Tried swapping a dryer drum bearing without pulling the whole drum apart

Last week I had a Whirlpool gas dryer with that awful squeaking noise from the rear drum bearing. I figured I could save time by just prying it out through the back panel without disassembling the whole drum assembly. Took me two hours and I still had to pull the drum anyway to get the new bearing seated right. Has anyone else tried a shortcut on drum bearings and learned the hard way that full tear down is the only way?

3 comments

3 Comments

elizabetht561mo ago

Ended up in the exact same boat with a Samsung dryer last spring. Thought I could pop that bearing out with a pry bar and save myself an hour, but it just cracked and left little pieces stuck in the housing. Two hours later I gave up, pulled the whole drum, and had it done in forty five minutes the right way.

the_derek1mo ago

Hang on though, @elizabetht56, is it really that bad? I've cracked a few cheap bearings on purpose just to get them out faster and it never caused me that much trouble. A little pick set and some patience usually gets the pieces out in ten minutes. Your mileage may vary I guess, but I've had good luck with the shortcut. I'm just not convinced pulling the whole drum is always the only way to go.

skyler5161mo ago

Stop trying to crack cheap bearings like @the_derek suggested. That works fine on some models but a lot of Whirlpool and Samsung drums have a pressed steel housing that distorts when you pry or break the bearing. I bent one housing doing that and then the new bearing never seated flat, kept wobbling. Had to order a whole new rear panel to fix it. You might have gotten lucky but it's not a reliable shortcut.