Fitting a fan belt?

Here I am, answering my own question.

The fact is, I scoured the Internet and couldn’t find a clue as to how to fit a new drive belt. So I got busy, and here’s how I did it.

Tools required; a Philips screwdriver and a thin length of cloth (I used a J cloth).

Place the tumble drier on a suitable workbench or table and lay the drier on its side. Remove all of the Philips screws from the outer edge of the back cover, this will allow the top cover to be lifted off, exposing the top of the drum. Ease the back cover gently back, just enough to allow the drum to come slightly away from its front felt bush; you’ll need to support it with one hand and slip the new drive belt over the front of the drum with the other. (The drive motor fan will impede the cover being eased back but you do get enough room to fit the new belt.)
Put half a dozen screws back into the back cover to secure the drum in position.

As the drier is on its side, now go to the base and remove the small cover at the centre. This exposes the belt drive pulley and the underside of the drum.
Position the new drive belt onto the centre of the drum by nudging it inwards from the top and bottom alternatively.

The new belt fits quite snugly around the drum, but it has to be stretched onto the motor drive pulley, which is about six inches away; this is how I did it:

Go to the top of the drier and, gripping the belt, firmly stretch it. Rotate the drum a little and repeat the firm stretch. After five to ten minutes of doing this you will find that the belt is becoming loose enough to be within distance of the motor pulley. This is what you do next:

Go to the base of the drier and reach in to take up the slack of the belt. Having folded your piece of cloth until it’s around two feet long and around an inch or so wide, slip it inside the housing and over the drive belt and back out of the cover hole. You can now grip the cloth ends and stretch the belt outwards and onto the pulley.
Rotate the pulley a little and the cloth will be released and you can pull it back out.

That’s it. Refit the covers and screws and you should be up and running. A simple enough job once you know how to go about it.

Terry
April 2009