GDR977KW429 General Electric Dryer - Instructions

I was teaching my associate how to do this repair so I showed him how to take off the top of the dryer. Then I showed him how to replace the drum slides. I had him clean out the dryer since we had it apart, and I also showed him how to remove the drum and then reinstall it. This was a very easy repair, and he learned a lot that he otherwise would not have known. Thanks for getting the parts to me so quickly. Rob from Clarks Summit.

I first removed four screws above the door opening to lift off the top, then removed two screws, near the top, inside the front, to remove the front. There I found that 2 grey plastic and one white plastic anti-friction strips were worn to nothing (even the large plastic bezel that incorporates the light was starting to wear away, from just a few days!).

When I went to put the front back on, i couldn't get the lip of the drum to ride properly on the felt. In fiddling with it, the drum fell off the rear bearing, too, so I put it back on.

So I ordered new felt, two white and two grey strips (I didn't know if 1 or 2 were in each $8 "kit"--only one per kit), a spare belt--just in case--and some bulbs.

Putting the strips on was easy--15 seconds each. Putting on the felt took all of 20 seconds. I spent more time scraping off the dust and vacuuming things out!

The drum fit over the felt quite easily now, and when I ran it, it was wonderfully quiet. For a minute! Then, it started making a new, grinding noise!

I had a Sears repairman friend come over, and he found that a small platic bushing had fallen off the rear bearing element. Once he put that in place, it all worked perfectly. Beautifully quiet!

It was simple to get drum out. I took all screws holding top and door out with out problems, then released the drive belt. It took some wiggling to get the drum out. I then was able to get at the rear elements. Taking the wires off the thermostat came off with a little persuasion. Removing shaft from drum took some stretching as I was doing the work by myself. I would suggest that a helper be used for the removal and replacement of the shaft. Reassembly was easy. Just reverse of the above.

First I removed the drum as described in many other comments. Took me about 10 minutes, pretty easy. Replaced the part which was easy and could be figured out just by seeing how you took the original part off. The hard part was aligning the drum, drum washer, and metal plate back into the drum bearing. I tried over 2 hours to do this and because it rotates and it's almost impossible to line up all the holes, I decided to do it another way.

I took apart the drum bearing from the back panel and then outside of the dryer walls I aligned the drum, washer, metal plate and drum bearing. I screwed them all in together and then, went into the frame and reconnected it at the back w/ the horseshoe looking washer. It worked perfectly and I was frustrated that it took me so long to figure out a different way to do it.

I have to say because of the installation it was a little tough than anticipated but was very happy with the end result (no squeaking) and money savings. Definitely worth giving it a try if you're patient.

I ordered and replaced the front and rear bearings, including the slides that go on the front bearing. Most of this was un-necessary; replacing the slides would have been sufficient, and much easier to do. Two of the old slides were worn completely away.

First of all, I am a women...I read where it was probably my rear bearings so I ordered the part, it came in just right, then I replaced it put it all back together, and with the computers help, got it going, belt back on and all and then turned it on and walah it still made a loud noise. Shucks, so I read more and it said it could be the front bearings which I should have tried first but didn't read it first. Ordered part and put it on and wallah, that wasn't it. The noise sounded like the paper in a bicycle spoke so I checked the fan. There was the problem. The fan had so much dryer lint behind it it was forcing it against the housing making a noise. Cleaned it removed all the new unnessary parts and re-boxed them and put it back together but just before I put it together the door fell and two wires came loose so I plugged them back in and put the wrong one in the wrong place cause when I plugged the dryer in sparks went everywhere!!!! I need a man now!!! Scared of electricity!! Sure wish I knew if the noise was fixed :).

Took off the top and front of the dryer---really easy, just two screws for each. Put new drum slides (4) on the front/sides of the drum. Then things got a little bit more difficult. Removed the drum entirely, vaccuumed everything out and had to replace the rear bearings. My husband did this part so I can't tell you exactly how he did it. Not too difficult though. The written directions from here were hard to read---need to make a new copy from the original as it's so copied that it's all smudged. Anyway, once we got the new bearings on, we put everything back together. Dryer works like a charm, at a fraction of the cost it would have been to get someone out to do it. Thanks a bunch for the fast service!

I followed the great tips from the other repairs and that part was easy. Turned out not to be the exact problem. The problem was the rear bearing shaft which in another 20 min I had the drum out and repaired. Now the dryer is like new and will hopefully last another 5 yrs.
Thanks Parts Select for your help!

Just like the other stories, remove the top and front of the dryer, replace the bearing and slides (or slides only if needed). I ordered only the slides, but also needed the bearing because I didn't realize the drum had worn through the bearing already.

took off top of dryer, took out 2 screws so front of dryer could be removed, replaced bearing,slides and felt seal

i first popped off the top of te dryer after removing the two screws in frotn when you open the door. I then removed the two screws holding the front together. after tilting the front out i was able to place the slides in without having to pull of the front entirely.

pulled off the top, pulled off the front then replaced the plastic that was supporting the front side of the drum. fairly easy to replace although the little plastic 'slides' (you need 4 of them)

We removed the top of the the dryer and then removed the front part. Then put the traps in place, put the other parts of the dryer back on, and turned the dryer back on. Just as simple as that. No extra fees.

snap in snap out

Initially purchased just the plastic slides, but when I opened the dryer I found the top drum bearing was smashed and the plastic was basically gone in a whole section, so I then ended up ordering the bearing as well. If you hear the loud squeaking, just buy the top drum bearing and the 4 slides (two white and two dark green). It is an easy repair and the squeaking sound is gone.