I thought that it might the belt.Popped the topThe belt is attached to the drumActually the belt is fused on to the drumIs that OK ?What's my next step in trying to fix this thing?Thanks for your time
Okay. Always something new to think about, ehhh? The belt wrapped around your dryer drum is actually supposed to work like a serpentine belt in your car. It goes around the pulley on the motor, which moves it around a tensioning pulley and then around your drum. The motor turns the pulley that turns the belt that turns the drum. It may just be tight around the drum and not melted to it. It could melt to it if it got hot from friction, melted and, then fused to the drum as it cooled. That assumes your drum stopped turning while the belt kept sliding. Your dryer should have a lower front panel that can be removed to reveal the pulleys and motor. UNPLUG the dryer if you take off the front cover. Can you turn the drum by hand? Look at the wheels and pulleys when you have the cover off and are attempting to move the drum. If you want moreyou can remove the belt from the tensioning wheel by bending the spring metal arm it is on and then, you can slide the belt off of it to relaease the tension. Now try moving your drum by hand---power is still unplugged. If it moves,take the belt off (if it is stuck to the drum) and get a new belt. If it is not stuck to the drum and the drum doesn't move leave the belt alone, and you have to find where it is stuck from rolling around. Maybe the support roller wheels are stuck. Now plug in the dryer and push start. The motor should be visible from the front of the machine, and you should see it moving, the motor, not the drum If it doesn't run then you are talking new motor. Most all parts, wheels belts motors are available on OKorder for not too much. That is all there is to the moving drum of the dryermotor drum belt rollers tension wheel
if the belt is fused how will it turn? remove the belt and turn it on, see if the motor turns and make sure the drum spins freely.
I can't imagine the belt fusing to the drum unless the motor died and the stationary drum heated up and melted the belt, but this seems unlikely because usually when a main component fails, most dryers are designed to stop working completely. Barring some sort of safety feature override with a jumper wire that bypasses the safety feature that would remove the power flow through all components as soon as a motor or heater core overloads. Once an overload condition cycles a shutdown, nothing else should work as this is designed to prevent the dryer from overheating and causing a house fire.
