MDE3600AZW Maytag Dryer - Instructions

Removed door and front and drum. Removed fan assembly. Be careful when working fan off of motor shaft. Unhooked wiring from motor. Removed clips. Replaced motor. Reverse procedure to put dryer back together. Now works like new. Very, very, happy. Part came in 2 days using standard shipping. Way better than buying a new dryer.

The YouTube video on how to replace the baffels was excellent. After watching the video, it was a piece of cake.

Insure the double pole breaker in the breaker box is functioning properly.

Took off the front, took thd drum off, removed old belt, placed on new belt ptu everything back together.

I removed the 2 screws that hold the door and removed the door. I then removed all the screws that hold the front panel and removed the front panel. Then I was able to lift (on hinges) the top panel. I then removed the screws that hold the front drum housing, then removed the drum and belt. At that point you have plenty of room to access the idler pulley. I removed the Idler pulley spring. Then I removed the the screw holding the Idler arm and shaft. Reinstalled in reverse order.

Save the money and buy the part with partselect. My dryer problem was obvious. Before I purchased the part I jumped on YOUtube to see if there was a repair video that matched my problem. FRIELINK5 had a very thorough video. This guy did it with one hand and overall it looked easy. Then I ordered the part. When it arrived I gathered all of the tools first. Rewatched the youtube video, then installed the part. I recommend going through parts select problem determination if you do not know what is wrong. Follow the instructions and purchase the part. I saved probably over $125. House call 50$ + Labor and part $100 from a service call. TRY IT save money.

The dryer disassembly was pretty straightforward. The drive belt slips over the drum and easily prys over the drive and idler pulleys. The drum seal is held in place with the existing metal tabs. The old drum glides had to be drilled out and the new ones pop rivited in easily. Overall a rather simple process and the dryer sounds and drys like new again for minimal expenditure and time. Probably would have cost $200+ had I had a service person do the work.

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.

This should have been a simple repair, but turned out to be time consuming and moderately difficult. I hope these instructions will help anyone who encounters the problems described here.

After a period of the dryer not being used, the idler pulley wheel froze on the shaft of the idler pulley arm, so I needed to replace both parts. After mounting the new wheel and two washers on the new arm and securing with a retaining ring, I went to install this assembly by going in through the small access panel at the rear of the dryer. I slid the belt off the old idler pulley wheel and unhooked the spring from the idler pulley arm; the arm was mounted on a sleeve fastened to the motor bracket by one screw. All that should have been necessary was to back out that screw and replace the old idler pulley assembly with the new one.

That is where the trouble started. Backing out the screw with a socket driver, I found it would go a few turns, then start to bind. I tried turning it in and out to get the threads to engage, but it kept binding. Eventually I gave the screw a hard turn, and then it would turn freely but not move in or out.

Looking on the internet for advice, I found a video that asserts for another model Maytag dryer using the same type of mounting for the idler arm, that there is a design flaw. You can find the video by searching for “Maytag dryer idler pulley defect”. According to the video, the sheet metal screw used to mount the idler pulley arm can gradually loosen due to the pressure and vibration, and begins to “waggle” which eventually damages the threads. I believe this is what happened to my dryer. The video suggests replacing the sheet metal screw with a machine screw and nut for a more durable union.

So now I understood how the screw could be stripped just sitting in the dryer, but that didn’t help me get the screw out. Working through the rear access panel, I tried pulling on the screw head with several types of pliers, pushing the point from behind with a piece of wood while turning the head with a socket driver; eventually I was able to use a pry bar under the screw head and sleeve to apply pressure while turning the head, and with that method the screw backed out. With the screw removed, it could be seen that the threads in the middle part of the thread length were almost completely worn away.

The screw sleeve got somewhat deformed in this process so I ordered a new one, along with an exact replacement sheet metal screw, hoping the threads in the hole were still intact. With the old idler pulley arm now removed, I could transfer the old idler bracket spacer to the new idler pulley arm. When the ordered parts arrived and I tried to mount the idler pulley arm, the new screw would go in only a couple of turns before binding. Rather than risk winding up in the same situation by forcing the screw, I decided to use a machine screw and nut instead.

The original sheet metal screw was a #10. A machine screw the same size would not fit through the hole, and I could not fit my drill into the dryer cabinet in a position to enlarge the hole, so I used a #8 machine screw with a nut and lock washer. First I put some grease on the contact areas of the screw sleeve and idler bracket spacer, then inserted the machine screw through the hole and put the lock washer and nut on the other side of the mounting. The space around the nut is very limited, and most of my tools were too large to hold the nut while the screw was tightened. It was too small for a socket or adjustable wrench, and the clearance from the exhaust duct was too small for the handles of most tools. Eventually, I found a needle nose pliers with short handles that did the job. A thin open end wrench might also work. Then I reconnected the spring and belt to the idler pulley assembly, and closed the access panel. So far the dryer works, but if the #8 screw turns out to be not strong enough, I could get an extension for my drill and enlarge the hole to fit a #10 machine screw and nut.

Looking back on the job, the most difficult part of this repair was removing the damaged screw. This and several other steps might have been a lot easier if I had removed the motor bracket (where the idler pulley arm is mounted) from the dryer and worked outside the cabinet. Part Select has an excellent video “Replacing the Drive Motor” that shows how to do this. It would be a lot of disassembly work, but for someone with good assembly skills could be easier in the long run.

Hopefully most folks out there who replace the idler pulley arm on a dryer will find an easier situation than I did. But for any who have to deal with a stripped mounting screw, I hope this summary will help you resolve it.

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.

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.

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.

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.