Maytag Bravos Dryer- Blower Belt Issue

[cgrant]

There was an old forum addressing this same issue but didn't know if anyone would reply to such an old forum.  I did email a guy from the forum that said he had a service manual for the dryer but thought I would ask my question here as well.

Our dryer stopped drying clothes.  The clothes get really hot but all the moisture is trapped inside the dryer.  We followed the air ducts outside and they are clear.  We finally took the front pannel off the dryer and there was a large bolt just lying there.  The bolt was holding the belt for the blower in place, so the blower is not turning and there is no air flow.  The bold it easy to screw back on but we can't pop the belt back in place because the belt has no elastic give.  How do I get the belt and bolt back in place?  Do I need to take apart the unit more or do I need a special tool? 

After searching online it seems many others have had this same issue.  It seems like a manufacturing issue but our dryer is 8 months past the 1 year warranty and the customer service reps at Maytag wont budge.  They were extremely unhelpful and not the slightest bit sympathetic.  Any help would be great.  I don't want to pay $100 for a simple repair especially when we already have found the problem ourselves.  Thanks.

[LowSL2]

That bolt is actually a pulley. There's a service bulletin about this issue. I'm surprised Maytag/Whirlpool won't help you with this... Actually, I'm not surprised. Their service kind of sucks...

Anyway, you need to put some blue Loctite on the threads of the blower shaft threads(You can get blue Loctite from any automotive store). Then tighten the heck out of that pulley. To do this you need to hold the blower in place with one hand and use a wrench to tighten the pulley. Just tight enough with your own strength is good enough. The belt will go on. You need to put it on the pulley on the motor side first, then start it on the blower pulley. Now guide the belt around the pulley by turning the pulley to stretch it into place.

It sounds a bit confusing when you read this, but once you see what you have to do, it'll come to you.  Let us know if you have questions.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2

[JWWebster]

Click pic to enlarge:

[cgrant]

Thanks for all the help, finally got if fixed!!.  For other house wives or mechanically challenged novices like me I am posting another picture with labels.  So bottom line, no fancy tools needed.  I convinced my husband we needed to take the barrel out of the dryer as daunting as it seemed.  It wasn't too hard and made it much easier to work on.  We followed the great directions above (thank you) but still had a lot of trouble turning the pulling and having the belt snap in place.  It seemed it would take super human strength.  What finally worked for my husband was to hold the pulley and belt in place with one hand, and turn the blower from underneath by sticking his hand in the air intake vent below.  In theory there isn't much to grip under there and I still don't know how that helped but it did.  Not sure if all my terms are correct but I labled what I'm talking about in the photo. 

[JWWebster]

Appreciate the pic. Ain't worked on one of these yet. Glad yall could get it fixed.