ALE331RAW Amana Dryer - Instructions

The parts to replace were mounted to the rear wall of the dryer and only the front pane is removeable. With the panel removed the drum had to be pulled carefully straight out. The belt and tention arm were difficult to reposition. Since you have the appliance apart replace both roller and roller support brackets one of which you cannot see from the front. Throughly vaccum all lint and roller wheel debris . If you have an air compressor take the time to blow out the motor . Make sure to rig a device to hold the tention arm back with the belt correctly aligned while sliding the drum back into place. PARTSLECT is great , easy to use and suggests other parts I may not have thought of and quick . Parts were here in 2 days standard shipping. I was in the dog house for putting this off too long. My wife is happy so I'm happy.

This was my first time repairing a dryer. If I knew when I started the project what I know now, it would have been an easy repair. First, you should know that the series number (used for selecting a wiring diagram) is the last two digits of the unit's serial number (not model number). In my case, the series number was 11. The hardest part for me was figuring out how to take the dryer apart. I made the mistake of starting with the top instead of the front. In fact, I removed the control panel and disconnected all the wires, labeling them carefully, and creating a diagram, so i could put it all back together later. I now realize I could have left that all together and just lifted the top up in the front without removing it. That knowledge would have saved hours of work, so I hope it helps someone (prop up the front a few inches and start by removing the panel on the lower front, then remove the screws on the main front panel, and then pull out the bottom of that panel toward you until the top of that front panel disengages from the top of the dryer - the rest is obvious). So it turns out there were two separate problems: 1) the blower wheel had broken completely off of the motor so it wasn't spinning - this is why hot air wasn't being pulled through from the heater in the back of the dryer; 2) the pulley on the spring-loaded lever arm attached to the motor was squeaking due to lack of lubricant. So the solution was to replace the blower wheel and spray WD-40 in the pulley (and also, for good measure in the roller bearings that support the drum in the back of the dryer). Most of the time spent on the repair was just due to my own mistakes. In particular, once I got everything back together after the repair, it stopped squeaking and there was good airflow, but it wasn't heating. I spent an entire day trying to troubleshoot the lack of heat. I tested and bypassed all of the thermostats and heater fuses and the heating element still wouldn't come on. I even managed to accidentally ground one of the leads from the fuse and had to replace a melted wire connector (trip to the Shack). In the end, it turned out that a wire which had been accidentally disconnected from the main power cord to the dryer, I had put back in the wrong spot. There is L1, L2, and neutral going into the dryer. I had the heater on the same circuit as the motor and other stuff. Once I traced the wiring diagram back, I realized this and corrected it by putting the heating circuit back onto L2. Now it "hums like a Singer". If everything had gone smoothly, instead of being a 2-day repair, it would have been a 2 hour repair. 2 hours instead of 1 because to get the leverage I needed to remove the old blower nut, I had to actually pull the motor assembly out of the dryer and move it to my workbench. Someone who is strong or more limber or has better tools might be able to skip that step, reducing the time by about 45 minutes. Good luck!

DIAGNOSTICS: Unplug dryer to reset controls. Remove lower cover. Plug back in. Start dryer. If flame starts and goes out in a few seconds, probably the cycling thermostat (located centrally near bottom of dryer) is bad. It fits in the center of the thermostat heater (not replaced). Use the on-line schematic. I reset the controls (as above) again and jumpered the cycling thermostat. This time the flame stayed on. I turned off dryer before High Limit Thermal Fuse could blow out. Only a trained electrician should do the above.
REPAIRS: Decided to remove main cover, to get better angle on thermostat screws. Unplugged. Removed door first. Be gentle with wires. Be careful with drum, it will simply fall out if jarred. Remove two screws for cycling thermostat. Remove wires, replace cycling thermostst. Reassemble. Be sure drum is still on rollers on back and anti-friction strips in front.
SHORTCUT: If you use an articulated socket wrench on the thermostat screws, you can save your self the trouble of removing the front cover, door, and possibly drum.

