How to diagnose and fix a squeaky dryer

[@SVImpavidus]

The old tumble dryer squeaking...... In 1983 I worked for Sevis washing machines in the UK as an repair engineer. I only did a year with them but I learned a few "get you out of trouble" tricks. I carried a few Oil-lite bearings for the tensioner pulley's. It was not standard kit but I would press out the old bearing in the mobile workshop vice and fit the Oil-Lite. Never had to go back to one after that. (the company wanted to charge big fee for fitting a new part and a second visit one of the reasons I left after a year) The second trick was the forward drum felt bearings would wear. Only at the bottom. Again the company wanted to charge the customer for a new felt bearing and a second visit. I used to remove the felt bearing and its support frame and rotate it 180 degrees. Getting another 5-7 years out of the dryer. Good for the customer, a cheap solution with just an hours labour... Not good for the company though...... I guess morality and treating folks right, helping them out is not the corporate way. But I sleep soundly and was able to retire at 55 by treating my customers like people not cash cows. :-) Hope these tips help out you and your viewers. Stay safe. Ant...

[@spelunkerd]

I knew you had a technical background, thanks for a professional contribution to the thread. The economics of a pro visit are different in many ways from the amateur approach, mainly because of callback fees, extra labour for repeat visits, and the hit on reputation if it is not reliably fixed on the first visit. My labour is free, and my better half knows I can't be fired, ha ha.

[@SVImpavidus]

@@spelunkerd Hi. Yes left the Army in 1980 . Trained as a REME Combat recovery engineer. In those days we had to learn how everything worked and how to fix it. Even making parts in a workshop. There were no CNC machines in those days! Did a few things until I worked out you have to make it on your own. No one will give you a leg up unless there is something in it for them... Keep the great videos up your teaching people key life skills that are not taught anymore. Very honorable! Ant.

[@lucabalestrieri]

Very helpful. Thanks.

[@stuzman52]

That was an annoying sound! Great detective work Dave in tracking down the noise. I know the wife is happy now. Wishing you and your family safety during these turbulent times. 👍

[@spelunkerd]

Squeaking returned in a few months so I found and ordered a new dryer arm from Ebay. Search "dryer idler arm" or "dryer idler pulley" and find one that looks the same as yours, or search out your part number from the manufacturer. Factoring in shipping, it was cheaper to buy two and keep one spare. They are cheap. The way the dryer arm swings, even some variance in pulley diameter and pulley thickness is tolerated. If you buy just the pulley you need to get ID dimensions exact, and you won't save much. So, most are sold with the arm as a unit.

[@wyattoneable]

Pesky job but it can be satisfying as well. Especially if the wife is happy. Good things can happen if the wife is happy. I always enjoy your videos.

[@kwd57]

I recently replaced my dryer hose behind the dryer, with the Magvent. It works great and I only have a few inches of hose now.

[@spelunkerd]

What a creative idea, I often wondered what one would do if there is not enough room to pull the dryer out or crawl over the top. Thanks for stopping by!

[@zx8401ztv]

Normally i would expect eather a belt or a motor start capacitor to cause problems, for a ten year old machine it's doing really well :-D Pity you can't sneak in a couple of fiber washers both sides of the pulley to try and keep the grease in and dust out. The thought of using a real sealed bearing had crossed my mind also, it would outlast the machine lol. That's the reason why they didn't use a real bearing. I bought a bosch serie 4 washing machine last year because most mid priced machines are just rubbish, but it cost me £400 so i would expect a reasonable life span. (fingers crossed)

[@d46512]

Would be interesting to see how you'd adapt the pulley to accept an R8 bearing. Nothing better than some Over-engineering to pass the time during lockdown. Cheers

[@ozzstars_cars]

I'm sure you wife is pleased. Good for another 6 years easily.

[@elcheapo5302]

Somewhere an engineer is smiling that the part he designed to last 10 years lasted exactly 10 years.