MDE10PDEGW Maytag Dryer - Instructions

After taking apart the machine (applianceaid.com has slideshows for most major appliances - very comforting and reassuring - highly recommended), I used a shop-vac to clean up all lint and dirt. After getting the retainer ring off the drum roller shaft (snap ring pliers highly recommended), I replaced the drum roller along with the glides which were completely worn through (rivet gun required). I reassembled the dryer to find that the drum wouldn't turn, so I placed another order for the other drum roller and replaced the belt too. Back in business.

My 10 plus year old Maytag gas dryer was making a lot noise. I ordered a new exhaust fan and also ordered a new belt and two new rollers figuring once I got the thing opened up I should replace a few parts.

First unplugged the dryer (very important!).

Took the front panel off by removing the two screws at the bottom. Disconnected the two connectors for the door switch. Used socket wrench to remove the four hex screws that hold the front of the dryer drum in place. Put my arms inside the dryer to the back of the drum and slide the old belt off the drum. Pulled the drum out and put aside. Used socket wrench to remove several hex screws which hold the fan cover in place. Used needlenose plyers to remove one clip and a pair of circlip pliers to remove the second clip (had to buy these pliers at HD for $20). Took old fan off, put new on one, put clips back on. Replaced fan cover with hex screws. Then onto the rollers. These are held in place by similar clips as the fan and need to be removed with circlip pliers (really tough to do otherwise with trashing the clips). Took the old rollers off (they were actually in decent shape by I replaced them anyhow). Oil the shaft the spin on. Put new rollers on. Put clips back on. Now new fan and rollers. Vacuumed all the lint out from around the inside. Took old belt off (noting that ridged side goes along inside of motor pulley). Put new belt around the motor and tensioner pulley and rested the rest of the belt against the inside of the dryer. Put the barrel back into the dryer against the back. Put my arms inside the dryer and managed to get the belt around the drum in the proper position (take note of proper position when you take the old belt off). Put front drum holder back in place with 4 hex screws (make sure felt "glides" are not folded in and are positioned properly). Put front panel back on (2 screws on bottom). Don't forget to reconnect the door switch. Plug into power. Test. Quite as a mouse.

Well lots of other people here described the process and thats basically what I did.
Unscrewed the front of the dryer and behold the mountains of filth, lost toys, and spare change. Unplugged the dryer. Did some basic cleaning but wanted to get to the matter at hand.
Unscrewed the lint trap - realized I did not need to and put it back on. Unscrewed the 4 screws holding the drum and pulled the front off.
I just cut the old belt off. It was cracked and about to go. Put the new belt on and snaked it back into place. Opened up the back hatch and got it into place via the diagram. (It was spot on)
Put it all back together, plugged it in and started it up.
Hmmmm.. a odd rubbing noise.
Took the front off and looked around. Things looked fine. Checked the belt and started making sure it was working right.

NOTE!!!!!!! It is plugged in at this time you idiot.

Ok, so im trying to get the belt in the right spot and checking how the drum turns when i pull the belt. Well my arm touches the contacts for the dryer element and shocks me. Natural reaction is to yank my hand out as fast as I can. In doing so I punch a nice big gash into my palm. So laying on the floor, shocked, bleating, and its a flithy cut with lint in it.
Yeah me!!

After stopping the bleeding and cleaning it with peroxide I got back to it the next day.

I had the belt IN the grove of the drum. I messed around and moved it OUT of the grove. Worked perfect. While it was in the grove there was not enough tension. Moving it to the main drum tightened and had it go perfectly.

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 !!!

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.

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!

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.

I took off the front panel by removing the two screws at the bottom. Then removed the bulkhead by removing four hex head screws. I left the drum in place while removing the blower cover by removing the hex head screws from the blower cover. I then removed the clip from the center of the blower wheel with needle nose pliers. Then the part that made this repair a bit difficult was removing the retaining ring. I had purchased Kobalt retaining pliers from DIY store and found that the tips of the pliers were to big to fit in the holes of the retaining ring. I then wrapped a paper clip around each of the needle nose pliers leaving a tiny hook on each. I inserted these into the retaining ring holes and was able to pull them apart enough to remove the retaining ring. I then pulled out the blower wheel and replaced it with a new one from partselect.com and put everything back together in reverse order.

From the sound it made I thought it was the rear rollers. That happened once before on another dryer.
After removing all the parts I foung out they were fine.
First unplug the dryer:
Then remove the dryer front door panel.
2 screws at the bottom of the door.
Lift cover from the bottom of the door, it is kind of on a top hinge.
On the bottom left hand corner you will see the plastic cover for the blower. It has 6 small screws that hold the cover on.
Once the cover is off you will see the blower wheel.
Use a pair of Snap Ring Pliers to remove snap ring at end of the shaft.
Use a pair of needle nose pliers to remove the clamp around the blower wheel that holds it onto the shaft.
Slip off the old part.
That was the rumbling noise.

I removed the two screws and removed the front panel, next I removed the fan cover that also directs the air movement into the drying tub. I then removed the external snap ring that held the fan in place on the shaft. The fan very easily slid right off of the shaft. It was reassembled in the opposite order. A very easy procedure. The entire procedure was not more than one hour.

Followed the video. Hardest part was getting the belt around the ideler pulley and motor pulley without seeing. But I got it! Thanks to this site you rock!

Followed the video on this site easy to do, everything went smooth, up and running like new...

I followed your videos for replacing the drum belt and the front glide kits. The videos made it pretty easy. Thank you!

Tear down completely and clean.Look at all parts for wear an flaws,mic several parts.First teardown took several hours. The next time I can repair in two hours.The dryer is very quiet,no vibration.

1) I replaced my idler wheel because the bracket was flopping about. However, so did the new one. Apparently it's engineered in, as the idler wheel is self-centering. The play allows for some leeway in placement of the tumbler belt on the tumbler. 2) The ribbed side of the tumbler belt should face away from the tumbler; the flat side rides on the tumbler surface. One of the videos had this backward I thought. 3) I put white lithium grease on the white friction block on the idler wheel bracket as there appeared to have been grease on the old one. I never could get clear direction on whether the drum roller and idle wheel shafts should be lubricated. I opted to leave them dry as they are plain bearing and there is no service interval specified for them. My dryer is 35 years old (go, Maytag!) and never was lubricated by me. As I can't imagine any factory lubrication would last that long I conclude they should be left dry. Just my guess though. YMMV. 4) it should be obvious, but the idler wheel is best serviced through the access panel on the rear of the dryer. 5). If you're replacing the drum rollers, you really need snap ring pliers. Mine were broken so I struggled for a long time removing the nuts on the roller shafts blind. Then I went out afterward and bought the pliers at AutoZone. Go figure. 6) unless you've got the right size stubby Phillips screwdriver, it's a lot easier to get the dryer face panel off if you prop the front of the dryer up on a wood block for clearance. 7) I thought the screw attaching the idler pulley bracket to the frame was rounded off because I kept turning it and nothing happened. In fact, the flopping of the bracket had destroyed some of the screw threads over time so they had no purchase. I used a screwdriver to lever the screw head away from the frame so that the remaining threads could track and that finally got it; 8) Finally, don't buy the two drum roller shaft fiber washers for $22 separately as I did. They are include in the package with the new rollers.