FDG8974HW0 Frigidaire Dryer - Instructions

I followed the recommendation from William, from Ardmore, OK and Elvis, from Miami, FL for the repairs. Elvis had detailed instructions as well as William, so I just combined the two and I was able to repair my dryer in three hours time. My sincere thanks to partselect web site in posting the repairs on line and for everyones input. I will be back to use the web site again to troubleshoot my other appliances and order parts (great price, fast service for parts) and I will highly recommend this site to my friends.

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.

1. unpluged the dryer and turned off the gas.
2. pulled dryer out so i'd have ample room to work on it.
3. used large flat blade screwdriver in the front between the top lid and dryer face to gently pop-up the lid.
4. removed 4 screws from inside, that hold the face to the main box leaving the wires all intact.
Found the coils on the lower left, held in place by two screws and plate.
5. took a good look at thier orientation before unpluging old and installing new, I recommend one at a time.
6. Vacuumm any exceess lint and check foam seal between lint trap and exhuast duc, the glue came undone on mine causing extra lint dust that is potentially flamable.
6. screw dryer front back on to main box, make sure to check wiring harness and that all electrical blade connectors are still pluged in to their componants.
7. At this point plug in, turn on gas and do a test run.
8.if everything checks out good then lower top make sure flexable exhuast hose is still connected on hte back of the dryer.
9. Tell your wife or girlfriend or husband or boy friend they can now finish your laundry :)

As others have described in more detail... I lifted the top, removed the 2 screws holding the front panel (one on each side, inside the control panel on either side - not the easiest to get at, but not too bad), popped the clips holding the front panel in place and removed it. With the front panel off, the location of the coils is obvious (lower left side). The only challenging aspect of this repair is that the 2 screws holding the coils in place are really torqued in so it was crucial to use the exactly correct size screwdriver and not let the screwdriver slip while unscrewing those screws. Actually swapping out the coils took seconds, of course they have to go in exactly the same way as the old ones. I did take a few minutes extra to vacuum out years of lint from the inside of the dryer. Overall, much easier and cheaper than I was expecting and now I know where everything is inside the cabinet.

Simply popped it back into place, careful not to break the new handle.

I definitely would not have tried to do this had it not been for the other testimonials written here. But it sounded so easy, I had to just try it (the repair man estimated that with parts and labor, we would be looking at somewhere between $250 and $300!).

The repair itself took less than 15 min, but I spend a good deal of time looking around the garage for a few screwdrivers and my socket set (me and tools don't meet too often). I could simply pry up the top cover on the dryer with my hands, then got it all the way up after removing two screws from the lint trap and undoing this really annoying wire connector thing. From there the front panel lifted off. To remove the drum, just had to release the tensonier on the belt, and it came right out. From this point it was really obvious where the replacement parts would be going. A few screws later, and I could swap the parts, and put humpty dumpty back together again.

It works!!!

It was very, very simple... I just had to find two screws ( that were not included)...no problem...

Ordered knobs on Monday early. Received midday Tuesday! Very fast delivery. Knobs fit perfectly, no tools required.

Just snap into place

I push the new knob onto the post that fit the knob

Popped in the new door catch! Tightened the hinge screws( which work loose and allow the door to droop. The reason the catch broke!) Also put red Loctite on the screws in an attempt to keep them from backing out again! Working great so far!!!

Just replaced the new lint filter with the old lint filter. The part fit perfectly. I did not have a problem.

There was a lot of screws. And I cleaned everything well. The one part was bad so I replaced them all to make sure it'll last.

Replaced rear drum bearing, drum support bearing & drum belt. Still very noisy. Will order new motor & see if that does the trick.

Unplug from electric outlet. Use putty knife to press on two brackets holding the top cover. Raise top cover. Unscrew two screws holding the front panel. Raise front panel up and move to the right (careful with the wires). Disconnect wires from coils. Unscrew two screws holding a small bracket holding the coils. Replace coils and reassemble everything. (HINT: make sure you drum is empty. Mine contained dump clothes, and it turned out front panel actually provides support to the drum, so mine was hanging there with some weight in it - probably not good).