Drum Support Bearing

We followed the instructions for the drum glide replacement and changed the belt and drum support bearing piece, cleaned it out too. Works like a charm. Thanks for saving us a bundle.

I was getting brown spots on my clothing since I bought this used dryer. Went to partselect.com Fine with me, but not my wife and daughter! Anyway, after ruling out rust, I ended up here and found Randy's story - without it, I'd be lost! Basically, the felt seal crushes over time, and clothing gets caught in the gap stuck against this nasty old brown felt and leaves a mark.

Replacing the belt was a very good idea, though as mentioned, the drum support bearing is just a "nice to do" - not necessary, but it gives you the excuse to re-grease it (I used a thick Molly impregnated grease from my motorcycle).

The only other advice I can give is that I used a chisel to scrape off the old felt - it came off in very little time, and I didn't end up needing to really do much cleaning of the drum afterwards. Just use a sharp one you're not afraid to dull - it'll be metal-on-metal contact.

Using the spring-loaded clamps that you can get from the hardware store was also a huge help - it just needs to keep the upper glide stuck to the drum for the 30 minutes for the glue to cure - I used 6, but 3 would work. The bottom seal doesn't need them as the felt will tend to stick to the drum when the glue is applied.

You might not NEED to replace the lower seal, but I'd suggest it. It's cheap enough, and this job is "not fun" enough that it only adds a few minutes total - good insurance that you do a complete job.

You also might want to get some aluminum foil tape and re-tape your blower extension tube - mine was ripped off from moving from house to house over the years.

well, i started at the top and worked my way down. by taking the top off, it gave me more room to get the dryer tub out. took the two screw`s out of the vented plate on the back of the machine to undo the belt. this is a stackable washer-dryer combo, so next i took off the white plate on front between washer & dryer. took off the control panel, unpluged it, then took dryer door front off. then removed the two screw`s that hold that bracket on ,in the back of dryer, pulled the drum out & replaced the belt, but before replacing anything i took the shopvac to it , there was alot of lint in there.when replacing the Grounding Ball Clip & Grounding Ball, i took a one inch by two inch magnet and used it to hold the Grounding Ball & Clip in place so i could get the two screws started in the Drum Support Bearing & Bearing Bracket. after installing that i put the shaft in place & lined the dryer tub up with the 3 screw hole`s ,and boom, bang, pow...nothing to it. it`s easy...parts came very fast....Thx PartsSelect.com...i`ve told all my friend`s about PartsSelect

This is a combo washer/dryer. First, I replaced the Idler Arm pulley but the noise didn't stop - it was easy to replace with two screws holding a access panel door in the back of the unit. Next I had to take off the front of the dryer unit to access the drum bearing and replace the dryer belt. There were many screws and electrical connections to remove. After replacing the drum bearing, there was a plate on the back that had to be held while attaching the screws from the front. Since I was alone, I taped the plate in place to hold it while I attached the screws.

I followed others suggestions with numbered steps and listened to others suggestions about replacing other parts while in the dryer. I took the dryer apart and cleaned it out well. I used acetone to remove the glue from the felt and Drum Glide at the top of the Drum. It worked much better than Goo Gone. By doing the clean up and evaluation one day, I ordered all the parts that I saw were worn or difficult to get to. I replaced the Heating Element only because the old one was very brittle and to get to it again would be difficult. Also, I followed other's advice to photograph the parts before removing. It was easy to remember how things went if I had a photo to refer to.

When the parts arrived it only took about 30 minutes to install them all because the glue removal, lint removal, and parts removal had been done another day. I should add that I am a 66 year old woman and found the job quite simple. Excellent web site. Thanks to others for the step-by-step instructions. Oh, to hold the Drum Glide and felt in place while the glue cured, clothes pins work great. I let the glue cure overnight to make sure that it was really secure.

