DDC4400PH General Electric Dryer - Instructions

Pulled the top of dryer off. Separated the door from the drum seal or gasket, slipped the belt through, put the drive belt on the motor and then put it all back together.

The repair was simple with my mechanic relative handling the tools. Total time about 25 minutes.

Previous repairs to the venerable machine with parts obtained freom Part Select and shipped to Germany: new drive motor and drum bearings.

open the front of the dryer, open the back access panel, remove the old belt fragment, pull front cover away from bushing surface at the front of drum, drape new belt around the face of drum, match location visible as the track of old belt, reroute belt at the motor and install tensioner in the proper way, reattach front cover, install back panel, done.

First I checked on-line "how to change a dryer belt" and followed the instructions. Remove front panel and slide belt over drum, in the back, put belt around pulley and hand trun the drum. on-line instructions had pictures to ensure proper install. It was easy.

Checked out problem found belt broke and order part from part select and when it got in I replaced the belt and then found pully bad too. so I order that part from ya'll and it tok less than 5 mint to install. everything went very well and I and my wife are very happy with everything.
Thank's Partselect,
John& Roxanna

unplugged dryer,removed air duct,,remove( top of dryer) by removing the two back screws.... removed two screws under (fornt top lid),laid top to the side. ...Now remove ( front of dryer) remove,two screws near the( top on the inside)...lean dryer back, and remove outsidescrews at the bottom)..the front should come off. ..located small square opening in the back of the dryer release clamp from drum ,...put belt around drum... put drum and dryer back together...(relace any electrical wires removed if any..remove (rear bottom plug panel)..you can now see the lower inside of dryer....make sure belt is level on drum by rotating...place belt on lower pully,... lift tension(spring pully) on to belt.. replace cover..

What to do if you have a load of wet laundry at 23:00, the dryer won’t start, and you have no spare start switch.
Removed rear access panel and discovered the wire from terminal #2 (goes to heater coils) on the start switch had melted and disconnected. The start switch showed signs of overheating but not melted. Removed the switch and found the switch’s actuator button was jammed in the ‘in’ position (dryer won't start). The switch was a friendly one in that it was possible to disassemble it. Most switches today are molded/glued together, but this one could be pried apart. The contacts inside were still in fair condition and, after dressing them, the switch was reassembled. The actuator button had a burr that was filed off and the switch action worked fine. All of the 1/4" male QC contacts on the switch were cleaned with a wire brush. The burned wire was cut back about 6” and a new piece of 14ga wire was spliced in with a wire nut. A new 1/4” QC terminal was crimped to the wire and all wires were re-attached to the switch.
This fix would probably last for a long time to come, but I bought a new switch and installed it and will keep the old switch as a backup.
p.s. The load of laundry was dry by 02:00.

disassembled chassis of dryer, unbolted top, lifted top to expose drum. bolted top back on. resumed repair next morning. unbolted top. lifted drum (it moved up and down about 1 inch) and got new belt around it. rebolted top down. tipped dryer to its back. unbolted and removed panel at bottom, exposing drive motor and tensioner spring. positioned belt around drive motor spindle and tensioner spring. replaced panel. reconnected dryer to electricity. reconnected gas using new flexible connector.

Researching on the web I thought the trouble might be lint buildup or trouble w/ one of the parts involved in spinning the drum. However I cleaned out all the lint and replaced the belt and idler pulley and this didn't improve the smell (drum bearing was fine). I then concluded the trouble was the motor. Running the motor w/o the drum in place confirmed this was where the noise/smell was coming from. Replacing the motor was fiddly--I had to remove the clip holding the motor (pried the top w/ a screwdriver), wires (made a diagram so as to put back in same order, they were hard to get off--a pliers did the job), clamps holding the motor on the duct, the motor mount, the duct, the fan. Putting all this back together took a while (not hard just fiddly). Tested the motor w/out the drum in place and it sounded fine. Put the drum and back/front/top panels back and the dryer runs fine now. All parts came quickly and exactly matched the parts in my 1993 Hotpoint dryer. As others have said the pulley kit is not needed--these are included w/ the motor. BTW I am a 53-year-old lady. Thanks to all who took the time to write up their experiences--big help!!

