The clothes dryer was making a distinctive "thump thump" sound. It was a sound it had made before, while still under warranty, and that time the (free) repair guy showed me how to clean where the lint collects after blowing by the filter.

Since it'd been years since that repair, I'd forgotten. After a few spins at the wrong screws, I peeked on the Internet and got a lot of "pry" answers. The Internet answers were full of generic dryer repair solutions. I realize that many dryers are actually re-labeled versions of the same thing. Perhaps the control panel or specific bits of the drum or screens vary, but the general tin box is the same.

Mine is a Frigidaire Gallery front-loading electric dryer. I couldn't even find it on their website. Nonetheless, embravened by the search results, I went back to try again.

I had remembered how to get the top off. It's held by a couple spring clips at the front. Looking closely and you can see where to stick a screwdriver in and free the lid. We have a shelf mounted on the wall, so I couldn't swing it far enough to remove, but I slung a bit of rope through a hole and held it far enough out of the way.

I'd unnecessarily tried to remove the top control panel, but it wouldn't come free as the bottom of the top was held in by the top of the bottom of the front..heh. That is, the bit of plastic panel at the top of the front of the dryer was mounted on the top of the sheetmetal part, where the door is. The backs of the knobs stick more than an inch into the dryer, which is too deep to slip past the sheetmetal at the top.

Our dryer is on a lifted platform, so there's no kick-plate as many sites warned about. As such, the bottom of the front of the dryer isn't screwed into the bottom of the bottom of the dryer. I couldn't find a place to try to wedge anything between the bottoms, so I just grabbed the front and tugged up. At first the whole dryer moved, so I tried again, propping my foot more firmly against the bottom. The right side popped straight off, and by opening the door and lifting that way I was able to pop off the left side.

I scrubbed the inside with a dust brush and vaccuum. I pulled out a small quilt of built-up lint from the elbow in the lint tube, the part right behind the filter. I screwed the front control panel back on the front plate and leaned it against the dryer for the reminder snapshot here.

Reassembly was kind of the reverse. There are a couple of clips on the front of the bottom that hold the bottom of the front...heh. Then, with care given to the wiring and back of the knobs, I tipped the front back into place. I had to give a little lift to the drum through the open door (which made the front a little unweildly) to make sure the drum properly mounted on the felt lining inside to door. Then with a sharp tap to each side of the front, the spring clips holding the sides of the front to the front of the sides snapped into place. A quick reconnection of the cables and the dryer was reassembled.

I flipped the circuit-breaker back on and turned the dryer on to test. The "thump-thump" was still there. I repeated the disassembly, muc more quickly this time. This time I paid a little more attention to the door, and found a bit of lint built-up in the lining that holds the drum. In that lint, I found a bit of broken zipper; that must have been catching on the drum as it spun. I gave the inside of the door a little better attention with the vaccuum and re-reassembled it. Another test and the thump was gone!