DE180 Maytag Dryer - Instructions

First I unplugged the dryer. Then, I took off the front cover, then a piece that holds the tumbler on. I put the new belt on and took a few minutes to make sure the belt was placed correctly. Lastly I put everything back on and plugged it back in. She started right up.

I had to remove the door first. Then the retaining brackets that hold the upper lid on. This also allowed removal of the front cover. After releasing the tension of the drum belt, I removed the drum and replaced the drum roller in suspect. Installation was reverse in order. Don't know why I waited so long to do such a simple job.

Unplugged dryer. Removed two screws and removed front of dryer disconnecting the wires from the front. Removed 4 screws and blue wire allowing the me to take the shroud off. Removed blower fan cover by taking out the screws and pulling down. Used pliers to take off clamp on blower fan and then had to use snap ring pliers to remove snap ring. Pulled blower fan off, replaced with new and put back on snap ring and clamp. Reinstalled blower cover, Removed drum by cutting belt (noted the direction of the belt around the idler pulley). Replaced belt (decided since I was going to be in the dryer and it is 14 years old I would replace belt as well) and drum. Reinstalled shroud and front cover. Dryer is very very quiet now.

I have never replaced a belt on anything before, but I did this mostly with ease.I watched the video and said " I can do this". Removed the front and the blower as instructed, removed the tub and belt, tried to put new belt on,had a problem,watched the video again, put the belt on pretty easy, then put it all back together and WOW, it worked. So easy any WOMAN can do it !!!

Replace belt

There was a rhythmic loud banging noise coming from our dryer (sounded like there was a sneaker going around in the drum). After reading several diagnostic recommendations, assumed it was either the drum belt or one of the guide rollers, but these were found to be OK after opening the front panel. The noise was coming from the blower fan- the center D-shaped hub that connects to the motor shaft had snapped, causing the fan to wobble when running, not what was expected. Had to then place another order for the blower fan part, which was replaced along with a new belt, drum guides and new rollers. Cleaned out a lot of dust and lint, especially around the motor. Re-assembled, and now works like new.

Disconnect Power - Slide dryer away from wall to allow access to front & rear - Remove 2 screws on lower part of front panel - Slide small screwdriver under top cover to release 2 spring clips - remove front panel (disconnect 2 wires at the door switch) - remove 2 5/16 screws and remove lint trap & piping - lift tub and work the belt rearward as you remove tub - remove belt (make note of the belt routing) - use snap ring pliers to remove snap ring that retains Drum support roller - Remove and replace roller (there are 2 rollers, but usually only 1 needs replacing) - Reverse for assembly - (Note: you will need to remove the lower right hand cover (rear of dryer 2 1/4 screws) to gain access to the motor for belt installation)

After removing dryer front, remove several metal shields(ouch sharp!). Remove clamp and keeper ring and blower wheel. Then remember where all those screws came from. If I did it again I would put a spacer washer behind the blower wheel which is not in the original design. This might prevent this happening again.

When this dryer was given to me, I was told the door switch was going bad. It was originally purchased in 1996 as a REAL MAYTAG, so fixing it was no brainer, but the switch did not fix the problem. I pulled the small panel off the back to expose the motor and struggled to spin it by hand, so I assumed the motor was seizing up.

I entered the model number into this website and found a motor that would work and also decided to go with a belt and a fan. There was an installation video provided when I added the motor to my cart. The dryer was older than mine, but obviously identical on the interior. The only difference was that older dryer didn't have a little deflector shield that I have and I still can't remember where that goes. My dryer appears to be working just fine without it though.

Like the video stated:
Remove two screws at the bottom of the front panel to remove the panel while disconnecting the door switch wires. Since I had an old switch, I took the three wires and plugged them into that so I would remember where each one went .

I believe after that was the fan housing with a few bolts, then the drum. I reached through the small back panel to loosen the belt by moving the tensioner back, then removing the drum. The fan was secured by a snap ring and a spring loaded hose clamp that required a small set of pliers.

There were two bolts that held the motor in; once removed, the motor slid out with the bracket. The tough part was using the screwdriver to get the clamps off that hold the motor to the bracket, but the video helped with that.

