Replace a Broken Drive Belt in a Clothes Dryer
Dryer not drying? If the drum in your dryer no longer rotates, chances are your drum-belt may have snapped and you end up with a warm, damp pile of clothes! These steps refer to a Zanussi TC-481W dryer, but the principle is the same for many brands.
The Zanussi TC-484W is virtually identical and instructions are right for that.
Steps
- Safety first! Unplug the machine from the wall-socket and make sure the machine has been idle long enough so that the heater elements, etc. have cooled.
- Remove the top cover of the machine by undoing the 2 bolts at the back of the top panel.
- You should now be able to see if the belt is broken or not. It should be wrapped around the back of the drum. In this picture, you can see it has snapped and is loose on the drum.
- Remove the plastic cover at the bottom rear of the machine and take off the black belt going from the red pulley to the white pulley (this turns the fan).
- At the back of the machine, undo the 5 or 6 bolts securing the air-flow cover...
- ...revealing the drum securing e-ring and washers.
- Remove these and keep them in a safe place for now.
- The drum is no longer holding in the back panel of the machine.
- Using a 7mm socket wrench, remove the screws holding in the back panel of the machine. Take care to support the panel (and the drum) as the screws are removed. A second pair of hands is useful here!
- Taking care to support the drum, move the back panel away from the machine slightly. Do not move more than a few inches yet!
- Before removing the back panel any more, carefully undo the electrical connector for the heating element.
- Remove the broken belt if not already done.
- Move the back panel away from the drum and put the new belt over the top of the drum (towards the rear) and feed it through between the drum and the back panel and finally around the motor-shaft.
- The motor can pivot and has a spring securing it to the body of the machine.
- NOTE CAREFULLY how the belt needs to pass over the pulley-wheel, then under the motor-shaft!
- The trick to fitting the belt is to hold the belt with your left hand as shown in Step 14 - and with your other hand, push the pulley-wheel anti-clockwise until you can get the belt to loop over it.
- Once this is in place, the hard work is over. Rotate the drum slowly by hand to make sure the belt is able to travel unhindered. Now is your chance to hoover [vacuum] out the back of the machine! Reconnect the heating element connector.
- Re-fit the back cover, taking care to line up the drum with the hole.
- Screw on the back panel. Replace the washers/e-ring securing the drum.
- Make sure you put back on everything you removed (such as the belt for the fan).
- Re-fit the top cover.
- You're good to go!
Tips
- It can take some effort to move the motor/pulley assembly against the spring - take care not to strain anything (you or the machine!!)
- Do get another person to help out for some of these steps
- You can lay the machine on its front to remove the back, that way you can do it on your own - you will need something about the same height as the machine to lay the back panel on because of the attached cables on the top right. You should lay a folded towel under the timer dial so it doesn't get squashed and don't forget to remove the water bottle before you tip the machine.
- Make sure you put back on everything you removed (such as the belt for the blower).
- Ensure that the belt can move when finished by rotating the drum by hand. If it slips off, you could be back to square one!
- Hoover out the back section where the water collector sits while the back panel is off.
Warnings
- On GE you'll need to pull off the front and top of the dryer instead for this repair, it is a little more complex also. There is tensioner pulley that can be a PITA to work with and many, many, sharp edges...wear cut-proof (kevlar) or leather gloves when reaching in do this, and do not slide your arm through the large hole on the bottom right... it is kinda like a crab trap and you may get stuck.
- Take suitable precautions to ensure the machine is safe to remove the back panel, isolate from the mains, etc.
- If you are in any doubt, call qualified repair personnel!
Things You'll Need
- 7mm socket (A flat-head screw-driver will do if you don't have this)
- Hoover (For cleaning up inside machine/bits of broken belt, etc.)
- A helper!
- A towel or cushion to protect the timer dial if you are laying the machine on its front.
- A chair or similar to rest the back panel on if you are laying the machine on its front.
