Dryer noise

RatLabGuy

RatLabGuy

You look like a monkey and smell like one too
Joined
May 18, 2005
Location
Churchville, MD
Old school simple-ass has dryer started making this knocking noise. Initially it was just occasional, then has become more frequent. It more or less goes with the tumbling cycle of the load. It doesn't do it if there's no load and is less frequent if there's only a small load like a couple towels. I pulled the panel off the back and it's hard to tell where it's coming from, not the motor, almost like it's from the drum itself.

I'm thinking a bearing? Is there something replaceable between the drum and the outer carrier?
 

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orange150 said:
Ours was making that same noise. The bearings in one of the rollers were wore out.
Amazon had some chinesium replacements that took an hour or so to replace.
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This is my thinking.
How did you get to it? Do you have to pull the whole drum out?
 
Update
Pulled the drum out. Yup, one of the wheels was seized on the bearing. Replaced w $14 part from Amazon. done.

Then.... Nope, still knocking. Wtf.
That bearing was definitely bad!
And it only does it under load. And just a hair on startup.

Got to looking and listening from the back panel while turning on and off.... Removed the belt from tensioner... Still noisy....

Came to realize the squirrel cage on the front of the shaft was spinning/wobbly on the shaft.
The plastic D center had worn out, allowing it to slip on the shaft.

IMG_20231028_115002010.jpg


Apparently you would mostly spin with the shaft, but if there was any friction then it could slide along it making noise.
With nothing in the dryer there just wasn't much friction, but when it was loaded it was just enough wobbling around of the whole assembly that it would add just enough friction for it to rub and make noise, echoing down through the lint chute sounding a lot worse than it really was.

$24 part next day from Amazoo again, problem solved.

Side note - I bet there was 20 lb of lint and dust built up not just around that shoot but all over the inside of this thing. I guess that's what happens after 15 or so years of use without being opened up.....
 
Also I'd say it's very striking just how simple of a machine this dryer is. A motor driving a belt that rotates a drum, in parallel a tube that the gas burner feeds into for heat. Only a few mechanical and electrical parts.
It blows my mind this probably cost $500 so long ago it makes me wonder WTF is in new ones to justify the price!
 
RatLabGuy said:
Side note - I bet there was 20 lb of lint and dust built up not just around that shoot but all over the inside of this thing. I guess that's what happens after 15 or so years of use without being opened up.....
Click to expand...
Mine almost caught on fire a couple of weeks ago. Scary moment.
 
Bebop said:
Mine almost caught on fire a couple of weeks ago. Scary moment.
Click to expand...
lolz, yikes. How did you catch it, smell?

I have an old friend who used to have a vent cleaning business, is scary some of the pics he's shown me.
That is one thing I'm diligent about, but of course nobody cleans the inside of the unit itself!
 
Be sure to check your dryer duct once in a while, too. If it's long, has more than a bend or two, has some flex duct, etc, it's more restrictive. The more restrictive it is, the more likely lint is to fall out and collect in the duct and in the dryer itself.
 
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