I hate things that cost me money! So when my GE Dryer started ruining my clothes, it had my attention very quickly. If your clothes have started magically appearing with dark “PINCH” marks, you need to read this article!
Photo of the “pinch” mark left on my favorite shirt.
Yes, I realize this is way off topic, but sometimes welding isn’t always necessary when what appears to be a broken machine can be fixed for pennies on the dollar for what a new one costs.
Something in our washer and/or dryer has been leaving black “pinch” marks on our clothes. I Just dropped ~800 bux on a new washing machine this year and am not excited about the prospect of dropping another large chunk of cash replacing our dryer.
I started doing some research on my favorite search engine and came across an article that clearly explained: How to take apart a GE Dryer. Can’t be that hard right? Actually it was easier than I could have imagined.
After my research, I discovered that the front drum wear shims/bearings very commonly wear out on these units. I went downstairs and stuck my head inside mine, sure enough the bearings were toasted.
The drum is sitting directly on the hard plastic drum support assembly. I believe the clothes were getting caught – pinched – and twisted between the plastic and the drum in the two holes in the top right and left of the pictures.
FIRST OFF, UNPLUG THE DRYER BEFORE YOU TAKE APART ANYTHING!!!!
Open the front door and remove the two screws in the frame going up into the top panel with a #1 phillips screwdriver.
Once the top is off, reach in at the top of both sides of the drum and remove two #2 screws from the inside of the front panel. Once you pull the front panel toward you, you will see the drum front bearing support.
Be sure not to pull the front panel too far away or hard, because there are wires connected on the left side. So just pivot it to the left and lean it up against something.
Be sure to remove any accumulated lint piles while you are in here, they are costing you $$$.
There are 4 bearings on the top of the drum support peice. 3 out of the 4 on mine were worn completely through. The black marks are where the drum was rubbing on the hard plastic and getting hot.
Click on the two Amazon links below and order 2 of each: WE1M504 AND WE1M1067.
Once you get them in the mail, you are ready to reassemble! If you perform step 1 (poke your head inside) and see that they are bad, you can also order the parts ahead of time before you take the dryer apart that way it is still working if you need it in the meantime.
Install the four new bearings. They have a hole/slot in one side that you hook in then tuck the other side into the plastic, being sure not to bend them too far.
Put it all back together in the reverse order then stick your head in the dryer to make sure all 4 of your bearings are still there and seated correctly. You can see on mine where the drum now sits up off the support by ~1/8″ and can’t pinch clothes anymore.
Turn on the dryer and make sure it doesn’t make any weird noises. Then pat yourself on the back! You just saved ~$800 because you didn’t have to buy a new one. There really isn’t much to these dryers, and once you have one apart, you will realize that they are just a really big hairdryer.
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