Squeaky Clothes Dryer

Probably a roller going bad. At Lowes/Home Depot they've got a good selection of Appliance and Misc. I can't walk you through a troubleshoot, but Home repair/troubleshooting books that I think every homeowner should own if they have a few basic tools and are willing to try stuff themselves.

Hope this helps!

Four possible areas:

There is a small roller that tightens the drive belt for the drum. They can squeak. Remove the lower front panel and you should see the small roller near the motor and belt.

Another is the two larger rollers that support the drum. You will see this if you remove the front lower panel.

A another is where the drum rides on the upper round part of the door/opening and it has a plastic guide that seperates the metal drum from the metal door/opening. Over time this wears out and the two metal pieces will squeak.

The motor bearings may be worn. Remove the drum drive belt and then start the dryer. If it squeals with the belt off then the motor bearings are likely worn.

Greetings. After working on Frigidaire dryers for the past 15 years, I would bet you have a bad rear drum bearing. These bearings, when they fail, they make the most shrill sound you can imagine. Usually support rollers and idler pulleys don't make this noise, and chances are, your front panel is a solid panel, not a split one. These bearings get packed with dirt, dust and lint which causes them to become dry and fail. It's inherent in its design, which you will understand if you decide to fix it. Trust me, you need a rear bearing. The only hope you have is that you have noticed it before the bearing cradle is fried. If not, it doesn't really matter, because all the related parts come in the same package. If you're interested in doing it yourself, I can help you change it. Just let me know.

My dryer ( Frigidaire FDE546RES1) has this exact problem: Unbearable squeal that goes away in 1 or 2 minutes. I would like to repair it if I can.

I bought a belt, thinking that was it but you (applguy) say it must be bad rear drum bearings.

How do I find them? How do I replace them? I am able to get the front of the dryer off but I do not know how to remove the back.

Thanks for you help!

I don't see why you couldn't fix it yourself...it's not really that difficult, but it can really be a bonus if you can have someone help you hold things together at one point. It (the dryer) is serviced from the front. The part number you will likely need is 5303281153. This is a kit that contains every part that could possibly need to be replaced when dealing with a rear drum bearing. First, unplug the dryer from the outlet or remove power at the breaker/fuse panel. To raise the top of the dryer, insert a putty knife into the crack between the top and the front panel and push against the spring clips to release them. There are two clips, anywhere from 23 to 8 inches in from the sides. You should be able to feel the spring tension when you push on them. Push one in slightly, and raise that side, then the same for the other end of the main top. Once the top is up, you will disconnect the wires to the door switch (right side, on the backside of the front panel), if there are 3, mark them somehow to get them back correctly, if only 2 wires, no need as location makes no difference. Then remove the phillips screw holding the yellow tab-looking plastic thing front and center in the top of the front panel. Then remove the 2 screws holding the front panel to the side panels, screw heads are inside the cabinet, screws pointing towards you. Pull the front panel away and lift off the bottom clips to remove. Now remove the belt from the idler pulley. The idler is located right behind the blower/motor unit. Make sure to note how the belt goes around the idler so you get it back on right. Once the belt is free, slide the belt to the back edge of the drum and, using it as a handle (on the top side of the drum), lift straight up to disengage the rear bearing from the cradle. This can be a very tight fit, especially if it worn badly. You may have to pull relatively hard. Once done, the drum will pull out through the front of the cabinet. Now you can see the drum support ball on the back of the drum and the cradle that holds it. Simply keep note of how you remove the cradle from the back wall to reassemble it correctly (this is where 4 hands are better than 2 and don't loose track of the ground bearing from the back). Using a small drop of supplied grease to keep the bearing in the plastic cradle makes reassembly much easier. As far as the post on the back of the drum is concerned, if the new and old parts look ABSOLUTELY identical, leave it alone and just clean it up good. If you must change it (another place where 4 hands are better than 2), be very careful with the new screws, because they are cheap and the heads strip almost instantly. Put a generous portion of supplied grease into the cradle and reassemble the dryer. Good luck, and if you see something that doesn't look right or confuses you, let me know.

Well, I did it! I understand why it costs so much to have "the repair guy" fix it! Thank you very much for saving me so much.

It was NOT easy getting it back together.

There is a slight knocking sound that wasn't there before....I am going to go with it for now!

Thanks again.

Kathy

Happy to be able to help. If you had to change the rear support on the back of the drum, you might want to look that over once more to make sure it's together right and tight. The rear of the drum runs very close to the heater and its ceramic insulators and I would hate to see you short out your heating element because you overlooked something. It could also be the belt tracking wrong in the idler pulley. I don't remember off the top of my head if there is an inspection cover on the back of the dryer that you could check that without too much trouble. By the way, thanks for the "cost" comment. Some people just don't get that just because I may make it look easy, doesn't necessarily mean that it would be easy for them. Sometimes experience and time is worth more than money. Oh, and I assume your noise is gone....Cheers.

Thanks applguy! My wife and I completed this in under an hour and the dryer does NOT squeak. Yahoo!

Thanks so much Appleguy, you ROCK! We fixed our dryer using your excellant post. You saved us some cash, and our sanity!