This was the gist of my Jan 11 post:
I have a GE Hotpoint electric dryer, Model DLB2650BALWH. It has been squeaking for a long time and slowly getting worse. (We're talking loud enough to hear all over the upstairs.) Now we have scraping and groaning,
Thanks, John & Jeff. Between your suggestions and the info repairclinic.com and pcappliancerepair.com (the latter being about 1/3 less expensive), I was able to get the right parts and get everyting back together. But ...
There was one part that came out that isn't on the exploded diagrams on GE's site. It is about 3" in diameter, with a .75 to 1" hole in the center. There are 6 small holes matching the holes in the rear of the drum. I put it between the back end of the drum and the the cup shaped part that holds the the shaft that slips into the rear bearing. The size and positioning looked right and the rear of the drum looked as if it could use the reinforcement this piece would provide.
The other wierd thing is that the drum is not perpendicular to the axis of the shaft: the drum "leans" slightly downwards at about 225 degrees (7:30 on a clockface.) I also noticed that the rear of the drum is not parallel to the pan the holds the heater filament or the front of the dryer. If I lift the drum up and to the right, to where it looks parallel to both the heater pan and dryer front, the drum is about .5" away from the left glide strip (looking at the front of the dryer.) The outer panels look square go back together without much pushing. The glides are in the same spot from which we removed the old ones. I can see that the front of the drum presses harder on the felt on the right front than on the left side.
The dryer ran ok (empty) this afternoon; fairly quiet: with what sounded like some rubbing on the felt between the front and the drum. I noticed that with the front on the dryer, it was fairly difficult to turn the crum by hand. (That seems odd, implies the motor has to overcome a fair amount of friction there.) When I put a (small) load of clothes in to dry, there began a rythmic banging that sounded like the drum hitting somewhere. Lifted the top and found the drum (or more correctly the galvanized pan attached to the back of the drum) bangs once per revolution against the galvanized pan holding the heating coil. Not real loud but enough so you could hear it upstairs. My guess is either: (1) that it is related to the drum not being perpendicular to the shaft, which means the back right corner of the drum gets angled further back, or (2) that extra piece (see above) moves the galvanized pan on the back of the drum back an extra 1/8 inch, which is enough to bring it into contact with the heater pan.
It also seems to me that the new shaft doesn't come out of the back support quite as far as the old one. (Just a couple of real thin washers shorter.) (I went for the whole kit instead of just replacing the bearing; the old shaft was pretty worn as was the support that holds the bearing. The old plastic bearing was nowhere to be seen, not even bits and pieces, and the old support has a 1/16" groove worn into it.)
I'm a bit stumped, as the drum is only supported by the rear shaft/bearing and the two glide strips -- none of which appears adjustable in any way.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. And thanks in advance.