LG Dryer Repair
Today, we’re to change the drive motor on your dryer. Drive motor is used to power the blower as well as turn the tumbler. It’s a really easy job to change, and let me show you how we do it. Now, to do this repair, since we will be working near some electrical circuits, first thing we need to do is to disconnect power to the dryer. Either unplug it or locate the electrical panel, turn off the appropriate breaker or remove the appropriate fuses. Once we’ve done that, we’ll need to pull the dryer, just slightly forward, so that we can access screws that are just underneath the main top at the back.
Now, the screws on the top are a Philips type screw. We will do two there on the outside corner and one in the center. These screws are located in underneath the lip, they’re not the ones that are easily visible, so reaching underneath and it would be the screws in behind that. Slide the main top back, just about a half an inch, that will disengage some slots that grab some rubber or plastic studs. Once we’ve disengaged those, we can set that main top aside. Now next, we’ll need to remove the control panel to access screws that secure the top of that front panel in place. Now, to do that, there are two screws that go through a support bracket into that control panel, and they have a slightly different thread than most of the rest of the screws, so we’ll need to keep those separate.
Begin by removing those two screws, and set those aside and keep them separate, and then we’ll lift up on the top of that control panel so that we can unhinge it from that metal support bracket. Now, with the two screws removed, let’s secure that control panel through the support bracket. Our next step, before we can actually lift that control panel out, just remove at least these two large harness connectors that go into the control board. Note that there’s a little tab between the two wires on each of those connectors. If we depress that tab and grip the connector itself, we should be able to wiggle those off of the board. It’s a connector with a little hook on. Do that for both, and try to pull just on the connector when you’re pulling those off the board. You probably need two hands to do that. Put those out of the way, you can probably reach the two connectors below that. Again, there are locking tabs that we’ll need to depress. Just squeeze them, release and then pull the wire harness off. Now, the two that are more towards the center on that border, a little more difficult to do that, but there’ll be room once we pull the control panel forward to do that. You may wish to unhook the harness from the harness retainer clip on the top of that bulkhead, and have that out of the way. Now next, we’ll need to lift up on the top lip of that control panel, so that we can disengage these little short tabs across the top. We’re going to lift up enough that we clear that metal bracket, pull it forward at the same time. Then we can pivot it, tilt it towards you while lifting it away from the top of the front panel and that will give us enough leeway that we can then remove these two remaining wire harness connectors. Again, there will be a locking tab on the side of them, just depress the tab and release the connectors.
We can now take that control panel and set that aside. Now, with the control panel out of the way, our next step, you need to open up the dryer door. We will want to remove these two screws that sit just below the lint filter housing. These screws are a machine-type thread. Again, we’ll need to keep those separated, and then we’ll remove the four screws that are located across the top of the front panel. Just support that panel as you remove the last screw, and we’ll just tilt it forward enough that you can access a wire harness that attaches right at the top of the door. You can grasp that connector and unplug it, and we can tilt that panel far enough forward and we can lift it off two metal tabs that are attached to the base. We’ll set that assembly aside. Now, our next step will be to remove the front bulkhead. Before we do that, we’re going to disconnect the wire harness that goes to the light bulb, if your model has one on it. You just take note of the location of the gray and black wires as to which one is towards the front, then remove the screw each in those four corner tabs. Down at the bottom, a little note, any harness that goes down to a connector, we’ll depress the locking tab on that connector, and disconnect the harness. We should then be able to lift up slightly on that bulkhead and then tilt it over on the bottom and pull it out from behind this crossmember at the top. Now, you may need to support the weight of the tumbler as you tilt through it at the bottom, then we’ll set that assembly aside.
