Appliance Repair Wisdom for the Ages

Thursday, May 13, 2004

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

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!

Samurai Appliance Repair Man cast these pearls at 01:47 ET.  [permalink]

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28 Comments:

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.

By  Anonymous, at June 28, 2004 12:02 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.

By  Joseph, at March 21, 2005 12:21 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!

By  Samurai Appliance Repair Man, at March 22, 2005 2:02 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!

By  VH, at May 07, 2005 1:51 AM  

Only thing needed now is spit and determination. Pull that blower wheel outta there like you mean it!

By  Samurai Appliance Repair Man, at May 07, 2005 8:29 AM  

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

By  Anonymous, at June 20, 2005 8:40 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

By  Kurt, at September 13, 2005 2:58 PM  

i replaced the belt on my maytag dryer. it only spins the drum with half a load. tension to low under full load. can i replace the spring or will tension get better after a few light loads

By  Anonymous, at December 27, 2005 11:39 AM  

i have a Kenmore/whirlpool dryer model 110.68972890. It appears i have either a bad motor or bearings. I cant get the blower wheel off. It instructs me on the cover to hold the shaft and spin the wheel off counter clock wise. The problem is i cant figure out how to hold the shaft still to unscrew the wheel. Next how can I tell in its the bearings of the motor itself. When i hit the start button the motor makes a loud whinning noise, try to spin but cant.

By  Anonymous, at February 07, 2006 8:29 PM  

Belt crud on drum where wheels run.
Today the wife said she wouldn't use the dryer anymore cuase it was making nasty noises. I stalled and said reduce the load,, still bad,,,
The rumble vibration on a Admiral Dryer and after a couple tries it turned out to be a black crud, looks like belt dust stuck on the drum where the support wheels run. Anyway, a little WD40, brush and paper towel, and I got the drum clean and they're both nice and quite now (wife and dryer) ;)

By  Anonymous, at March 19, 2006 5:34 PM  

Using your great instructions, I just replaced my blower wheel and my rumbling noise went away! Yay! But now, I'm noticing a rattling (metal-type rattling) noise every time I turn it on. The noise seems to be coming from the back of the dryer. Think I may have done something wrong when I made the replacement? It's a Maytag PYE2000AyW. Thanks!

By  KimM, at April 01, 2006 12:29 PM  

That would be a loose sheet metal panel, a wire rubbing on the drum, the drum rear felt seal not set right....?

By  Samurai Appliance Repair Man, at April 01, 2006 2:34 PM  

Can you run the dryer without the blower fan? What exactly does this fan do?

By  Lisa Harris, at April 13, 2006 9:08 AM  

Dryers only do three things: 1) Tumble the clothes, 2) Create hot air, and 3) Move alot of it. You can make all the hot air you want, but if you don't move that hot air and humidity (from the wet clothes), the clothes will never dry. Well, never say never, but it'll take long enough that it might as well be never. That little plastic blower wheel that you're thinking about amputating is what moves all the humid air through your dryer and gets your clothes dry. Sound important?

By  Samurai Appliance Repair Man, at April 13, 2006 8:18 PM  

I see what you are saying about the split ring but my Amana PLEA60AW doesn't have a split ring so how do I remove the old wheel and add the new one?

By  Jim Van, at May 12, 2006 6:31 PM  

It might be a screw on, depends on the model.

By  Samurai Appliance Repair Man, at June 02, 2006 9:13 AM  

This post has been removed by a blog administrator.

By  Lyle, at November 02, 2006 1:30 PM  

Was shopping for the blower fan. There is a part that is good for maytag only $17. But there are also others listed for $23. And a DEEPD ? Should I stick with the $17 part ?

By  Lyle, at November 02, 2006 1:32 PM  

Thanks!! Just fixed it... made me look like a hero in front of my wife. Never opened a dryer before. Cheers.

P.S. Blower wheel is $23.85 + tax in Canada.

By  Barry, at November 02, 2006 11:07 PM  

Well I just finally realized from your website that my noise problem was the blower wheel - finally got the old one off and put the new one on. So then while turning the blower wheel, no matter where the metal "vane" was pointing, it seemed to be in the way and slowing or stopping the wheel from turning without issue. I took the "vane" out and the dryer is working!!!! and without noise!!! What does the "vane" do? Can I live without it? Ms Fixzit from Syracuse.

