stupid dryer belt tensioner design

-
pishta

pishta

I know I'm right....
Joined
Oct 13, 2004
Messages
23,818
Reaction score
13,677
Location
Tustin, CA
This is more than stupid....
1_31_12_11_10_05_39.jpeg


new ones are back to good old (design) idler pulley
100_1318.jpg


replaced a broken belt and new one lasted 3 hours on old tensioner. Found the old tensioners nylon guide strap was worn through to the supporting metal, probably heated the metal up to melting point of belt: Pop, all stop and burn smell. Amaxon has new idler style.and belt combo for $12 wirh prime shipping by tomorrow, can't beat that. The pulley design was the original design but some bean counter decided they could save a buck by replacing the wheel with a plastic slipper bushing. It did last >13 years like that but it eventually wears through. Notice all the black powder around the motor, that is belt poop!
 
pishta said:
This is more than stupid....
View attachment 1715815311

new ones are back to good old (design) idler pulley
View attachment 1715815312

replaced a broken belt and new one lasted 3 hours on old tensioner. Found the old tensioners nylon guide strap was worn through to the supporting metal, probably heated the metal up to melting point of belt: Pop, all stop and burn smell. Amaxon has new idler style.and belt combo for $12 wirh prime shipping by tomorrow, can't beat that. The pulley design was the original design but some bean counter decided they could save a buck by replacing the wheel with a plastic slipper bushing. It did last >13 years like that but it eventually wears through. Notice all the black powder around the motor, that is belt poop!
Click to expand...
I don't care how slick the nylon surface of that guide strap is, that's gotta put considerable extra load on the motor, too. Geez, how cheap can you get. May as well just hook a bungee strap to it.
 
I have been through hat as well. Stupid design for sure.

I had a dryer 30 years ago it had one wheel that the drum road on another point of contact which was a felt covered slide. It wa screaching up a storm. Luckly it was under warrantee and guess what the service repair was....

Replace slide with a wheel, who would have thought!
 
How are they supposed to keep making money off of you if you go around inproving their faulty design!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
To make things even worse.....The pulley will cause less drag on the motor making the motor last too long!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
This dryer was a trooper before this. Only thing I changed in the last 15 years was the belt (2x now) the gas servo coils (8 bucks for both) and an ignitor, i think it was $15, and I bought the dryer used! So they seem to be well built beyond this pathetic tensioner. I can pretty much tell you how to fix anything on this now. Tensioner is 2 5/16 screws and 2 more at the lint trap flange. Can do it in about 10 minutes. Ignitor and gas servo coils a little more digging. Bad coil(s) makes the gas go out as soon as its lit, you can hear them click off after the woosh of the flame igniting. They weaken and don't hold open the gas valve. Ignitor can be viewed through a little plug at bottom left of dryer front next to door. Pop it and you can see inside the heating chamber. The white glowing thing is the ignitor (turns off by a thermo relay when the gas ignites) and the flame should stay on when the dryer is in operation. If it does not dry the clothes but they are warm after an hour, your coils are bad and the only heat it generates is the ignitor trying to ignite non present gas or gas that keeps turning off. You'll hear them click on then off. Now we are all Maytag repairmen!
 
This is insulting. I had no idea things were getting this preposterous. "In a previous life" back in the 80's I had two jobs, repaired/ maintained coin-op equipment for a family who operated 4 laundries in the area. It was a great gig. I could work random hours, after work, and either part of Sat or Sun, whenever. If we got several machines down, the boss would politely give me a heads up and I'd "just" put in a few more hours. The single load machines were maytag dryers and washers, the big dryers were the big huge Cissel, and I can't remember what the brand was of the big hug heavy duty front loaders. I had one HELL of a night with one, some dumb broad had washed a big huge teddy bear filled with styrofoam balls, and it had broken open AND PLUGGED THE DRAIN. The drain valve was a big boot sort of like a inner tube, with a solenoid operated clamping mechanism.

The Maytag gas dryers were easy to work on. A few screws, the front panel came clear off. The tub was cylindrical, open both ends. You could just reach in release the belt and pull it all out. I think I could get the drum out of one in about 1 minute.
 
I had a LOT of fun one night. This was when I was fairly inexperienced. These sites had a steam boiler to generate steam for the dry cleaner and steam iron equipment, and an immersed hot water coil to heat water for the wash machines. The coil had become lime plugged, and I was going to clean it out. I got some coil acid from my other job (refrigeration/ HVAC place) and borrowed the acid pump. These work by rotating a roller equipped device against a hose, so the acid never touches metal in the pump

The boiler of course was still pretty hot. I'd guess it was at least 500 gal, maybe more

Anyhow I diluted the acid "about what I thought" (had gotten some advice from the mech at work) and hooked it up. But the HEAT OF THE BOILER greatly accelerated the acid and the activity got out of hand. We "almost" had a mess there for a bit.
 
I just did this too....had a roller squealing bad, took it all apart and lubed them up, seemed to work well for a couple weeks, then I decided to buy new rollers and tear it all apart again....worst part was that stupid tensioner, Eight spot and I don’t leave you a lot of room, especially not to get two hands and they’re very easily. I decided to change the belt tensioner and rollers since I was in there, it wasn’t too bad, and I believe most machines are the same. I’m sure it would’ve cost me way more if I had a repair man come out, hopefully it’s good for awhile now
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top