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The Kenmore Elite HE3 is 7.2 cu. ft. capacity electric dryer by Kenmore.

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Dryer drum will only turn if their in no clother

If the drum is full of clothes and you hit the start button, the drum will move slightly and stop. I can turn it by hand easily. If I remove all the clothes, then it will start and run continuously. Is it the motor, starting capacitor?

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The drive belt stretches with age as well as with the strain of being overloaded with wet -- or too much -- clothing. The spring-loaded idler pulley is designed to compensate for this stretching by increasing the tension on the belt, keeping it in proper contact with the drum and the motor drive pulley. After a certain amount of stretching, the idler pulley reaches its limit of travel and the belt begins to slip and needs to be replaced. Drum drive belts are relatively inexpensive, and some homeowners proactively replace them during the annual disassembly and cleaning of the clothes dryer.

Most domestic clothes dryers use slider bearings on the front lip of the dryer drum, which mates with the front panel flange. Slider bearings are nothing more than strips of tough nylon that slip into notches on the drum's flange. As tough as they are, slider bearings do wear out even with normal usage and need to be replaced. Heavy loads wear them out even faster. A good indication that the slider bearings need replacement is a loud squeaking sound when the dryer is working. As with the drum belt, the slider bearings can be replaced at the dryer's annual cleaning.

The idler pulley in a clothes dryer, like the automatic tensioner on your car's engine, is designed to automatically compensate for the normal wear and tear on the drum drive belt, keeping the belt in proper frictional contact with the drum. After a certain point, the idler pulley can no longer compensate for the wear on the belt, and frictional contact is lost; the belt begins to slip under the load of laundry, causing the drum to quit turning.

Some dryer designs use a number of hard rubber wheels to support the rear of the drum. Those support wheels wear out with time, often developing flat spots, and this causes the drum to become stuck and stop turning under heavy loads. This problem can often be diagnosed by turning the empty drum slowly by hand. Flat spots on the support wheels are felt as distinct bumps when you rotate the drum by hand. The support wheel bushings -- the sleeve bearings that ride on the wheel mount shaft -- also wear out over time and should be checked during the annual cleaning by checking the wheels for wobble on their supporting shafts

Many dryer designs use a single rear bearing to support the dryer drum. These bearings are of the bronze bushing type and wear out with use. The easiest way to check for a bad bushing is to try to move the back of the dryer drum up and down by hand. The slightest up and down motion of the drum indicates a worn-out bushing that needs to be replaced. If this bearing becomes excessively worn, the spindle on the back of the drum may also become worn and need to be replaced along with the bushing bearing.

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Kolbe  having just gone through something like this with another machine, this sounds very much like the motor. Anything related to the drum would cause a binding and you would not turn the drum by hand. So go ahead and check teh belt, but…..prepare to repalce the motor.

Check this video for the replacement

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Kolbe will be eternally grateful.
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