Please help. I have a 5 year old GE dryer and have never had a problem. From out of the blue it has this awful, very loud squeak when I start it. It is so loud that you can hear it outside. I put clothes in to dry only when I'm leaving the house for about an hour because it has become unbearable to the ears. Help

It's the belt making that noise. Unfortunately you will have to take the whole shebang apart to get to the belt and then replace the belt. My dryer started to squeek and kept squeeking for about a month or so and then just stopped squeeking for no apparent reason as I didn't touch the machine or open it up, etc.

If the noise does bother you, then by all means look up the schematic and repair diagrams for your machine and have at it. But I must caution you. If you don't know what you are doing, please hire a repairdude to come and fix it as if you don't put it back together properly it won't work and you'll have to call Mr. Repairdude out to fix your mistake.

Belts do account for most dryer squeeks but so do the nylon rollers/bearing. You drum sits in like a craddle of rollers and the belt goes all the way around the drum. You can lube the belt with belt dressing or a bar of soap. If the rollers are making the noise they can easily be replaced.

I had this problem with a Maytag dryer. The belt tensioner pulley was worn causing the problem. I understand that it can also be caused by the rollers or bearings under the drum but not often by the belt slipping. I had never worked on a dryer but was able to repair mine.

If I have never worked on a dryer before do you think I should try it or should I hire it done?

I'd say to give it a try, if you get over your head then you can call a Sears guy. Stick a putty knife in the crack along the top edge about one inch down,pry down and insert a screw driver, pry down. This should pop the lid so you can inspect the belt and rollers. Be very careful if you run the unit with the lid raised, no dangling garments or body parts that you want to keep.