Model

Samsung DV42H5600EP Electric Front-Load Dryer

• Support Page
• User Manual

Symptom

Dryer works, but makes loud banging sounds as the drum rotates.

Resolution

Tools

• Screwdriver: Regular Philips #2
• Adjustable: two of them, medium size
• Light: Magnetic, battery operated Work Light - ideally flood light with wider coverage
• Safety: work gloves, protective eyeware
• 20+ compartment organizer with erasable labels: you will thank me after for not losing all the screws.
• Phone: take pictures at every step to trace back all and know what goes where.
• Vacuum: you can't pass this opportunity to clean the dryer from inside - dust is literally everywhere inside it.

Time

5-10 hours, especially if you are doing this first time.

Culprit (for the impatient)

Part: DC97-16782A - Dryer Drum Roller. Loosened and fell off, making the drum wobble and making banging noises.

The right one was deformed and fell off the axis comletely (read on to see how it affected the big drum). Left one felt loose so I decided to change it as well while at it.

Process

Of course I had no idea what is going on, so first instinct is to pull the dryer apart and see what is going on. Never had I disassembled a dryer before, so I got the screwdriver, setup the light and got to work. Dryer was also not cleaned for few years - good opportunity to get all that dust out.

Step 0: Preparation - STOP AND READ!

WARNING: Failing to perform any of the following may result in severe injury or property damage. You have been warned!

• Heat 🔥: If dryer was turned on, wait for few hours. There is a very hot heater element inside.
• Electricity ⚡: Unplug the power from the socket. Can't stress this enough! There are 220V inside.
• Water 💧: shut off the water supply to the dryer (usually it's combined with the washer)
• Weight 💪: you need to be able to hold and move heavy objects. If you have any kind of injury, especially back injury - call someone to help, there are lots of heavy parts here.
• Safety 🦺: Put on your gloves and eyewear - lots of sharp corners inside.

Step 1a: Remove the Door

• You can safely skip this step, turns out it is not needed at all. The front cover comes off with the door.

Step 1b: Remove the top cover

• Undo 2 large screws behind the dryer
• Push out the cover (edges are sharp, better use work gloves) towards the back of the unite

You can see the big drum once cover is off.

⚡ REMINDER ⚡: It gets very dangerous from here on if you did not pull the electricity plug yet.

Step 2: Remove the control panel

Unscrew the 2 screws (bottom right and left in the picture above) on the white part of control panel and gently pull it off towards you.

⚠️ This is where you might want to start using the organizer. All the screws are slightly different, and it's easy to forget which one was from where.

The control panel will get stuck when trying to remove it. See two rectangular holes in the picture below? Two teeth of the control panel did not want to get out for quite some time.

Take some time and do not rush. It is very easy to break them if you pull them fast and hard. (I broke one of the teeth on mine when rushing to remove it second time, and it did not feel good at all 😢 )

Carefully disconnect two wires going to control panel - they have push release on them. Remember for later where they came from.

Step 3: Remove the front cover

See the sticking out tongue on the left of the wire above? Push it down gently with screwdriver on both sides and pull out the cover from top part.

Another wire to gently disconnect:

Step 4: Remove the fan cover

Few screws around, nothing complicated here, bottom part of the picture under the drum. This is where vacuum comes in full force, lots of dust starts showing up.

Step 5: Remove the control panel holder

The metal widget on top front with "WARNING" label on it. Remove several small screws in front and on top. Gently pull out, minding the wires that are attached behind it - remember how the look to restore them back.

Remove this one first (middle one, not the one on top of plastic), you don't want to break flap made from soft metal.

Step 6: Remove the front drum holding cover

Lots of wires hanging around, gently undo them from holders push them outside.

Remove the screws and pull the panel (heavy!) up and out.

(no need to remove lint collector box, that was me not knowing what I am doing)

Step 7: Remove the big drum

Mark or notice the direction of the drum. Drum is open on both sides and once removed it is not obvious which side goes where. It helped that I had sharpie markings on it already showing the direction

See the black ribbon going through the middle if the drum?

That's the drive belt. You need to remove it before trying to take the drum out. The following video shows you how:

Step 7: Remove the back drum holding cover

And here you go: the missing drum roller on the back drum holding panel (after cleaning the dust I found it nicely resting under the heater unit).

It may be possible to unscrew the drum roller axle with panel on, but I decided to remove the whole thing. Remove holding screws in the back, then up and out - also a heavy piece.

Step 8: Replace the roller

Roller comes already assembled on an axle, so nothing complicated here. Use two adjustable wrenches to unsrew old axle and attache the new one. Pay attention to positioning of the spacers.

Step 9: Put everything back in the opposite order

We are back in business! Rollers are replaced, putting it all back together by reading this page upwards.

(Note: you do not need to remove heater unit in the bottom right as shown in the picture)

This video also gives good overview of the steps: