I have an older GE DBB3300EA0WW dryer that has been in storage for a while and I'm trying to get usable again. When I fired it up, it was making a terrible chirping sound and seemed to be taking a long time to dry. So, I ordered a cheap rear bearing kit from ebay and put that in. While installing that I also found that the front bearing was completely shot, the glides were worn away and the drum had worn through the plastic support on one side. So, I ordered a replacement front bearing and glides and installed that. And of course, while in there, I thoroughly cleaned out the mess of accumulated lint.
Now back together and it's even worse. Well, ok, it dries a lot faster. However now it makes a rhythmic thunking sound and occasionally (not always) a metallic scraping/scratching sound. It has also shut down several times while running and won't start up again until it cools down. My suspicion is the cheap bearing I got on eBay is crap (it was $11 vs $40 for the OEM GE part). Notably the backing plate for it did not have a slot cut for the grounding strap, so I reused the old plate (this is the plate that attaches to the heating element pan that the plastic/nylon/whatever bearing slides into). Perhaps the new bearing sleeve is just a bad fit causing the drum to shift around which is making the motor work harder and overheat?
Problem is, at this point, I've shelled out $40 and a OEM rear bearing kit is another $40. I can just go pick up a working used dryer on craigslist for $100. I'm not sure at this point if it's worth doing any more and I'm worried if I get the rear bearing kit, it'll fix the noise but the motor will end up dying anyway (and I'm thinking it's not worth $100 to replace a motor on a 15 year old dryer).
So I guess I'm looking for some expertise on whether a rear bearing might solve all my problems, or whether it's time to move on... Or if there is anything else I can check or test before spending more money...
Here are some videos of the sounds:
Constant thunking sound: Dryer noise - YouTube
Occasional scraping sound: Thunking - YouTube
Now back together and it's even worse. Well, ok, it dries a lot faster. However now it makes a rhythmic thunking sound and occasionally (not always) a metallic scraping/scratching sound. It has also shut down several times while running and won't start up again until it cools down. My suspicion is the cheap bearing I got on eBay is crap (it was $11 vs $40 for the OEM GE part). Notably the backing plate for it did not have a slot cut for the grounding strap, so I reused the old plate (this is the plate that attaches to the heating element pan that the plastic/nylon/whatever bearing slides into). Perhaps the new bearing sleeve is just a bad fit causing the drum to shift around which is making the motor work harder and overheat?
Problem is, at this point, I've shelled out $40 and a OEM rear bearing kit is another $40. I can just go pick up a working used dryer on craigslist for $100. I'm not sure at this point if it's worth doing any more and I'm worried if I get the rear bearing kit, it'll fix the noise but the motor will end up dying anyway (and I'm thinking it's not worth $100 to replace a motor on a 15 year old dryer).
So I guess I'm looking for some expertise on whether a rear bearing might solve all my problems, or whether it's time to move on... Or if there is anything else I can check or test before spending more money...
Here are some videos of the sounds:
Constant thunking sound: Dryer noise - YouTube
Occasional scraping sound: Thunking - YouTube