7MKGDS400DW0 Kenmore Dryer - Instructions

Disconnect the power and gas supply so that you can slide dryer out and into an accessable area to work comfortablely. Removed top and front of dryer. When disconnecting numerous wires from the top controls, draw a simple color coded diagram for reconnection before you disconnect those wires. After removing the top and front, take out the drum and clean all the lint, money etc. out of the normally nonexcessable area of dryer. Place new belt on as you replace the drum. This takes two people; one to hold the drum in position and one to carefully work the new belt into place. Rotating the drum by hand will assist in the placement of the new belt on the drum. After reassembling the newly cleaned dryer it was a pleasure to try it and find a dryer that worked better than during its pre-repair use and it saved us the price of a repair call or a new dryer.

first, i read all the comments on this web site as well as other web site. sooner i confirm the problem is the drum belt, i order the parts.
my kemore model front panel is one piece. so i have to lay down the dryer and open the front panel on the top. The instruction sheet sent with the belt is very good, so it does not take too much time to replace the belt, the challenge task is to reconnect the front panel to the side panel. I spend too much time trying different way to use the fastner hook to connect panels without realizing that the hook is broken. stupid me. i later have to use the wire to connect the front panel to side panel. overall, i am very happy i fix the dryer.

I watched the video on replacing the belt and it was amazingly as easy as the video described. I had asked my son if he could replace it if I couldn't and I didn't have to ask him. If you are only moderately ept at repairing anything you could do this. I was waiting on it when it finally arrived and in no time I had it replaced and my dryer back working. Being a woman I like it when I can repair something myself and not have to rely on someone else to do it.

The repair was pretty simple.
1. unplug dryer.
2. use a med. flat screw driver with some cloth wrapped around the blade as not to chip the paint surface. From the front of the dryer,
carefully pry open the top surface of the dryer. There are 2 points to lift, about 3" from the right side and 3" from the left side.
3. The top will open like the the hood of a car, lift gently, you might have to move the dryer out if you can (if you are on a flexible service connection).
4. Unclip the push bottom elec. switch.
5. Carefully remove 2 sheet metal screws on the top left and top right (from the inside of the dryer cabinet. These hold the front of the dryer in place. You have to remove the front of the dryer to get the drum out. I can't believe that these 2 flimsy screws hold the dryer together.
6. Pull the front panel off, tipping it forward. More on this later, it's really important!!
7. Remove the drum, it's light weight, but bulky.
8. Now you will see the motor assembly and idle pulley.
9. Follow the belt diagram with the replacement belt package.
10. It gets a little tricky to get the drum back in because there's a bit of spring tension on the drum from the belt.
11. You're ready to re assemble. BUT, the next step is really important.
12. Since you have the front panel off, you can get at the lint trap. Yeah, lint. Ever wonder why your favorite Tee shirt gets thinner and thinner? Well, look in the lint trap. I filled a vacum cleaner bag with the hard packed lint.
13. By the way, you have to remove the 2 torx screws that hold the lint trap assembly.
14. Vacuum the whole exhaust pipe while u are at it.
That's it!

I yanked up the front of the lid, the broken belt laid across the drum like a dead snake. Pulled that out, then removed the two screws holding the front. Using the pliers, pulled off the two wires snapped to the door switch.
Lifted out the front panel, and lifted the drum, (added a bit of a yank to get it out of the two rollers in the back).
Vacuumed out the dust and dead bugs, then tried to figure out how to thread the belt on the idler and motor. (This was the hardest part) the picture that shows the parts is an exploded view, and does not show the way that it goes together. After about half an hour, I asked for help, and we found a slight rubbing on the idler and figured out that the tensioning spring pulls on the lower part of the idler arm, not the top. Putting the belt on, and getting the spring into the hole in the base was tricky, but not hard. Reassembly was straightforward, and took less than 5 minutes. (put in the drum with the belt on it, hook the belt on the motor and idler, push the rear of the drum into the rollers, then put on the front panel, re-attach the door switch, and the two screws holding the front, and close the lid).

Worked with a guy, I'm a girl. He had a good "feeling" about how to take apart the dryer, install the belt and put it back together. After one go putting the belt on, starting the dryer and having the belt come off....I followed along silently looking at the directions. Definately needed 4 hands to put the drum back in alignment. Other than that, this was very simple PROVIDED THE DIRECTIONS TO REALIGN THE DRUM are followed at the end. So simply: my directions are meaningless here, just follow the ones enclosed with the belt and this should take no more than 1 hour. :)

Dont go in through the back!! Take the top off then the obvious steps to get to the drum and belt. On the kitchen aid model at least I would advise to make all the hassel of replacing the belt well worth your time to go ahead and buy a new tension pulley with the wheel on it as opposed to the all metal tension pulley. My dryer is much more quiet now and seems to be more efficient.

