Hi VILLAGEFS, I’m sorry to hear about your 12 year old KA mixer not working. From the symptoms described, your mixer has experienced a catastrophic transmission failure; “like a gear is stripped…” Your particular KA model has a plastic gear designed to fail instead of the whole mixer ‘going up in smoke’. With this ‘fail-safe’ gear stripped your electric motor continues to ‘whirl’, but the power is not being transferred to the planetary and agitator shaft.
The good news is that this can be fixed quite easily (OK, maybe with a little effort) by yourself, if you are a DITY type person, feel adventurous, and your mixer is not under warranty (which it is not). Make sure you have the Parts List manual on hand. If you're lacking one, you can download a PDF version from the KA website at: http://www.kitchenaid.com/flash.cmd?/#/page/home.
Click on Customer Care>Locate Manuals& Guides> then enter the visitor type “Consumer” and enter the 6 character model number, in this case K45SSW, and then select the file under Parts List (1) K45SSWH0.pdf (341.41 KB) ( Still check to see it matches your mixer).
Although not providing step by step instructions, the Parts List manual provides an exploded view of the various component assemblies allowing you to see how the mixer all fits together. It is helpful for the disassembly, troubleshooting, and reassembly of your mixer.
Turn to pages 4 & 5, titled “Case, Gearing and Planetary Unit”, and locate Illus. No. 38, Worm Gear Bracket & Gear, including Illus. No. 8, Worm Gear. After clearing all the grease away, you will probably find the worm gear stripped. You can order a replacement part and install it yourself. Do not use the old grease as it will be contaminated with debris from the stripped gear and ‘gum up the works’ if you try to reuse it.
While you’ve got your mixer this far apart you can check for any other unseemly wear and tear on the on the other gears and components. Besides a replacement worm gear, and grease you might consider replacing the gasket, too. You should use a food-grade grease that you can order online (although I’ve seen automotive bearing grease used, too – your call).
As far as parts go, here are five potential vendors in no particular order: RepairClinic.com; mendingshed.com; searspartsdirect.com; partstore.com; and Grainger.com (for grease). Prices can vary widely between vendors, so do some comparison shopping.
Finally, here are some links to several excellent websites that detail the disassembling/greasing and reassembly of a KA Mixer.
Between these three websites and their excellent pictures and descriptions and your Parts List manual, you should now be able to completely disassemble, fix/replace your stripped worm gear, and reassemble your mixer.
If you feel this repair is beyond your capability, then I would seek out a local small appliance repair shop in your area. KA Customer Care can give you names of local KA authorized repair shops in your area, but you can also do an online search to supplement what KA may provide you. Call to explain your circumstances and find out their hourly rate and get an estimate of what they think it would cost to repair your mixer. Also, always obtain three or more estimates – do some comparison shopping. Good luck, I hope this helps. Howard, Burke, VA
If this solution was helpful, please rate it, thanks! – hslincoln
1,055 views
Usually answered in minutes!
×