By  Anonymous, at November 11, 2006 10:24 AM  

you wrote that a metalic rattle may be casued by a drum rear felt seal not being set right. what is the correct position of the felt on the drum?

my dryer is Maytag model MDE9357AYW and it was squeaking like mad. i opened it up, cleaned around the drum rollers, oiled the posts and checked the belt. then put everything back together.

now the sqweak is gone but there is a slight metalic rattle at the top of the dryer. i am wondering if it might have to do with the felt that is around the edges of the drum. does the felt go on the outside of the drum? when i was checking the rollers, the drum slid off a bit and after I cleaned the rollers, I placed the drum back in place but I am wondering if I could have dislodged the felt?).

when i lift the top cover of the dryer and slightly tap on the top of the drum, i hear that rattle but everything seems to be in place and closes without any problems. i could just ignore the sound, but i am worried about it being a fire hazard.

thank you for your help!

By  ig, at January 20, 2007 4:40 PM  

i have the same rumbling but it does not stop. Do you think its the dryer wheel?

By  Ken, at August 23, 2007 6:39 PM  

My husband and I fixed our dryer this morning. The rumble is gone, and the dryer is super quiet now. Thanks for the guide!

By  Fran, at August 25, 2007 3:05 PM  

Thanks for all the helpful advice. I have a Whirlpool Electric Dryer and I have the back panel off. I'm attempting to access the blower fan wheel, hoever I'm having a heck of a time removing the cover plate. All screws are removed and it doesn't seem to want to slide out from the top of the dryer or from the back of the dryer because of it's shape.. Can this actually be removed? In the image linked here, (http://groups.msn.com/Appliantology/dryers.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=86) it shows the guy holding the cover.. How do you actually remove it?

By  Jes, at December 17, 2007 5:03 PM  

This website was great! Thankyou for having it available. While my husband was off working hard on a job site I decided to help him out by finding how to fix our VERY noisy drier. Yes it was the blower wheel, I got the drier opened up and got the old blower wheel off. It was in desperate need of being replaced. The appliance part's guy happened to have one in stock too. Yes it IS easy to replace, even for a wife trying to save her hubby time on the honey-do list. Just gotta read those instructions and do a little searching online for websites like this one. Thankyou again!
Sincerely,
Grasshopper

By  Grasshopper, at January 16, 2008 3:26 PM  

We have a PYE2000 Maytag dryer that is 10 years old.

THis week, the dryer started to rock and sound like tennis shoes were rolling around inside. We read the posts and found that we needed to replace the rear rollers. Thanks to this site, we easily got the dryer open and replaced both rollers and the belt.

After closing up and completing the work, the dryer sounded better, but there was still a banging noise when it started and it was increasingly loud.

I convinced my husband that we had to change out the blower wheel. $30 later and a little more time opening the dryer, we tried again.

We got to the wheel, but it wouldn't budge. Yes, I removed the clip and the clamp, but it took destroying the old wheel to get it off. IT was so wedged on there, we could not believe it and yes the flat part had been stripped.

Next, putting the new one on. Well, that was just as bad. IT would not go on easily at all and that is when we tried to hammer it on. Needless to say, we broke the new wheel.

My husband wants me to now call a repair guy and I feel like we should try again.

Is there a trick to putting the new wheel on. Should we lube it in any way. I am suggesting trying again, buying a new part and using a socket from a socket wrench to get it to its place, but I am not in the mood to break another $30 part.

ANy help would be appreciated.

Also, in doing this work, the tensioner spring became dislodged. Does it hook back into the floor of the dyer?

By  lost, at January 16, 2008 9:12 PM  

Wonderful words of wisdom about replacing the blower on the rumbling dryer (Maytag LDE5005ADE). Easily replaced the $30 blower step-by-step and the dryer now sounds great. If I can do it ANYBODY can. Thanks for the help.

By  Guinness Guy, at October 17, 2009 7:30 PM  

Thank you soooo much!!! I had a terribly loud rumble suddenly start on my Maytag dryer. I followed the instructions to open it up to check on the blower wheel, only to find one of my husbands pocket knives lodged in it! Somehow, there was no damage to the blower, and I re-assembled and it started right up. Saved me a good $200 in repair fees. Thank you again for the great pictures and simple instructions.

By  Amy, at October 18, 2009 4:33 PM  

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