I waited a two days to get my belt then deciced to get a new tension pulley. Ordered it one day and the next it was at my door. This was well worth my time and effort. Thanks PartSelect!!

Unplugged the 220 line, removed lint cover, (2 screws). Lifted top with a screw driver, (2 plastic fasteners) then unplugged a ground line at the front lip to separate the front panel. There was a 50/50 chance here that I would not put the wires back correctly, didn't not make note of the color differences. There was no lower panel, just a single panel on the front, which I first tried to remove like the top, but quickly saw no results, then lifted the panel easily, which I set aside. I rested the drum on a 4x4 piece of wood. I then slipped the new belt over the drum, aligned the bulkhead at the rear, and positioned the belt in the original position, there was a distinct mark showing this. Next I saw the idler pulley lying on it's side, hmm, thought this might take some time, but the illustrated instructions were very accurate, reset the pulley, pushed it toward the motor and doubled the belt around the pulley, it sort of felt right, according to the grooves on the floor panel. I then rotated the drum counter clockwise, then tested. It worked! Became a hero to my wife and found $1.86 in change, woo hoo! Total cost, including shipping under $20., two day delivery, amazing. Thanks.

We took off the front of the dryer and saw how the new belt needed to go on. It took myself, my daughter, and my husband to get the belt in place and the drum aligned. Once that was done, I put the front of the dryer back on, this holds the drum in place. After that, we sealed the back of the drum like the instructions stated, turned it on, and it worked. We were a little concerned with the instructions stating if the drum was not sealed properly it could cause "fire & death". We kept checking the dryer throughout the evening... no fire, so we were very happy to have done this repair ourselves. Thanks. I would not have tryed it myself except for the positive comments on your site when I looked to order the part. They were correct, it was easy to do and saved us a lot of money in repair service. It also showed my 23 year old daughter how easy it is to some things yourself. :)

lift top of dryer unscrew the top of the pull out filter from the top of dryer. then unscrew the screws near top on the inside of the front panel and have an old soap container handy to hold up the dryer drum. lift the front panel up for removal and put the old soap container under the drum to keep it from falling out. Then mess around with the idler pulley and look up information under pictures of idler pulley in place with belt in Google to see how the belt fits through it.. Finally replace belt, check front and back of drum to insure proper fit and put the dryer back together to see if all works well. and see if the reason for belt breaking is apparant and more than just old age and use.

Pretty much just followed the video - I'd never opened a dryer before, so I'd watch a step, pause and do it, then run the video a few more minutes, and repeat. These dryers are really extremely simple devices: just a heater, then a motor to spin the drum and run the fan (I think the same motor does both). So you loosen a couple of screws, pry the metal case open, and slip on the new belt. Done! I didn't keep track of time, but I'm psyched to have saved myself a $200 repair call! Standard delivery arrived in less than two days, just like they said it would.

Read this site and saw many fixed the problem with a new thermostat. Ordered one and it was simple to replace. Just removed the back panel of the dryer and the thermostat is right there. Two screws to remove it, swap the four wiring plugs onto the new one, reinstall it. Unfortunately that didn't fix it so went back online and ordered the coil kit, another common solution. Removed front of dryer by removing the two screws the hold the lint trap onto the top and the two hinge plate screws on back of dryer to tilt the top up ward and backward. Removed two mounting screws on inside of dryer front and slip front panel upward to remove. The coils are right in the front down at the bottom left of dryer.Used an offset screwdriver to remove the two screws holding them in place. They slide right out, one has two prongs, one has three. Replace them with the new coils and put them back in place. Reassembled and everything works now. Grand total of eight screws removed and replaced, pretty simple. I'd recommend buying two or three parts if you see several parts as possibilities for a repair. Easier than doing it the dummy way like I did!

Watched the video, followed the printed instructions for reminder when necessary. Needed a second person briefly to hold the dryer tub when installing the new belt, and also when removing/replacing the front panel. Beyond that, it was straight forward and relataively easy to do. Solved the noise problems and it dries more evenly now as well. The one thing the instructions don't say is to check the rear canvas seal when the tub is re-inserted into place to assure it doesn't fold back on itself.

Followed the instructions found online. Only thing I would add is that the clips are easier to work with if you warm them up a little before you try to install them.

Followed the instructions and the repair went like clockwork, took less than an hour. I spent more time brushing and vacuuming old lint from the innards of the machine than I did doing the actual repair. Finished up $0.78 richer, too, from the change I found inside the machine.