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Small Appliance Repair: Kitchenaid Stand Mixer
Figgy
Fighter of the night manChampion of the sunRegistered User regular
Fighter of the night manChampion of the sunRegistered User regular
So the attachment port of my mixer no longer spins. If I shove an attachment in there and hold it tightly, it will spin or skip a bit, but with nothing there it just wiggles. The bottom part (where you attach the whip) spins but it sounds like something is loose in there.
1. Took it to a repair shop and paid $180 for them to replace the nylon worm gear. Everything seemed fine and I used it to grind meat, then it happened again. I honestly can't remember if I even used the attachment port during that time and just never noticed.
2. Took it apart myself, replaced the nylon gear (seemed fine) and Bevel Pinion Center Gear (it looked fine but had some shiny spots around the teeth which looked like it was very very slightly worn away.
3. Hurray! It's fixed! Fast forward today to grind some meat. I didn't even put the meat in and boom... skipping as it spins.
Taking it apart, the pinion gear has shiny spots again. What I'm noticing is that the port (which is technically the "Attachment Hub Lever Gear" feels a bit "loose" from the outside. So if I turn her on and watch it, it kind of just skips there. If I shove something in there and press it back into the machine, it seems to spin.
Also, the Planetary has some play as well. If I hold it up tightly the attachment port spins.
So something is loose and it's causing gears to strip. Any ideas? Anything I can find online relates to the planetary not spinning or the height needing adjustment. Both irrelevant here. My next guess is replacing the Lever Gear and then Bevel gear again. I just don't want to spend the money/time on that if there is an underlying issue causing these gears to strip because they're not tight against each other.
At the very least, if someone has a standard "Classic" Kitchenaid Mixer model if they can tell me if there is any play at all in the planetary if you push up on it, that would help. I'd know to stop worrying about that part.
The red arrow shows where I can push up on the part and have 1-2mm of play:
1. Took it to a repair shop and paid $180 for them to replace the nylon worm gear. Everything seemed fine and I used it to grind meat, then it happened again. I honestly can't remember if I even used the attachment port during that time and just never noticed.
2. Took it apart myself, replaced the nylon gear (seemed fine) and Bevel Pinion Center Gear (it looked fine but had some shiny spots around the teeth which looked like it was very very slightly worn away.
3. Hurray! It's fixed! Fast forward today to grind some meat. I didn't even put the meat in and boom... skipping as it spins.
Taking it apart, the pinion gear has shiny spots again. What I'm noticing is that the port (which is technically the "Attachment Hub Lever Gear" feels a bit "loose" from the outside. So if I turn her on and watch it, it kind of just skips there. If I shove something in there and press it back into the machine, it seems to spin.
Also, the Planetary has some play as well. If I hold it up tightly the attachment port spins.
So something is loose and it's causing gears to strip. Any ideas? Anything I can find online relates to the planetary not spinning or the height needing adjustment. Both irrelevant here. My next guess is replacing the Lever Gear and then Bevel gear again. I just don't want to spend the money/time on that if there is an underlying issue causing these gears to strip because they're not tight against each other.
At the very least, if someone has a standard "Classic" Kitchenaid Mixer model if they can tell me if there is any play at all in the planetary if you push up on it, that would help. I'd know to stop worrying about that part.
The red arrow shows where I can push up on the part and have 1-2mm of play:
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If it breaks again after replacing these (which is basically the majority of the mechanical workings, outside the motor/transmission) fuck it. I'll just use it as a regular mixer and my $400 worth of attachments will go up on Kijiji or something.
Specifically I've had gears and such fail on an old Hoover vacuum cleaner that was made of all metal and the 'replacement parts' may as well have been made of cardboard and wax instead of steel.
Repair shops quotes are going to be "Bend over and grab the table", when you order parts (from any number of repair parts places found online) you're looking at around $10 or less a piece.
I'm at work so forgive the shitty workstation keyboard and desk mess as it is a shop and well people don't give a crap about this area.
Buuuuuuuuuuuuut don't ask how or why we have one of these just sitting around in the shop (may or may not be used for tasks that would void the warranty)
This is what the innards of ours looks after being heavily used for years (lack of grease due to me doing a quick swab and toss)
Now in that second photo you see the shaft? On yours check to make sure it is fitting in and not lifted up out of the slot, there is a pin (19 and 22 on the schemo) that fits through the shaft and into a slot to lock it into place to keep from lifting.
EDIT: There is play in the planetary but very very slight
I must know.
Thanks so much for taking the time to post this. The shaft was in, but I will triple check when I replace the gears again.
Thing is, the fault seems to be in the attachment gear, which is in your first pic up against the front of the upper chasis. The rest of the gears seem to spin fine. That big lower gear (bevel gear) is a bit worn on mine after 1 use, but only the teeth on the top surface, where the attachment hub gear would touch.
So I'm replacing both this time to see what happens. I will definitely make sure the shaft is in right too. That pin looks a tad short on mine. Like it could shimmy out easily or something. We shall see.
You did regrease when you put it back together? Also keep in mind that the photos I posted are from a much older and most likely a different model than yours but internally it should look somewhat similar.
The upper attachment gear is free floating in mine where I can simply pull it out from the inside and it relies on the attachment to engage it to I believe the bevel gear (I don't have it in front of me as I'm not at work currently) and it catches the top of the bevel gear and begins to turn.
This would explain why it isn't turning unless you give it a tiny push upwards as the bevel gear isn't making contact due to a clearance issue, before you order parts I'd pull it apart and take a look at what is going on around the bevel gear and if your orbital gearing isn't slightly off (misaligned upon reassembly) which wasn't pushing things upwards enough to make spinny spinny go go.
Make sure if you are regreasing you're using a food safe grease and the Kitchenaid tins of grease are over priced as a motherfucker (It's rebranded shell darina #2 that sells for $6 a tube), I believe we repacked this machine with CRC (link) but that's because we had a tube floating around. CRC is about $16 a tube and is a bit on the high end of price and also is overkill but we have it on hand so it was used. But you can look for NSF H1 rated grease and pick and choose from there as there are many options out there.
I may get shunned for saying so, but no, I didn't apply new grease. Honestly, there was enough grease in there for 10 mixers. I just used some of the stuff gunked up in the corner of the chasis that wasn't doing anyone any good.
Unfortunately I had already ordered the parts, so I've installed the two new gears and new shim washers. For the planetary, the parts diagram shows two shim washers there, but mine only had one. I installed two news ones. The pin was a bit harder to pound in, but now it runs a lot smoother it seems. A lot less play in the planetary, which could have been the problem the entire time. The planetary was coming down too far and not pressing firmly against the gears. Since the attachment gear just sits along the top of the bevel gear, it wasn't secure enough and would eventually strip. I wouldn't be surprised if the repair place I first went to didn't put two washers back on.
We'll see, though. I haven't tried actually using an attachment yet.
Thanks again for taking the time to post.
Depends on how old the mixer is, but as long as you repacked the grease (back on the gears) you'll be fine.
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