Drive Belt Falling off

[yardisiak]

My Maytag (mah3000aww) has been quite noisy for awhile now.  The other day it stopped spinning all together.  I opened the back to find the Drive Belt had fallen off. I repleced the belt and it immediately fell off again.  I ordered a replacement thinking that maybe the belt was warped and a new one would solve my issues but no luck. The new one falls off almost immediately.

Do I need to do something to align it or do I have bigger issues?

[apptech]

Check the bolt that the big pulley on the back of the tub.
I have seen them come lose and then you get some play in the pulley.

The noise maybe coming from your tub bearings.
Give the tub a spin by hand as fast as you can. Does it sound noisy then?

[apptech]

You could also check the bolt that holds the motor in place.

[yardisiak]

Double-checked the bolts - no help.  It's not falling off because it's loose - it's falling off the drive pulley because it seems out of alignment.  As you turn the pulley, the drive belt moves further toward the inside and eventually slips right off.  Does that make sense?

[apptech]

Does the large pulley on the back of the tub have a lot of play in it when you wiggle it back and forth?

The only time I have seen belts come off of these is when the big pulley gets play in it from a loose bolt or from bad tub bearings.

[yardisiak]

Checked again and no play on the pulley.  When I tug on it, the whole washer moves.  The belt gets on but as I turn it, it seems to slide inward with each movement until it falls off.  I can't even make an entire loop around without it falling off.

[AJ]

Can't say I have seen many belts come off the neptunes either.

Maybe Pegi has some other idea's.

[AJ]

I do remember some of the first neptunes that come out the belts feel off of them almost right away. Had something to do with a wax coating on the new belts or something, but them belts are long gone....

[AJ]

Could you post a photo of the big pulley and motor?

[Pegi]

""Maybe Pegi has some other idea's.""
Not me....never seen a Neptune and do not wanna...oh goodie!!  Lookie at the new smilies!!  Thanks AJ!!......

[yardisiak]

Well, we loosened the bolt that holds the motor in place and lowered it (although we have the newer style which is completely round and supposed to self adjust).  We were able to run a load and we're going to try another now.  Will let you know if this is a complete success.  Thanks.

[AJ]

That would be great if that is all you needed to do.   

Please keep us updated as to how it goes.

[yardisiak]

Ok so that didn't help.  One wash and the belt came off during it.  UGH!  Going to take a pic in the back and upload that to you.  Hopefully you'll have some ideas then.  Thanks.

[yardisiak]

Well I didn't even get through the load and it fell off again.  Here are pics of the front and back.  It looks to me like something is wrong in the front with the entire tub but I'm not really sure.

[AJ]

Looks like you got bad tub bearings.
If you remove the center bolt that holds that big pulley on you will be able to slide that pulley off.

With the pulley out of the way we will be able to see the back side of the bearings better.

Post another photo with the pulley off and will be able to see better what's going on there.