The job is simple once you know how to remove the front panel. The steps are as follows:
1. disconnect the power cord.
2. remove 4 Phillips-head screws under the lip of the front panel that secure it to the top panel (#1 point Phillips-head screw driver)
3. swing the top panel up, it is hinged in the rear.
4. making note of the connection points of the color-coded wires, disconnect the wires to the lamp socket and door switch (I used a felt-tipped pen on the inside of the front panel to mark the connection points, "R" for red, etc.)
5. remove the upper 2 hex-head screws from inside of the front panel (5/16" nut-driver)
6. loosen the lower 2 hex-head screws (5/16" nut-driver) accessible from outside the panel (you only have to loosen them since the bottom mounting tabs are slotted)
7. slightly lift (to clear above mentioned lower tabs) and tilt the front panel toward you. Swing the front panel to the right as though you were opening a door and position so it does not fall.
8. remove 10 hex-head screws from the black lower rear access panel (5/16" nut-driver) and remove the broken drive belt. Note that the narrow black panel securing the power cable can remain in place.
9. at this point take advantage of the situation and vacuum out the years of lint and dust you could not reach before.
10. stand in front of the dryer, lift the dryer drum slightly and slip the new belt (rib side down) around the drum. Position the belt near the rear of the drum along the wear-mark left by the old belt.
11. go to the back and place the belt in the motor's drive-belt pulley, making sure the ribbed side of the belt mates with the ribs in the pulley.
12. position the tension wheel so that the it takes up the slack in the drive belt. Note the flat side of the drive belt will mate with the flat of the tension wheel.
13. spin the dryer drum a few turns by hand to make sure the drive belt lines up properly with the pulley.
14. reassemble the dryer by reversing the above steps, starting at step 8.

The repair for the average untrained mechanicslly inclined " first off google directions/instruction picture step by step " we took off the wrong part which made this job difficult there is a part on the back that was removed prior to guided directions, called parts select they are awesome"our belt was delivered the next day on a 3 day weekend I was suprised second correct part sent anyone who took on this job , they will appreciatte all this . the belt was fairly easy to repair just do as directed follow guidelines. difficulty detaching a part that never should be"pain in the a" order your part from this company they rock" and picture guide and specific direction guideline @ this dryer has well outlived the money spent still kicking strong after several years of use hotpoint dryer

I didn't know what was wrong at first, only that the dryer would not start. I bought it used so had no fear of taking it apart to diagnose. Found the broken belt inside, ordered a replacement, installed the new belt, then crossed my fingers. Was pleasantly surprised that was all that was wrong and that for less than $20, including shipping, a few hours of my time, and a little help from YouTube videos the dryer is working again!

take off door, take off front, mind the 2 wires for the door switch, take off top, take out enough screws on right side so it will lean out a bit for the drum to be removed. before removing drum you must remove the belt. pull the wheel to the right, minding the belt pattern for reassembly, its springy and will relieve tension. pull drum out. look to the left of the pulley and check to see any stray wire that may have pulled out while battling the belt. if you found a stray wire and it reaches the dryer motor find its home. on to the coils. I left assembly on dryer so I didn't have to figure out wire placement. the end connectors that the coils attach to are to be reused so don't get to mean with them. remove the end connectors minding how many wires it has and which of the 2 coils go to it. remove the old coils so as not to damage the very brittle ceramic insulators. on to the new, the instructions will tell you to stretch out the new coils to specified lengths. start with the shorter one first! just to see the stretchiness and how far is too far to stretch, if to long it will touch the heat shield and no good can come of that. after stretched out its time to string new coils in, carefully, so as not to stretch or collapse the coil. now hooking the end connectors to the ends of spring. I used 2 pliers to bend the tab a little bigger so it would cover the spring end. after springs are attached to ends and ends are in place, time to battle the drum and tensioner again, make sure plastic piece is on drum insert if equipped, put drum in place and bend tensioner down and install belt. put side screws on, then front and 2 wires , then top then door. plug in and start up. if unit doesn't start remember that stray wire going to the motor, you guessed it wire goes to the start switch. unplug and hook up the wire and it will work.

I have had this happen to another ge dryer, so I had an idea what was wrong. After taking the 4 torx screws out from under the front lip of dryer top, lifting the top back (like opening the hood of your car) in the back right corner is where the high limit tstat is. To verify the problem (dryer already unpluged of course) pull the two wires off the terminals of tstat, connect them together, wrap bare parts w/ electrical tape. Let top down & plug dryer in-- it started& ran fine. Got online and ordered replacement tstat (it arrived in 2 days-- great!) unscrewed the two 1/4" hex screws holding tstat on, installed new part. On to bigger and better things ! Dryer working fine.

I had to take the top panel off of the dryer which is 2 screws inside the dryer door jam. Then the front panel had to come off which was 2 screws inside the dryer above the tumbler. One on each side. Then it lifts off of two hooks at the bottom. Then the left panel (left if you are looking at the front of the dryer) had to come off which was a few screws on the back, a few on the front, and one on the bottom. Once I had the panels off, I unscrewed the blower wheel which is one screw. I took the blower wheel cabinet loose but didn't remove it. There is a metal collar that holds the motor to the bracket. Pull it off from the top. Unplug all the wires attached to the motor. I took a picture of the wire connections with my phone for reference with the new motor. Remove the belt. The motor should pull out towards you. The new motor comes with a pulley. Put the pulley on the motor and tighten locking screw. Put new motor in dryer and replace the metal collar. Connect all wire connections. Reconnect the blower wheel and tighten all screws to the blower wheel housing. Now, I plugged the dryer back in and tested it without reattaching the belt. Know that if you do it this way, the dryer will not stay on because there is a relay switch that is engaged only when the belt is on the pulley and there is tension on the belt tensioner. When the dryer motor worked properly, I replaced the belt and put all the panels back on. Plugged it up and it worked beautifully.