GFMS355EL0MS General Electric Dryer - Instructions

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

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)

Looked up the problem and solution on the web and,ah-ha, drum slides should be the cure. Easy to install, . Back to the internet to discover that after the slides, the bearing and felt liner were the next likely culprits. Again easy install, but to no avail. Calling in the pros.

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!

no problem open top remove front install new belt

Removed the top of the dryer 2 screws. procedure
open dryer door. At the top of the dryer door their is
two screws left to right, Remove them and lift top
off. Inside where the top was is two screws left to
right. Remove the two screws and take the front
panel off. Carefull not to pull wireing loose. Lean door against something so you don't have to disasemble wireing. Pull broken belt out and install new belt around tumbler and up and over
tension pulley and pull down and slip over the motor pulley. Your'e done. Reassemble front then
top. My dryer ran just fine after these steps. The question and answers helped me do this.

This is a space saver one piece unit with dryer on top. I first removed ten screws that hold the top on, I then removed four more screws that hold the front service cover on and two last screws that hold the rear service cover on. Now I seperated the front cover of the dryer from the dryer tumbler tub and slipped the new belt around the tub, then at the rear service cover I feed the belt through the tensioner and back onto the motor pully. Now just put the covers back in reverse order of removal and all done! "Piece of cake"
Ron

Followed the Part Select video instructions which made the repair really easy!! Thanks for a job well done! ALSO.. the drum wobble was not caused by worn slides and felt. There are three screws holding the drum axle flange. Two of them fell out leaving the drum to flop about as it rotated. So we scavenged some screws from elsewhere on the dryer and problem solved. Once again.. thanks to Part Select for great instructional videos and great customer service ordering parts.

Followed the video which made it real easy.

I followed the provided video precisely. Made the job quite easy. My only problem is I'm 6'2", 275 lbs. with bad knees. Can't go at it exactly as shown in the video because I can't squat down in front of the dryer without pain. Called in a neighbor of smaller stature for him to come from one side, and me from the other. Worked flawlessly. Video is excellent. I do recommend wearing gloves and/or long sleeve shirt. I cut up my arms a bit, but that could have been easily avoided.

Removing the top and then the front of the dryer went fairly easily after finding the screws. The drum came out with just a little coaxing, does not gets screwed in place. To me the trickiest maneuver was getting my hand under the drum to place the belt over motor pulley and around the tensioner pulley. You must look up an image of the belt routing. It took me forever to figure that out. If not for that, this in a half hr fix. Ps don't forget to unplug the dryer.

I followed the varied instructions out there for getting the dryer open. WATCH the videos on uTube; I took out more screws than needed on first attempt -- which isn't a big deal but took me longer than it should have to pull it apart. It appeared the grinding was coming from the dryer bearings due to some abrasion I could see and worn front slides, so I replaced the front slides (4) and the rear bearing. The kids helped by crawling inside the drum to tighten the new bearing bolts (just for fun). When I put it back together it was making a somewhat different grinding noise. It wouldn't make any noise until I put the belt AND front cover on and then it would make a periodic (about every 10 degrees) grind when I rotated the drum; I took it apart and the grinding would stop even if I rotated the blower by hand. Put it together, the grind would start .... It took me awhile to figure out that the blower retaining bolt had come loose so the plastic blower was grinding on the metal cover. CHECK THE BLOWER RETAINING BOLT visible from the front with the dryer door/cover off -- it's not obvious that it's loose by looking at it since the retaining clip still sits over the blower shaft even when it's loose. You might even see small nicks in the blower fan blade. It's super quiet now.

It took a while to diagnose the problem. I finally figured out it was the door switch by pushing it with my finger with the dryer door open and starting the dryer. It would run like that, but the switch was not being pressed in enough by the door. I ordered the switch and I should have been able to replace in about 15 min. But the old switch broke while I was removing it and it fell back inside the unit. So I had to remove the top and the front panel to access the door switch. That's why it took so long. If that had not happened it would have been a much simpler repair.

Watch the video on how to replace the belt on PartSelct site belt installation page.