DDE7108VHL Hotpoint Dryer - Instructions

Had to totally disassemble the dryer, working from front, back and top. That finally allowed access to the heating element. Then it was a simple matter to pull out the old burnt coils, stretch the new coils to the recommended length specified in the provided instructions, string them through the insulators, wrap the ends around the appropriate posts and tighten down the nuts. Then reassemble the rest of the dryer and test run. Perfect.

I removed the rear panel to access the drive belt. Lowered the pulley to remove the belt and then took off the front panel and popped the top lid off. The belt was slightly frayed on the edges and looked a little old. Inside of the dryer was filled with lint, noticed the vent that sucks the lint from the dryer was almost totally blocked because off caked on lint. Probably from the moisture when we lived in Tx and had it in our garage. Sucked it out with the shop vac and scraped the rest. Removed the whole drum and that's when I noticed the rear drum bearing was totally destroyed and only a piece or two remained. Ordered the drum bearing and drive belt. I was about to put them on when I saw the drum slides were worn pretty thin. So I had to order more drum slides. That's why it took me so long to repair the dryer. If I had the parts already, it would have only taken an hour or so. I was pretty excited that I did it myself, since my husband usually fixes everything around the house. Easier than I thought :o)

Unplug the AC cord. Open dryer door and unscrew 4 small Phillips screws that hold the top panel to the front panel. Tilt up the top panel.
To remove the front panel: Look on the inside of the front panel, disconnect all the wire connections that go to/from the front panel, such as the light and door switch. Remove 2 screws that attach the top of front panel to the side panels using a 8mm or 5/16" wrench. Undo or loosen 2 Phillips screws at the bottom of the front panel, one at each bottom corner. Remove the front panel. Go to the back of the dryer. Remove the 8 screws holding the lower access panel (8mm or 5/16"). Remove the access panel. Also, remove the 2"x4" access plate in the center of the back panel (2 8mm/5/16"). Reach inside the small panel opening with a needle nose pliers and remove a Cir-clip and washer that holds the rear drum bearing shaft in place. Now you can remove the drum straight forward. Clean, clean, clean the insides. Replace the worn drive belt, follower wheel and front slider pads as needed. Reverse the procedure to reassemble. Plug in and test. Drink beer.

After opening the front door there are screws that are holding the top to the door. Take those screws out using a Phillips screwdriver. The top should lift up and rest at a near 90 degree angle.

The door has two screws at the bottom that need to be taken out. Once those are out there are two screws on both sides at the top holding it to the frame. Remove those as well.

Before you remove the front you should document the wiring for the door light switch. I took these off to give the door a little extra room so I could rest it on a toolbox without taking all the wires completely off.

Once the door is free, on the back there is a metal plate with two screws in it roughly in the middle of the unit. Unscrew the top completely but leave the bottom screw in and just slightly loosen it. This will allow it to swing down out of the way without the need to completely remove it and have one more part to put back together in the end.

What this plate is covering is the center of the drum. There is a small metal tab that you can push on and it will push the drum out so it can be removed. Gripping the drum, you can lift it out by guiding it through the notches on each side where the drum protrudes.

With the drum removed you'll see the motor and idle pulley. On my model the pulley was attached to a metal rod that was spring loaded. The pulley is held on by a small tension washer that was easily removed with pliers. Installation was somewhat more difficult but mostly just getting it lined up and started. Once on the rod it was easy to push it into place.

With the new pulley installed it's time to install the new belt. To do this first put the belt over the drop and then replace the drum back into the frame. Once the drum is pushed back into the hole it will support itself.

Now you need to remove the panel on the back to get access to the motor and pulley. This panel has a lot of screws. Once that's off you can then guide the belt over the motor and get the idle pulley to put tension on the belt.

Once that is complete just replace all the screws you removed, plug it back in and watch as your new belt moves the drum once again.

Easy repair, but did take a little longer than anticipated due to the extra cleaning that I did while the dryer was disassembled (highly recommend). First, unplug the power cord. Then, open the door, and locate the two screws in the upper corners, and remove. This will allow you to remove the top cover. Be careful and work the top panel up and down to loosen the control panel tabs, and set aside top panel. Next, remove the two screws located near the top on the inside of the front panel. Removing these two screws will allow you to lean the front panel forward, lift up, releasing the tabs holding the bottom of the panel. Be careful when you pull the front panel from the dryer as you will need to lift the drum off of the front bearing which is attached to the front panel as it is removed. You will also need to use your needle nose pliers to remove the wires prior to setting the panel aside. The wires are straight forward and power the light at the top, and the safety door switch. I always take a picture with my phone's camera just to validate when I re-connect them. Reaching underneath the drum you will be able to feel the belt and belt tensioner pulley. With both hands under the drum, use one hand to push the pulley to the right, releasing tension on the belt. Move the belt out of the groove, and let it hang freely. Now from the top of the drum, bump the drum to loosen, and remove from the cabinet. It is a tight fit, so you will need to spread the sides slightly in order to remove the drum. Next, remove the 3 screws holding the heat diffuser in the rear of the drum in order to remove the rear drum bearing. (Tip: It would be nice to have a helper hold the new drum bearing in place when starting the screws, and it also helped to tighten each a little at a time to keep the new bearing flat as it was drawn up next to the drum.) Tighten the screws holding the new bearing in place. Next, remove the 4 small screws holding the heating element housing to the rear of the dryer. (Tip: Rather than disconnecting the wires, I used a bent coat hanger to hold the housing while I removed the bearing retainer and clip from the rear of the housing.) Remove the 4 screws holding the bearing retainer and clip, and replace with you new part, paying close attention to the clip's position, and tighten. Replace the housing to the rear of the dryer. (Tip: Now is a good time to familiarize yourself with the belt and tensioner pulley for reassembly. Also, it may be a good idea to look at your belt, and replace as needed.) Next, reinstall the drum and insert the new bearing shaft into the new bearing housing. Using both hands again, reach underneath the drum, locate the tensioner pulley, and belt. Push the tensioner pulley over to the right, and move belt over the pulley on the motor, and behind the tensioner pulley. The belt should be tight. If not, inspect to ensure that the belt is over the motor pulley, and the tensioner pulley. Next step is to reinstall the front panel. I also spent the extra money and replaced the front drum bearing, and slides. Please note that the green slides are on top, and the white slides are on the bottom. Lift the panel over the tabs, lean forward while lifting the tub, resting the tub on the front bearing. Reinstall two screws in the upper corners, and tighten the front panel back in place. Now is a good time to turn the drum to ensure that the belt is in place, and that the drum turns correctly. (Tip: If your dryer is equipped with a light, you may also want to replace the bulb in the front panel (if needed) prior to attaching the front panel.) Reinstall the top panel by aligning the tabs in the control panel with the top panel, being careful not to bend the tabs. Next, open the front door and use the 2 long screws to reattach the top panel to the front panel. Plug in power cord.

