MDE4916AZW Maytag Dryer - Instructions

This is the dryer of a 28 year old Maytag laundry pair. I had replaced the glide kit 8-10 years before. Did them again because they were worn in half again but this time I added the 2 roller kits and the belt, really just guessing. I was surprised how full of dust and lint the inside was, especially the blower fan blades. I ordered the screw because the belt idler pulley assembly was very wobbly and I hoped that was the screw anchoring it to the motor housing was the problem but it wasn't. Turns out the threaded hole in the housing was stripped, due I guess to years of vibration. It was too tight to get a tap and dye in there so I drilled the hole out and replaced the screw with a bolt and nut and lock washer. Before drilling it out I tried a few strands of wire and JB Weld, like the trick with stripped wood holes where you break off toothpicks in the hole and fill with wood glue. But that stripped out too so I drilled and used the bolt. Turned out I didn't need that $7 screw. Probably should have known comparing it to the old one which looked the same after I cleaned it. Anyway, it sounds fine again.

I looked at this website and found the symptoms, noisy, and no heat or not enough heat. I ordered the recommended parts. They were the drum support roller kit, idler pulley wheel and bearing, high limit thermostat, and lastly the front glide kit. I had anticipated having to use all of these parts. Upon following the instructions in the videos (couldn't ask for better instructions) I disassembled the dryer to see how bad everything was before replacing the parts. The left drum support roller spun easily, but had a little roughness and slight noise, the right one spun easily but not like I thought a new one would have spun, the idler pulley was stiff and very noisy. The thermostats all seemed to be in good shape (had continuity). I cleaned the bearings and shafts of all of the rollers with alcohol, paper towels and cotton swabs. The bearings and shafts all looked like new, so I lubed them with a slight amount of high temperature grease and reassembled the rollers. They moved smoothly and quietly. The fan was quite full of lint, even cleaning the filter after every load does not stop all of the lint. It has been in use probably over 10 years. After everything was back together, it runs like a well oiled sewing machine and has been drying well. I did return the parts unopened. This would not have been so successful without the videos. Thanks to all of you.

The dryer model was on a sticker inside the door which had long ago rubbed off. The most difficult part was figuring our how to dismantle the dryer. I finally looked up the matching washer by model number watched a youtube video and the dismantle was the same....take off the door, remove front cover then remove screws that held the hook brackets that held the top down. After we figured that out the rest was pretty easy. The main issue was the Idler Pulley Wheel and Bearing. We decided to replace the rest of the parts because we already had the thing all apart. It is amazing all the lint that gets into the dryer cabinet and passed the lint filter. Dryer works like new again. I love this set and will keep repairing as long as we can get parts.

Followed the directions on the video. I recommend changing both tumbler wheels and idler pulley when you have unit apart as well as the drive belt. When I opened the dryer cabinet I immediately saw what my scraping noise was being caused by. A screw holding a baffle in the dryer tub had backed out and was scraping the cabinet wall on each rotated pass. Like I said, when you have the cabinet apart you might as well change parts that are going to fail. The repair was very easy and now I have many more years of service with my dryer. Had I opened the dryer before to see what parts I needed I would have seen the loose screw.

Unplugged dryer.
Removed front control knob and removed two bolts behind it using 1/4" nutdriver.
Unscrewed three phillips screws along top of control panel.
Using slight shaking motion to release tabs, removed control panel from top/back of dryer and pulled forward.
Using needle-nose pliers as necessary, removed electrical lines from old timer and inserted them onto corresponding tabs on new timer. These are color-coded, but I found it just as easy to move each line from one timer to the other in order as I removed them.
Used nutdriver to attach new timer to control panel.
Reattached control panel to top/back of dryer and reassembled housing using the phillips screws. Reattached control knob.
Plugged in dryer.
Took me 35 minutes -- I am a 70-year old woman who has never done a repair like this before!

I ordered the timer base knob, timer knob insert cap and the timer dial skirt. We put all three pieces together and put it on the D metal timer post. Good as new!

Went smoothly. Took the opportunity to vacuum out entire cabinet. Also removed tumbler vanes inside dryer as coins had made their way into them. The only other suggestion I have is that I didn't notice cabinet screws were different lengths till I started reassembly. Might be smart to label and separate them

At first I thought I could just replace the pulley, but on closer inspection I found that the pulley had become seized on the shaft. I ended up removing the entire bracket (which I should have purchased also) and cutting the shaft off. I manufactured a new shaft from a bolt of the appropriate size and tack welded it to the bracket. It took a little more time than I anticipated. My advice to anyone doing this would be to spend a little extra money and buy the entire bracket and pulley. That would make this about a 15 minute job.

Disassembled dryer and replaced drum support roller and shaft. That took care of the noise but I still replaced the belt and idler pulley while I had it apart.

Removed door, then brackets holding top panel to side exposed after removing door. Lifted top panel to expose dryer chamber. Rotated chamber to access outside screws holding broken baffle. Removed and replaced baffle. Closed top lid, reattached to side. Replaced door. When reattaching top lid, do not tighten H/W just yet. You'll have to maneuver the hooks into place for the door to reattach. Then tighten when in place.

I simply put the new lint filter in the spot for it inside the door.

I removed the knob and timer skirt after viewing the same on the parts diagram provided by PartSelect. This was very helpful. I ordered the new part, received it in just a few days, reinstalled the parts and everything works fine.

The key was the diagram provided so I knew exactly what to order and how the parts could be taken apart and reassembled.

On my maytag dryer I took the door off with two screws, took the front panel off with four srcews, lifted the top panel up a little bit and removed the belt from the "tub" and pulled the tub out. I could easily then access the idler arm and pulley wheel. Due to the age of the dryer, I also replaced the tub belt while it was apart. Reversed the process to put it back together, alot easier than I thought.

Warner

Following the instructions I pulled off the door and front panel. After rotating drum so the broken baffle was at the bottom I used a socket to remove the two screws on either end. I removed the broken baffle and inserted the new baffle in its place. Reinserted the screws, front panel, and door. I do strongly suggest having the manual handy to view the steps. It's available in PDF format.

Door switch was very easy to replace as it simply snaps in for the outside and you just clip on the two control wires that already have clips on them.