Now next, we’ll need to take the tumbler out, and it may be easier to remove this support piece across the top rather than trying to pull that down below it. There are two screws on the front and two more at the top. We will note that the two screws may be different lengths, typically the shorter ones go through the front. Just lift up on it slightly to disengage a hook on either side and then we can set that aside. Now, our next step will be to reach in underneath the main drum and disconnect the belt from the idler. Reach our right hand in from the center, our idler is located just at the very back of the motor or a left hand in on the opposite side, just grasp the idler wheel, pull it towards the left to release the tension on the belt, you can then roll the belt off of the motor pulley and the idler pulley until it’s loose. Then we’ll lift that drum off the rear drum rollers, and pull it out through the front of the cab, and then we can set that aside. Now, with the drum out of the way, our next step is going to be to remove the wire harness connector to the motor. There are two locking tabs, one on top and one on the bottom. Just simply squeeze those, and grasp that connector, and pull it away from the motor, just tuck that out of the way. Now our next, while we have the motor still in its cradle mount, we’re going to remove the nut that secures the blower wheel to the front of that motor. It’s a 13-millimeter nut on the front of the blower wheel, just the front shaft of the motor, and then at the rear of the motor shaft here, there is one flat side that an 11-millimeter wrench will slide over. Just lock that wrench so that it sits flush on the base. Now, it’s a left-hand thread on the blower wheel nut.
We’re going to turn it clockwise from the front. We’re going to ratchet. Once we’ve loosened that nut, we just remove it. Beneath that nut, there is a lock washer. Remove that. There is a large flat washer that is actually part of the blower wheel but it may come loose so make sure that you keep track of that because we will need to reuse it. Now, with the blower wheel loosened, we should be able to pull the motor from behind that blower housing and still need the blower wheel inside of it. If you drop that washer or if you have difficulty putting the motor back into the blower wheel, you can take the two screws off of the front cover of that blower housing and access it. Next, we’ll remove two spring clamps that secure that motor to the motor mount. One side has a raised edge, we’re simply going to press down on that until it releases. There’s a slot on both sides of that clamp that fit onto a little hook on the actual motor mount. Same on the front, is to press that spring.
If you have difficulty doing that with your hands, you can also take a flat blade screwdriver and fit it down into that little hook and just pry it out. We’ll take the screwdriver, put down into this hook and pried it. You may find that that’s easier, you can use your hands on that front one. Let’s just set those aside. Now, we should be able to lift that motor off of that motor mount. If the blower wheel has come loose from the front, you should be able to pull it straight at the back. If you’re having difficulty, you may want to take that cover off and then just remove the blower wheel. Just pop these two screws out, you know that they’re very short, so keep them separate. Lift that out of a little slot on the bottom. Just lay it aside. You may need to rock that lower wheel side to side to loosen it on that motor shaft. You’re going to actually pull it right up to the front and then install it later on the new motor. That will allow us to — Just lift that motor up and we can pull that out of that opening and then we can set it aside. I’ll give you a view of how the blower wheel will attach to the front of that motor shaft. Just simply slide over the shaft. This is around the bushing. There is a large two-sided washer that will fit into that groove on the blower wheel, but there is also one flat side on that shaft that we need to line up. Once you have the washer lined up, rotate the lower wheel, the washer drops in and then we’d be able to put our lock washer nut on top of that. We’ll take our motor. I’m going to fit it through the opening on the back of the housing. We’re going to rest those two rubber mounts inside of that metal motor mount until it’s stable and laying flat. We’ll take our mounting clamps, we’ll hook one side and keep it straight on top of the rubber mount. Now, to do the rear one, again, we’re just going to clip that short edge over the inside hook, straight across the rubber bushing and clip in the opposite end. Now, we’ll slide the blower wheel onto the front of the shaft.
We’ll take our flat-sided washer with the one flat edge on it. Line that up on the motor shaft first and then just hold that shaft from turning. Locate the blower wheel so that it wil slide into the inset on the blower wheel. Install the lock washer and the retaining nut. Again, it’s the counter-clockwise turn on this because it’s the reverse thread. Now, when we go to tighten that nut on the blower wheel, again, we’re going to need a wrench on the rear end of that motor shaft. Most of the newer motors will have a slightly larger gap on there. It’s actually a 12 millimeter on this particular one, so we’re going to need a 12-millimeter wrench. If it doesn’t rest up against the edge of the cabinet, you’ll want to make sure that you clear that belt switch at the back of the motor and then allow it to rest on the base. Take your ratchet and sock it to the front and then turning it counterclockwise will tighten that off. Make sure it’s nice and secure. If you remove the front cover from the lower housing, we’ll need to install that and the two retaining screws. Make sure that you keep these short screws for that so that they don’t interfere with the blower wheel. We can reconnect the wire harness to the side of the motor. Push it down firmly so that both the top and bottom locking tabs are engaged. Now, we’re ready to put the dryer back together. Now, the first step in putting the dryer back together will be to put the drum and belt in. We need to make sure that when we put the rear of that drum in, that it fits over the top of both rear rollers and that the felt stays on the outside lip of this rear bulkhead. We’re going to fit that drum in between those blower rear bulkhead edges.