I look up on the internet on how to disassemble dryer to get to the parts needed. Took off top, found screws to take off front. Removed existing drum riding seal and lower seal. Used laquer thinner to remove excess glue. Cleaned throughly with soap and water. Reapplied new seals.

At the same time removed drum and parts in the back of the dryer for ball bearing. great, expeditious help from your store. Thank you

Like many others, i was suffering the problem of rust marks on clothes, which ruins them for good.

We have a Frigidaire Gallery dryer, gas, front loading stacked in top of the washer, which is about 7 or 8 years old.

Turns out the top felt seal was worn out, allowing clothes to get stuck between the drum and the door where they would get the rust colored stain. I think this is fairly common. It also "ate" zippers and buttons.

To open the dryer up, you first want to remove 2 screws at the bottom of the front panel, they are covered by little plastic plugs that pop out. Then, go in through the top- you have to pop the lid up from the front, and it swings up like a car hood. from the top, you have to reach in and undo a screw on each side that holds the front panel to the body of the dryer. it's a little tricky.

After those four screws are removed, the front panel is held on by pressure clips, which you can reach from the top and squeeze so they 'let go'. As those release, the front panel will fall outward with the bottom still attached- there are two small pieces of metal at the bottom that the panel sits in. So you lift the panel straight up to get them off those two guides/hooks, and it's clear.

Next you'll want to shop vac the heck out the whole dryer interior. Mine was caked with dust and lint.

Step two is felt replacement. you have to use some muscle to tear the felt off the top of the door opening, which will leave a bunch of ripped felt stuck to the high temp glue. That's where the wire brush and the Goof Off come in. That stuff worked like a charm to remove every last bit of felt and glue.

Once clean and dry, apply the glue that came with the felt guide, set the felt in place (with those plastic pieces facing up), and hold in place for a while. I used plastic clamps to hold the felt in place for about 30 minutes while the glue set.

For good measure, i also replaced the dryer belt and the plastic ball joint that the drum sits in, but i don't think that was necessary. The belt may be a good idea, and to do that you remove the belt by popping it off the little plastic wheel under the drum first, then it'll be loose and you can remove the belt and put a new one on. (This is also a little tricky, take it one step at a time.)

Then put it back together in reverse order and you'll be done with those rust marks.

(Mine is working great)

After reading other posts on this page I learned that these symptoms are very common for older dryers when the felt bearings ("seals") are worn out. I replaced the top and bottom felt strips (the top one has plastic wear pads which had completely worn away on my machine). I also took the time to replace the rear plastic bearing and the belt (pretty cheap parts). In addition, after opening up the dryer I found that one of the wire pigtails connectors was black and melted from arcing (bad connection). I replaced the bad connectors with crip-on connectors from Radioshack ($2). Incidentally, I bought lifetime supply of high temp wheel bearing grease: one tub for $7... and used about a teaspoon, but hey, that's still cheap. The hardest part was cleaning off the old felt adhesive, I used nail polish remover to soften the old glue and scrapped of 80% with a screw driver... good enough! I held the new felt on with duct tape until the glue dried.

I suggest watching the installation video for the rear bearing replacement I found on this website. It showed me where the screws are and the trick for lifting up the back of the tub using the belt to disengage the rear bearing. It was a snap.

First, I removed the top panel which is held on at the front by pressure clips. Second, I removed the entire front panel which entailed removing 2 screws and 2 wire couplings. Third, I removed the 3 screws on the inside center of the drum which turned out to be unnecessary. Fourth, I slid the drum forward in order to access the rear bearing. Lastly, I replaced the entire bearing assembly including the shaft, bracket, bearing, grounding ball and clip. Again, probably not needed but I had ordered the parts in advance in preparation for the worst.

removed top and front of machine. removed drum. replaced shaft, bearing bracket, and support bearing from inside. replaced grrounding ball and clip from outside. reassemble.
this should be available as a kit, and should include high temp grease to put in bearing bracket