Warning: Tried a heat gun on a stuck dryer drum and almost melted the belt

I was working on a 5 year old Maytag dryer yesterday, the drum wouldn't spin at all. I figured the bearings were just seized up from gunk, so I got out my heat gun to try and warm the hub. I held it on there for maybe 30 seconds, and the whole thing started smelling like burnt rubber. Turns out the belt was still on and I softened it enough that it stretched and slipped. Had to replace a $25 belt I could have saved. Anyone have a better trick for a truly stuck drum without taking the whole thing apart first?

4 comments

4 Comments

ben_fisher3mo agoOG Member

Actually taking the whole thing apart first is the only smart move here. You're just asking for more broken parts when you start heating or hitting stuff blind. That belt could have snapped later and taken out something way more expensive. A few extra minutes with a screwdriver beats buying new parts you didn't need to break.

logan2713mo ago

Well that's one way to find the belt, lmao. Next time maybe just give the drum a good whack with a rubber mallet first. Heat's a solid idea for metal, but it's basically kryptonite for anything rubber or plastic nearby.

mason_murray83mo ago

Honestly using a heat gun was a smart move, I mean you were trying to think outside the box. Sometimes you gotta apply some heat to free up a seized part, that's just basic mechanics. Maybe the belt was already worn out and ready to go anyway. Taking the whole thing apart first is a huge pain, so trying a quick fix makes total sense to me.

the_robin12d ago

That whole thing reminds me of a time my buddy tried to unclog his sink with a plunger and ended up cracking the pipe underneath. In my experience, @mason_murray8, people forget that heat and rubber don't mix, but that's just part of a bigger pattern I see all the time. We're all so eager to skip the boring prep work and jump straight to the fix that feels clever in the moment. It's like when you try to save 10 minutes by not reading the instructions and then spend an hour fixing your own mistake. Sometimes the quick fix works, but sometimes it just buys you a bigger problem down the road. Your mileage may vary, but I've learned to ask myself if the hassle of doing it right the first time is really worse than the hassle of doing it twice.