The dish racks in your dishwasher, not unlike your garage door, run on a system of rails and rollers. The rollers are designed to smoothly roll along the rails no matter how much weight is in the dish rack. This makes loading and unloading the dishwasher easily done. However, if those rollers become damaged, you will learn just how much of a workhorse they have been. You can still get the racks back in, but it will require significantly more force.
If a roller has broken or will otherwise no longer roll, it needs to be replaced. Even if it is this one part that is not working, you run the risk damaging the rails and your dish racks will no longer function as easily as they once did.
Replacing the Rollers on a Dish Rack
In order to replace the rollers on your dish rack, you need to remove the dish rack from your dishwasher. On the bottom dish rack, you will be able to pull it out completely with ease. The top dish rack, however, has stops to prevent you from pulling it out. These stops can be pried open from the side of the dish rack. You may need a flat object like a coin or a screwdriver do so.
Once you have the affected dish rack on your work surface. To remove the rollers, some models may be held on with screws. Other models, because screws can rust, may use a plastic clip and that needs to be screwed or pried off before the roller can be removed.
Once done, the new roller can be added. It is recommended that if one roller is bad, all the rollers should be replaced to provide an even motion along the rails.
While replacing rollers is easy for any homeowner, if your dishwasher is manifesting more difficult problems, you may want a more professional hand. If you need appliance repair help, contact us today to see what Jerry’s Appliance Repair can do to help.