The new motor did not come with instructions on how to wire it, so I had to go to this site and find somebody who had asked the question. The video did not do all that great a job in showing me where the wires go and since the motor was different than my REAL MAYTAG motor, I had no idea where the wires went, but I found someone who asked the question and he got the answer, so I was able to figure it out.

It had been over a month since I had taken the dryer apart so I went back to that video which, except for the wiring and that tiny little deflector plate, provided excellent detail of how to install everything. I had trouble deciding where I wanted the wires to make sure the drum didn't rub on them, so after it was all back together, I watched the drum rotate with the dryer running from that little panel in the back.

One thing that saved me was every time I took something off, I kept the bolts with that item. It only became a problem when my friend came over and saw the dryer in pieces. He just had to give me his own lecture about fixing dryers and when he talks he has touch everything, so all my bolts are going flying! I was like, "What are you doing? Are you gonna put this back together for me after you lose all my bolts?"

Read the instructions included with the parts, removed the 2 screws on the front of the dryer. Removed a couple of wire connections and 4 screws that held the drum in place. Moved the drum enough to have access to the roller supports. I removed the nut from the back of the supports with a 1/2" wrench. Placed the new supports on the old support pins and reinstalled them. Put it all back together. Probably the most difficult task was getting the drive belt back on the drum correctly. I was done in just over 1 hour.

My stack/washer dryer combo is 1994 vintage, so I discovered the hard way that the instructions on this site, on web videos and that came with the part miss a few points. Most notably, that there is no back panel to open to get to the motor easily to loop the belt around. Instead, after repeated failures to first loop around the drum and then thread around the motor spindle, I tried a different approach. It was just too hard from the front to hold everything in place and "feel" my way to thread it properly. So I tried doing the belt around the motor spindle and tensioner first, then getting the remaining big loop started around the drum, which I rolled to feed the rest of it around, eventually completing that. I then rolled to adjust the belt more toward the center of the drum. Once in the proper track I could tighten the drum in place. BTW, the electronics are not modular and easily unhooked and recooked up as in later models. Had to let connections lie open on washer top as I did the work. So in the process a soldered connection to dryer flame sensor (part # 63033770) fell off. Dryer would turn but not heat. Had to order that part and reconnect. Now all is good again. Clearly though, the days for my washer/dryer are numbered since fewer and fewer parts are available.

Before ordering the heater assembly, I went on the Internet. Read instructions on how to diagnose if the heater were bad and how to replace the heater, I checked the existing heating assembly with a VOM and found there was no resistance - it was an open circuit. This indicated is needed to be fully replaced.. I slowly took it all apart, and then reassembled the new part. Installation was a little tricky but eventually worked out okay.

Repair was fairly simple. Removed small panel in back of Dryer before I read the on-line instructions and discovered that this was not necessary (however, it did allow me better access for a complete lint clean-out).
Once I found some on-line instructions, I discvered how to remove the front panel and VOILA....there was the Heating Element ! Everything went very easily....except for inserting the back of the element pipe into its opening. The pipe was slightly squished, so I attempted to "round-it-out" for a better fit. After fooling around with it for about 20 minutes, I remembered that I had recently purchased a pair of crimping pliers (for furnace pipe) and used them to crimp the back end of the pipe. Once I had done this, the pipe slipped in nicely and I was able to finish the job in about 15 minutes.

repair was pretty easy, actually took more time removing the door and the front housing that actually changing out the rollers

Received parts within two days of order. thank you

I watched the instructional video-it was extremely helpful! I have no experience with taking apart or fixing a dryer, but the video showed me everything I needed to do. It took me 1-2 hours, but I think it only took so long because my dryer was disgusting inside (full of many years of lint and dog hair) and a lot of that time was spent cleaning it. I was thrilled that I only had to spend $20 (including shipping) and a couple hours and now it runs great! I looked up the model-it's from 1985! A new dryer is not something I'm excited to spend my money on, so now I'm going to come back to this website if anything else goes wrong and fix it myself!