The drive belt on my front loader GE washer walks off the pulley and rubs on the tub causing the belt to wear. The motor arm is at lowest position under the motor bolt which I believe is sufficently tensioned.

Some other noticible symptoms are:

• The drive pulley wobbles (is loose) yet the pulley's M16 mounting nut is tightly secured.
  
• The washer bounces (making banging noises) during spin cycles.

I am zeroing on the dampers due to the banging noise. I do not know why the pulley wobbles when the nut is secured.

I would not mind trail and error and just replace the dampers but they are quite pricey at $55 each.

Would defective dampers cause the belt to walk off? Are they the cause of the washer banging? Is there something else causing the unbalanced load? With the belt removed the tub spins freely. I do not see any other obvious failures. Any help would be appreciated.

The main culprit was the drive pulley. The washer still bounces during spin cycles though but not as often.

On another note, the pulley shaft was slightly deformed where I could not get the new pulley on. So with lack of foresight I decided to take a grinding wheel to shape up the edges on the shaft to get the pulley to fit. That worked out well except I did not protect the bearing from the metal shavings. I got some metal dust inside the bearing. I lubricated the bearing and got it working but after setting overnight there is some resistant. I believe the bearing will not last that much longer. Is there instructions out there on how to replace the bearing. The bearing is held in by a ring clip (it seems simple to remove). Is it possible to remove the bearing without removing the tub (if the tub is supported in place)?

Any input would be apprieciated.

The dust from grinding the pulley shaft worked its way out of the bearing and the tub spins freely....got lucky on that one. Thanks for your input.