Just wanted to post a final follow-up. I received the new motor yesterday afternoon, and replaced it this morning. It was a little bit daunting because I had to remove the entire blower, exhaust and drive assembly from the machine since the inner cabinet doesn't allow me to just take off the front of the blower fan housing. The motor was a bit smaller in size than the original too, but with the longer pulley end, it fits just fine. After muscle-ing the whole assembly back into place after attaching the motor to it all, I hooked it up and it runs nicely and quietly.

Thanks, denman, for your input and for continuing to answer my questions as I went along.

My Christmas present to myself this year is the ability to dry my clothes!