MCE8000AYW Maytag Dryer - Instructions

Was a little hard getting at the idler pulley being it was behind the blower assembly, but it was the only draw back.

Shut off power and gas, unscrewed lint vent, raised top on angle with rope, unscrewed and moved door switch, unscrewed and took off front, put new belt around drum, then raised front end of drum with 4 narrow pieces of 1" foam insulation which let me view and install the belt connection to the drive motor shaft, adjusted the level of the drum using the rope holding up the top, removed foam pieces, replaced and rescrewed the front to fit the drum front channel, replaced the door switch, replaced the top and screwed it to the lint vent, returned gas and power, and ran confirmation test.

- Unplug the electric dryer.
- Manually opened the top of the dryer.
- Unclipped the wire assembly attached to the front panel of the dryer.
- Removed two screws holding the front panel of the dryer, and remove front panel for access.
- Very Important!! Note how the old dryer is currently installed before proceeding.
- Rotated the dryer drum while working the dryer belt toward the rear of the dryer.
- Removed the dryer drum.
- Removed the old dryer belt.
- Put the new dryer belt around the dryer drum and put the dryer drum back onto the drum rollers and into the rear guides.
- Here's the hard part, lay on floor and reach into the pulley area and motor - wrap new dryer belt around these belt rollers as "noted" in the fifth step.
- Rotate dryer drum by hand to ensure the new dryer belt is exactly installed as the old dryer belt.
- Reinstall front panel.
- Reclip wire assembly onto the front panel.
- Manually close the top of the dryer.
- Plug in the electric dryer.

I replaced it

Removed the two screws at the back that hold the top of the dryer. Then I pried off the top at the front by inserting a screwdriver into the front to remove the top from the clips. Then I tilted up the top like a car hood.

I removed the two screws inside that held the front on and lifted the front off. Because of the wires attached to the front, I made sure to turn the front aside without pulling on the wires. After removing the broken belt, I put the replacement belt over the front of the drum, lifting the drum a little. Then I threaded the belt over the drive and around the tension wheel per a diagram I found on the web.

While I had the front off, I removed the lint trap and cleaned out probably decades worth of lint.

Then I replaced all the parts in reverse order, plugged it in and had a working dryer!

I pried the top of the dryer with a screw driver and then lifted the top of the dryer, I then removed the two screws "with a nutdriver" that held the door in place and then removed the door and drum. I then got the new belt and placed the belt over the drum and positioned the belt through the idler arm and then on the motor pulley. I had to hold the door and drum to lock the bottom of the dryer door to the dryer and then made sure the rear drum seal was in place and the belt did not slip off the motor pulley

First, I printed one of these responses which were excellent and very detailed. The screws connecting the lint slot to the top of the dryer was frozen. Taking the front panel off was difficult because I did not read the instructions I printed out very well. After I took the top off I had a hard time finding the 2 screws located inside on the top of the front panel. They are located to the far right and left at the top. To take off the front panel you have to push it up to release the clips on the bottom, then it comes right off. Taking the drum out was easy. What was difficult was putting the belt on. There wasn't any slack and to put it around the pulley and the drum for me was difficult. After that is was a piece of cake. It works great.

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.

Removed old blower wheel and installrd new one. Had a little trouble installing the new blower as the bore was a little small. Had to drive the new one on the shaft. Now the dryer works fine. Many THANKS for the prompt shipment.

remove front of dryer and control panel
removed belt from pulley
remove drum
removed both wheels
installed new belt
installed drum
installed new pulley
attached belt to pulley
spun drum to make sure all was well
re-attach front face and control wiring
tested
all was well

Un pluged and Moved it out from the Wall, Raised the top, found broken belt. ordered belt on line, 2 days belt came in. cleaned all dust and dirt out put greese on berrings for rollers bleu out vent hose with Leef Blower. put top down, pushed back. pluged in and turned on IT WORKS!!!

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).