley very well. Take a half inch wrench and take the drum roller shaft off. Take the retainer off the roller and replace both the roller and shaft with a new one because if it is squealing this is probably the wise thing to do, as the bearing rolls over the shaft. Replace the washers onto the shaft along with the roller and reattach to the dryer. I replaced the Idler Pulley wheel and bearing as a precaution to avoid having to go into the machine again. (Note) it is held on with a C clamp that you can remove with a screw driver. I also ordered a lint filter as mine was slightly worn. I also ordered a new belt because the machine was 11 years old and the old belt was slightly cracked. When putting the new belt on, be careful to put the rib side next to the dryer drum. Place the belt over the back part of the dryer before putting the drum into the machine. Once the drum is placed into the machine and before putting the drum on the rollers you reach into the back and get the belt and place the rib side over the drum and onto the pulleys the same way that you drew your picture. Once the belt is on the idler pulley and motor pulley you can raise the drum up over the rollers and then spin it around a few times to see that the belt isn't kinked and that the drum and blower move as they should. Make certain the rib side is next to the drum and that it is installed like your picture. I took the blower cover loose and some other parts while I was in the machine and vacuumed it out good to prevent fires and to make certain that it was free of lint. Put everything back and the machine works like new.

From the back, i released the spring to the roller holding tension on the drum belt. I took the front off and was able to reach the nut holding the roller shaft to the assembly with a half inch open end wrench. Then i worked the roller and shaft off, assembled the new shaft and roller and worked it onto the bracket and put nut back on and tighten it with the half inch wrench. The dryer sounds good now.

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!