Ordered the new heater element on Saturday and got it on Tuesday. I have ordered from PartSelect before and the service has always been fast and accurate.

The first thing I did was to unplug the dryer and then removed the bottom front pannel by removing two hex screws, one on each side near the bottom of the dryer. Use a flashlight if you need to see better. I then used my shopvac to vacuum all the lint that had gathered over the years, including the old heater element located on the left side towards the back bottom part of the dryer. Located the two hex screws and unscrewed them to remove the heater element. Pull out a bit from the bottom and then down. Pull towards you and remove the wiring from the old heater element making sure where the wiring and parts to be reused go so they could be transferred to the new heater element. Re-attach the heater element with two hex screws. Replace front cover and plug in the power cord and start drying clothes.

Took off the four screws to get to the female clip and used pliers to squeeze it out. Next was using pliers to pinch out the male connector and place the new one in.

First I removed the bottom front cover attached with two screws, then the main front cover attached with two screws. I then removed two more screws holding the top in place, detached three wires and raised the top lid. I held the top lid out of the way with a cord tied off to a cabinet above. I then removed four screws holding the front support panel in place and set it to the side with wires still attahced. Then I slid the dryer belt off the drum and removed the drum. Next I removed the cover of the fan wheel by removing several screws. This allowed me to unscrew the fan wheel (reverse threaded) by anchoring the motor shaft with a wrench and using a large socket to turn the nut end of the fan wheel (then was no snap ring). I then popped off the two clamps holding the motor in place and removed the motor. The only tricky part about assembly was putting the belt back on the pulleys once the drum was installed. You can't see the pulleys once the drum is installed so it is done by feel.

First I put the square female end iof the door catch kit nto the square hole as snug as I could. Then I gently pushed the door against the piece until I heard it click in to place. That's it!! Sooooo simple--

I looked at your on-line diagrams (exploded views) and basically used them as dis-assembly info.

I removed the bottom panel, followed by the front panel, the drum holders and drum.

Toughest part was the spring clips holding the motor in place,,,, but notes on your site from other folks doing the same motor replacement solved that one,,,,,, I used a flat bladed screwdriver and pliers to manipulate the clips both off and on

Removed 2 screws from dryer lower front panel and removed panel. Then removed upper front panel (no screws, just clips). Removed screws from existing duct assembly (2 for the duct assembly and 3 that held the top of the assembly to the dryer opening (and the reason for removing the upper front panel). Original part was a two piece assembly, new one is a single part, using less screws. New part is also deeper that original assembly. There was enough room for the extra size. Installed new part, replaced top 3 screws, top panel, and bottom panel. The replacement was very straight forward. Anyone that has done this before could do it in a few minutes but without prior knowledge or a manual, it took a full 1/2 hour to do the replacement.

Removal of the entire 2 front panels
Removal of the heat exchanger into the drum
Removal and replacement of the belt
Reinstallation of the heat exchanger, and both front panels

The replacement part just snapped into place. (The old part had fallen out) It took less than 30 seconds to do the repair.

Watch the video. Very, very easy

Opened things, saw lint buildup, cleaned inside of dryer, then cleaned entire vent discharge system, put new thermal fuse back, turned on dryer and heard metal to metal, opened dryer back up, saw missing glides (both gone). Ordered what I thought were 2 glides, 2 days later 1 showed, called and was told I didn't "update" when I changed order info (parts supplier cautioned to replace 2, should only sell in pairs) so then had to wait again for 2nd glide to show up. Replaced them today and noticed dried clothes are now cooler when finished. Will note in future if clothes are warmer, clean ductwork.

Just take the old parts with my tools and fix it, i did take the pulley bearing with care and put the new one, and adjust the screw on the motor base, the belt just was a little difficult but I did it, it's easy.

Had to figure out how to open the dryer - bottom screws in front and work up, removed the drum and found the fan blade was broken. Had some difficulty removing the fanblade from the motor shaft but after that the new one was easy to install. I did need help to place the belt and drum back into place. as one person has to hold the belts on the pulley while the other adjusts the belt while putting the drum back into place.