Now, in putting the drum back in place, we need to make sure that we fit the rear, the drum and the felt over top of those rear drum rollers. We need to tilt it down the front and then just slide it over top of those rollers and underneath the lip of the rear bulkhead. Getting the visual from the back, roll it in place and make sure it sits flush and even all the way around. Center up the belt. There should be a mark where the belt have been riding before. It’ll be just back of the center. Again, we’ll go to the front of the dryer, then we’ll reach in with both hands. We’ll pull that belt from the right over to the left. Reach in, we’ll find that belt. Lay it right across the top of the idler. We’re going to push that idler to the left. We’re going to pull the belt down on the inside of the idler and then around the motor pulley and just rotate that drum a couple of turns. Make sure that it’s staying true and we should see the blower wheel turning and the belt should stay on both poles. Verify that it’s staying in its track on the drum and next we can put the front bulkhead and cross-member support in. Now our next step in reassembly is to put the cross-member on. We’ll line up these two hooks on each side, it’s the little slotted openings, just push them in and then press down, install the four retaining screws, the two long ones on the top and the shorter ones through the front.
These will be in the upper holes on the front. Next, we’ll put the bulkhead back on and like installing the drum on the rear bulkhead, we need to make sure that the lip of the drum fits in between the roller and that raised lip of the bulkhead. We’ll tuck the top of it in behind that panel first. We may need to lift up on that drum to set it in place, lift up the bulkhead, make sure all four those tabs fit into the keyhole openings. Just rotate that drum to make sure that the felt is properly positioned all the way around and then we’ll put the four retaining screws in. Now if you haven’t done so already, remember to reconnect the wire harness to the light bulb socket and remember which of the wires was facing forward. Make sure that’s in nice and secure, then we can put the front panel on. Now I’m putting the front panel on. There are two slotted openings on the base of that front panel that are going to fit over top of those two hooks that are attached to the base. Make sure they drop over those completely and just tilt that panel up. Before we put it in place, I’m going to take that large harness and will tuck that down between the front bulkhead and that crossmember, just pull that out through so that we can connect it. Make sure that connector is pressed in firmly, the wire doesn’t pinch us we push the panel back into place. Next we’ll attach the four screws across the top and next we’ll put the two machine screws in through to the housing below the lint filter. Because in machine screws, we need to make sure that we don’t get them in cross threaded. I will take the remainder of our wire harness, will tuck into those little clips that secure it. Take the two connectors that will attach closest to the center, push those up through the opening. Then we’ll take our control panel and set that in place.
Over to our control housing. There are four tabs on the bottom that will fit into these four slots, we’ll line those up and pull those harnesses through that opening and attach them to the connectors. Make sure that the locking tabs engage on both of those. Now the shorter harnesses will attach after we have the control panel in place. Line up those tabs, just tilt the console slightly forward at the top until they’re all engaged and that sits flush all along the top and just press it in place. Check all over the top, make sure those little plastic tabs are engaged. Then we will install the two retaining screws. We use of the two screws that have the slightly different thread. Once we have those secure, we’re now ready to reattach the four harnesses. We begin by separating those two larger wire harnesses. Just keep those out of the way, we’ll reach down inside and install the two smaller harnesses. Again, we want to make sure that the locking tabs are engaged, tuck those other harnesses into that clip. Now we’ll install the two larger ones, make sure we press them on firmly and both of those tabs are engaged. Now we can put the main top back on. Now when putting the main top on, one thing we need to make sure of is these hooks on either side of that top will engage with these four plastic bushings that sit along the side rails.
We’ll lay the top in place, leave about a half inch gap between the front edge of that top and the back edge of our console. Line it up evenly side to side. Just press it forward so that it engages all four of those plastic grommets. Next we’ll put the three retaining screws in at the back and just make sure they’re secure. Once we have the main top back in place, we can then plug the dryer in or return on the breaker refuses and our repair is complete.