Blower Wheel with Clamp

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.

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.

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.

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.

After removing more bolts and screws than I needed to, here's how to replace the blower wheel on the stacked washer/dryer Maytag SG1000.

Turn off the power.

Remove the two screws on the access panel, which is the canted panel just below the dryer door, and remove the panel.

Remove the two screws at the top of the dryer door. These screws are on top of the dryer facing downward, and unless you're Yao Ming, you won't see them without a stepstool. You can then lift up the door and swing it out from the bottom.

There are two wires attached to the door which you should disconnect. You can set the door aside without disconnecting any other wires.

Next, remove the lint filter and the housing assembly it fits into. First, disconnect the ground wire connected to the upper-left corner of the housing, then remove 4 hex-screws accessed from inside the dryer tumbler.

You should take this opportunity to thoroughly remove lint from inside the housing.

The blower housing is now accessible. Remove the screws on the periphery of the blower housing cover (a.k.a. faceplate), and remove the cover.

The blower wheel is held in place by an external retaining ring and by a blower clamp. The replacement blower wheel came with a new blower clamp, and that clamp can be manipulated with a regular pair of pliers. I went out and bought a pair of snap ring pliers to deal with the retaining ring.

After removing the retaining ring and then taking off the blower clamp, I removed the old wheel. The new wheel was a little tough to put on, but after reading the story of the people who used a hammer to break their wheel, I just pushed on it until it popped on. I used my pliers to install the new clamp, then re-installed the retaining ring and the blower housing cover.

Reinstall the lint duct housing, making sure housing duct centers into the blower seal (looks like a felt circle). Reconnect the ground wire.

While you're inside the tumbler, at the front end of the tumbler just below the door there is a black plastic sensor with two metal bars on it called an automatic dry sensor. Fabric softener can coat the metal bars and cause the sensor to not function. Lightly sand the metal bars to remove any buildup.

Reconnect the wires to the dryer door. Reinstall the door by tilting the bottom in first, guiding the clips on the bottom of the door into the slots they fit in, then push the top of the door into position. Reinstall the screws at the top.

Reinstall the access door.

Turn the power back on! Done!

1 Disconnect dryer from electrical outlet
2 remove vent pipe
3 Tilt dryer backwards and remove front cover bottom 2 philips screws.
4 remove lint assembly and then the fan blower housing with nut driver.
5 with pliers remove retainer clip from fan
6 remove snap ring with pliers or a flat blade screw driver will also work.
7 remove fan
at the same time I replaced the front glides if you do not want to do this then reinstall in reverse order and job is complete.

for glide replacement
1 remove the 4 screws holding the outer ring to the frame of the dryer.
2 drill out old rivits from the back side and then knock out. be careful to only drill rivit and not into metal frame
3 install new new glides makesure you install in correct direction.
4 install pop rivets with stud end on top side of glide. pushing rivet through glide and into the frame ring.
5 pop rivits and make sure they are secure.
6 reinstall ring making sure seal is around ring correctly
7 reintal 4 screws.
8 follow reassembly of blower and lint housing if you changed the fan. if not then just the lint assembly.

good luck the job is really easy and you will save yourself some money

I followed the directions given by another poster. Reprinted here with advice at the end.
Unplug the dryer!!!!
Remove two screws from lower front panel. Pull the bottom of the front panel forward. This allows the clips holding top of panel to release. Unclip the wires attached to the door switch on the front panel. Set the front panel to the side. The blower assembly is facing you at lower left.
Remove 4 screws(2 on left & 2 on right) from the drum retainer ring. Set the retainer ring to the side.
Remove the thin metal cover protecting the blower wires. The blower is located on the lower left below the lint screen. Remove the screws holding the blower cover in place.
Use snap ring pliers to remove the snap ring securing the old blower wheel. It is an external snap ring.
Squeeze the spring retainer surrounding the blower wheel shaft with regular pliers and wiggle the blower off.
Put the new blower on the shaft and replace everything in reverse order.
Replace the snap ring.
Replace the blower cover. Be sure the insulation around the blower wheel housing seats properly into the front panel. This keeps hot air flowing up past the lint trap.
Replace the thin metal wiring cover.
Replace the drum retainer ring.
Reconnect the door switch wiring.
Replace the front panel.
Done.
One last hint about a Maytag dryer.
If your drum wiggles out too far the belt on the drum might not stay aligned. There is a groove on the drum. The belt should NOT sit in this groove. It should ride on the drum about an inch in front of the groove!!! It had slipped into the grove on me. Check this out before closing the dryer back up. Otherwise you might find yourself taking the thing apart again.

Also, the eyes on the snap ring had broken off so I had a difficult time figuring that part out. It's at the exact end of the exposed end of the shaft sticking out from the blower wheel. Regular pliers got it off. A lot of my repair time was spent going to the hardware store for a replacement.

Unplugged dryer. Removed top, face and drum. Using snap ring pliers, I removed the old drum supports and installed the new ones. Next I removed the cover to the blower wheel housing. Then using snap ring pliers and regular pliers I removed the worn blower wheel and installed the new one by reverse steps. Lastly the belt. I put the belt around the drum , placed the drum in the dryer and had my son hold it steady as I threaded the belt around the motor and idler pulley. All that's left is to put the face and cover back. The repair was simple and the dryer is running like a champ. I would suggest having some snap rings handy as I had to replace them as well.

Watched the video, removed the front panel, removed the 4 screws from the tumbler frame, and removed the blower cover. Snap ring off, old blower fan off, new one on, new compression ring, snap ring on, Put back together. Done.

Old belt and idler were OK. What surprized me was the amount of lint, fuzz, coins and dust in the blower housing. This was potentially a fire hazard and now its working perfectly and some peace of mind from a fire standpoint. The video really made it happen for me.

Took offf front of dryer. Took out screws holding housing to blower fan. Used spring plier to remove spring clamp. Do yourself a favor and buy a spring plier. Made it much easier. Took out old blower wheel & installed new one. Put spring clamp back on & screwed housing back together. Cleaned out dryer with vacuum while it was apart. Put fron back on. Not difficult at all with right tools.