Replaced Maytag DE606 belts, but too loose

[MikeTahtib]

I just replaced my DE 606 belts with NOS Maytag belts, but the motor won't turn anything (I haven't plugged it in yet, but just turned the motor pulley by hand) The smaller drum belt is tight, but the main motor/blower belt is loose. It seems like the spring doesn't pull sideways enough to tighten both belts. There is no real provision to tighten the motor, the back of the motor is held by a tongue in a slot, the front by a bolt through a non-slotted round hole. It seems like either the drum belt is too small or the blower belt is too big. Is there a way to fix this? I tried the spring both ways (with the loop above and below the bolt), but that doesn't seem to have helped. Do I just keep trying new belts until I find ones that work? That seems crazy, but not sure what else to try.

 

[maytag85]

Is there lots of slippage on the motor pulley? If so, the pot metal or aluminum pulley is worn causing lots of slippage despite there being new belts installed.

 

[MikeTahtib]

Is there lots of slippage on the motor pulley? If so, the pot metal or aluminum pulley is worn causing lots of slippage despite there being new belts installed.

Thank you for responding, I appreciate your help.
Yes, there is definitely a lot of slippage. Turning the motor by hand, the belts do not move. There is a lot of slack in the motor belt. I can deflect it quite a bit without a lot of force. The belts don't sit deep inside the groove on any pulley. The tops of the belts are about even with the circumferences of the pulleys. The motor pulley looks like it has some burnishing along where the belt runs, and also has some surface reddish brown discoloration (looks like rust but the pulley is clearly not steel, so not rust). It seems like if I could pull the belts tighter, everything would work, but I don't see a way to do that in stock form, and I'm hesitant to do anything too creative, I don't want to overload any of the bearings.

 

[maytag85]

That’s the correct tension, reason for it being ever so slightly loose is to slip just a tad bit upon start up to take strain off of the motor. Maytag belts are usually designed to slip for a clutching effect to take wear and tear off of the main motor, along with reducing complexity on the washers.

 

[combo52]

Belts on Maytag HOH dryers

The belt tension was deliberately very loose on the motor belt. It reduced stress on the blower bearing and the motor bearings, the best test, of course is to plug the machine in and see if it turns turning it by hand may not be a fair test.

When Maytag first came out with these dryers are used to pot metal aluminum pulley that used to wear on the motor and you had to replace it with a steel pulley. Your dryer does have a steel pulley. That’s why the groove is rusty, it wouldn’t hurt to clean up the motor pulley with a small file. Turn the motor on with the belt removed and take the file and use it to clean up the rust that might improve situations a little bit.

Also make sure the blower is turning freely. Did you remove it an oil the bearing that will also put more drag on the belt

The main spring on the large idler pulley is pulling down on the drum drive belt but it’s also supposed to pull a little bit to the right to keep the motor belt tight. Make sure that the sliding pivot point on that pulley shaft is lubricated so that the shaft can move both up and down and left or right a little bit.

Other than that, it should work, it obviously wasn’t the best design thing in the world. When I worked from Maytag in the 70s, we occasionally had complaints that the dryer wouldn’t tumble when people started it with a very heavy load in it.

John L

 

[MikeTahtib]

Thanks guys, I'll put it together and try it out, probably on Wednesday.

 

[MikeTahtib]

Success!! I ended up removing the impeller, and cleaning up the shaft, and carefully wiping the inside of the bearings (something I wouldn't have thought of without your suggestion, John.) They were quite sticky with old oil. I did the same for the reduction pulley, but it wasn't bad. When I put it all back together, turning the motor by hand caused everything to turn properly. I ran a couple wet towels, and all seems to be working well. It was a bit of a challenge getting the setscrew for the drum pulley out, it was very tight. Also, getting the cabinet on and aligned with the drum was not easy, either, since the whole thing was quite wobbly without the back panel in place.
I also discovered a previous repairman replaced the upper limit thermostat with one rated for 200degrees F (instead of 155). This was in the 90s some time, I think. I don't know what else he did, but I remember seeing him replace that one. I replaced it with a correct NOS part.
Thanks to both of you for your help, I don't think I would have figured it all out on my own. I probably would have tried to find some way to tighten the belt, which probably would have ruined the machine. The thought of buying a modern dryer and letting this one go to the scrap yard would have really bothered me.