Mailbag: Maytag (or Magic Chef) Dryer Rumbles Only When Starting Up or Stopping

by Samurai Appliance Repair Man

Your mother called and said for you to buy all your applaince parts here! Over 800,000 parts in stock, 98% ship the same day, 30-day no-hassle return policy-- return any part for any reason!

Tom Kern wrote:

Hello,

Ref: 13 Year old Maytag Electric dryer……

My dryer has just started making a noise / rumble only during
start-up…. The noise go’s
away one the dryer comes up to operating RPM’s…..

– The belt, Tension pulley, or wheels have never been changed…..

Can you advise what maybe causing this noise on startup ? I can then
order the parts.

Thanks
Tom Kern

Ah yes, the mysterious rumbling dryer. The cause of this noise has eluded many do-it-yourselfers. But St. Applianopoulos, the patron saint of appliance repair, has led you here to The Samurai School of Appliantology for enlightenment. The problem is not the belt, idler pulley, or drum rollers. It’s the blower wheel, shown here to the right–click the picture for larger view.

What happens is that the hub of this plastic blower wheel eventually wallows out on the metal shaft and no longer makes a tight fit. That’s why you hear it rumbling when the motor shaft starts spinning the wheel from a dead stop. Once the blower wheel is spinning at the same speed as the motor shaft, the noise goes away. Likewise, when the motor stops, the blower wheel’s momentum causes it to again spin at a different speed than the shaft and the noise reoccurs. Replacing this blower is an easy repair, not even two mugs on the SUDS-o-meter.

To make this repair, you’ll first need to disassemble the dryer to get access to the blower wheel. To remove the old blower wheel and secure the new one in place, you’ll need a pair of external snap-ring pliers. If someone else reading this has a Magic Chef dryer, same deal applies. You’ll need to order a slightly different blower wheel, shown here to the left.

That’s about all there is to this bit of rocket science. Now go fix your dryer!

To learn more about your dryer, or to order parts, click here.

Dryer Repair FAQs

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 13th, 2004 at 1:47 am and is filed under Dryer Repair. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Or, you can jump to the homepage.

7 Responses to “Mailbag: Maytag (or Magic Chef) Dryer Rumbles Only When Starting Up or Stopping”

Anonymous Says:
June 28th, 2004 at 12:02 am
Wow!
Thank alot for this very instructive and FREE information!!!
I now know what I have to do.
Thanks ALOT! You made my day.

Some guy from Canada.
Joseph Says:
March 21st, 2005 at 12:21 am
I am about to replace my blower wheel on my (Mayag LDE5005ACE). I get access to the wheel and I am 100% sure it is the noise. But I am unable to get the wheel off. I get the clip off but there appears to be something else on the post. Its like a little metal piece connected to the end of the post? is so the wheel cant go flying off the post i assume. How do i get that removed?? so i can replace this.
Samurai Appliance Repair Man Says:
March 22nd, 2005 at 2:02 am
That’s a snap ring on the shaft, snubbed up against the hub of the blower wheel. You’ll need a pair of snap ring pliers to remove it.

Piece of pie, comrade!
VH Says:
May 7th, 2005 at 1:51 am
Okay, I got the clip off of my maytag dryer blower wheel/motor shaft. And, I’ve got the C-ring (snap ring) off. But, its still acting like there is something holding the wheel on. Any insight? Its a Maytag PYE2000.
Thanks!
Samurai Appliance Repair Man Says:
May 7th, 2005 at 8:29 am
Only thing needed now is spit and determination. Pull that blower wheel outta there like you mean it!
Anonymous Says:
June 20th, 2005 at 8:40 pm
Okay I got a Magic Chef, YE20HN3, sounds like a bag of marbles is in it while its on, or more acurately it sounds like its stripping itself while its running, the clothes now are not getting dry throughout, heat works, so I guess the drum is not rotating properly, popped the hood, belt still seems fine, but that’s about where I left it.

Any idea from the description, and how many suds that might take, thanks
Kurt Says:
September 13th, 2005 at 2:58 pm
I have a Maytag Dryer (LDG712) with the dreaded rumble. It also recently began shutting off well before the clothes are dry about 10% of the time. Could these problems be related?

Thanks,

Kurt

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