KitchenAid stand mixer issues

[sicklyscott]

Hi -

Let me first say my wife loves this mixer, we've had it for about 4 years, she's a big baker and has put it to use very well during that time.

This past week I was grinding some chuck and I noticed the mixer struggling a little. I kept an eye on it and eventually it just stopped. Without further punishment I shut the motor off and decided to pull it apart. What I found was a TON of grease.....and a frozen accessory drive gear. What I don't know is how to get the front gear out. Is there a bearing the front gear that could have seized or does it only operate on grease? I'd like to see if i can figure this out before we spend the money sending it to a service center.

BTW, its a 5 qt high-power mixer witht he tilt head.

 

[Joshatdot]

There are service repair manuals out in the web, just Google your model number + service repair manual. I found one for my old 3 speed hand mixer. Mine only had an exploded view of parts & part numbers/names.

 

[jim262]

The Attachment hub bevel gear rides in a sleeve and is kept lubricated by spiral grooves. There are two five quart tilt head mixers- the Artisan [KSM150] and the Accolade [KN15?]. The repair procedures are a bit different, but whenever there is a gear issue the best procedure is to remove all the gears for cleaning and inspection since there is often damage to more than one gear. Which mixer are you working on?

 

[sicklyscott]

It's the artisan. I ended up hammering out the accessory drive gear, took a LOT of force. There was no grease inside there AT ALL. I cleaned the rest of the gears, looked for metal in the grease and saw none. The plastic gear was in good shape (surprisingly). I pressed the front gear back in after greasing it up, put it all back together and voila! I'm not sure how long this "repair" will last but we'll keep an eye on it and see if any symptoms arise. If so I'm taking it to a repair shop next time. it's always easier to blame someone else for a bad repair!

 

[justplainbill]

The $64 question is whether or not any lubricating grease migrated into your ground chuck. Food grade gear and bearing lubricants do not appear to be very commonly available.