first I removed the screws with the nutdriver at the bottom of the dryer at the back..then I could see the belt was broken...next I took off the 2 nuts at the back that hold the top on ..then opened the dryer front door and unscrewd the 4 screws holding the top on....then I lifted the top up and to the side...then all I had to do was take out 2 screws one on each side of dryer front and the the front was open enough that I could slide the new belt on dryer..then screwed the front back on...then placed the top on and went to the back of dryer and put belt on pulley using the diagram I found in the instructions inside the dryer top...really a lot easier than it sounds...easy fix saved me from buying another dryer

First unplug dryer... very important. You have to identify the appropriate size socket wrench and locate all necessary screws to remove top panel of dryer and front panel. Locate belt drive. Remove old belt , replacing it with new belt attaching belt to dryer drum . Remove back panel of dryer to better reach and adjust belt onto tension wheels. Put dyer back together. YouTube gives you an idea of how to properly change a belt on dryer

Took to many parts off to find out only needed to remove four front screws under the lid. I lifted the lid and found the thermostat and replaced same dryer now works great again at normal temps.

I discovered that the High Limit Thermo was in place, but had been bypassed years ago. After lifting the top up, I finally found the HLT on the top left side in the back. I removed it, then put the new one in with its 2 screws. I put new lugs on its wires and put them back on. The dryer tested GOOD. No more potential Bar-B-Que! I did print a picture of the wiring diagrams that were on the back of the unit. This gave me the color code of the wires, where they were to be found, and what they did. This also helped. This GE Dryer is at least 26 years old! Newer Dryers in the Videos actually require more work removing things to get to the Thermostat. When I finally found it, the job went quick.

Top is hinged in back, removing the 4 screws over the door under the top allowed the top to open. Removing the 2 screws near the top of the door panel allowed it's removal. Marked and disconnected wiring. Lifted drum through top. New bearing housing required 3 mounting holes to be tapped to 10-24. Installed bearing and backing shims with old hardened allen head mounting screws inside drum while wife held bearing in back of drum. Furnished 3- 10-24 lock nuts to lock mounting screws in place from their back side. Reinserted drum through dryer top with belt on drum. Hardest part was getting the belt on motor pulley while holding the idler in it's correct position due to small access holes at the very bottom in rear panel. Works just fine again.

Took apart the entire dryer. Cleaned and vacuumed all parts.
Removed drum assembly and threaded new coils in insulators.
Connected new heater coils to supply terminals and then reassembled dryer. Key to proper assembly was having threaded keys to properly allign the dryer drum during assembly. Dryer was tested and it works like a new dryer now. Old dryers have higher quality motors than newer dryers.

I removed the front panel and the top of the dryer, pulled the drum forward and removed the old rear drum bearing then inserted the new rear drum bearing. I didn't replace the washers or the retaining ring in the back. Put the drum shaft into the new rear drum bearing. Put the front panel and the top in place and started using the dryer again.

After identifying the issue, the biggest issue was trying to identify how to get the belt around the drum tumbler. After looking through the back hatch, I figured the best way was through the top. I removed the top just enough to work the belt in between the drum and the front sheet metal. Then I turned it on its side and worked the belt from the back hatch. I pulled the pulley back on the tensioner and slipped the belt under neath. Put it back together, been working great.

Removed 3 torx screws on the control panel. Removed two more regular screws from the dryer opening. This allows removal of the top. Removed some panels from the back to access where belt feeds through the motor. Found the belt snapped in two inside.

Now that I knew what the problem was I found partselect.com on Google. Ordered the part friday morning with ground. The belt arrived SATURDAY MORNING! I didn't even know fedex would deliver ground shipments on Saturday. Less than 24 hours later I had it. AWESOME.

Removed the front panel by removing two hex bolts to allow me to drape the belt over the drum. Not having seen how the belt was originally around the tensioner and the bad diagrams included with the dryer, it took some figuring to get it back on right. But we did it and we're back in business. I will absolutely buy from PartSelect.com again!

Removed filter as for cleaning. Replaced with new filter. NO TOOLS REQUIRED!