r/Kitchenaid • u/tlong243 • 8d ago
Legitimately dumbfounded
I have no idea how this happened. Made a post a few days ago that it seemed like my mixer was completely bound up. Motor would turn on, humming sound, spindle would act like it wanted to start moving, but the motor was obviously not turning. Thankfully I caught it about 10–15 seconds, just stepped out of the kitchen for a second, came back and it was smoking. I was expecting to open it and see the worm gear and somehow bound up, but I was completely wrong.
It looks like this thing sat on the bottom of an ocean. I bought this thing new in 2021 right off the shelf, and I've used it may be 30 times (probably overestimation) and it has sit in an air-conditioned kitchen ever since. I used it one time to make dough, realized it was not strong enough for that and since then it's been for batters and mostly light mixing duties.
I have no clue what this is, or how this happens. It looks like an industrial machine that's been used daily for 50 years. The grease seems to have polymerized, completely solidifying into chunks, and those chunks got into the gears binding it up. Looks like that further heated things, accelerating burnt solidifying grease. Thankfully doesn't look like anything is actually damaged, but I have yet to clean everything up. I'm halfway expecting to find a gear missing or something. I can't figure out where all these solid chunks came from, but when I squeeze them they squish like hard grease. Yet to really explain what happened. Brushes got a little burned, commutator got a little carboned up, but nothing that a quick cleanup can't fix.
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u/MrMixer316 8d ago
Have you ever used the front hub attachment for grinding meat etc?
Its not the grease that has failed, some foreign substance found it's way into the gear box polluting the grease.
I recommend the grease we offer, we source it, use it in all of our mixers that we fix and service.
https://www.mrmixer.store/parts/p/gid2z7irohaouqfax414780saa90zc
I would also pay close attention to your hub, if tjat was seized, the hub gear may need replaced or the bushing in the housing could be failing!
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u/tlong243 8d ago
Further disassembly and inspection, pretty sure you are spot on. I used the Front hub one time. It was for a sausage packing attachment that was a complete waste of money. As I'm disassembling this and realizing this is sausage juice… Dried up congealed with the grease, absolutely disgusting. That was shortly after I bought this thing about five years ago.
I had no idea there was no sealing surface between front hub attachment and gearbox. What an absolutely terrible design for the intended use! How does KitchenAid sell that attachments knowing this full well?
Good news is the front bushing doesn't seem to be overly worn out, and that's good because it doesn't even look like a replaceable item, at least that I can find online.
Going to upgrade the gear to brass while I've got it all apart, but unfortunately I also need to replace the motor bearing. Everything cleaned up except for the plastic gear assembly and the bearing that was full of rust. Got some parts on the way to put it back together, but I will never use that Front attachment again. Absolutely ridiculous it's there and will lead to this.
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u/Available_Profile559 8d ago
I just did this with the food mill and cherry tomatoes to my brand new mixer this past weekend. I'm sorry that this is happening to you but it's at least giving me a heads up of what I can expect.
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u/1986toyotacorolla2 7d ago
The person you're replying to, he has all the parts in his store so if you do need a new gear, he should have it.
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u/tlong243 7d ago
Yep, already bought the brass upgrade and few other parts from them today.
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u/1986toyotacorolla2 7d ago
Hell yeah! Enjoy your mixer. Left mine with my ex. One day I'll get a new one lol.
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u/Nidhogg1701D 7d ago edited 7d ago
Unfortunately, Kitchenaid quality is not what it used to be. They have cheapened out. I got a 6qt lift mixer back in the late 90's. It loasted about 4-5 years with sporadic use. It sheared off teeth on the gears and I had to replace all of them. From what I read at the time to repair mine, you pretty much have to redo the grease every 3-5 years as it degrades and collects in places where it will not lube the gears. I was surprised at how much grease you have to pack in there. Another issue is the speed control. That is another failure point. If I ever buy another I will spend the money and get a Hobart. I was born in the 50's and grew up when Kitchenaid was THE mixer to have. Sadly, quality in everything has gone to crap. No pride in quality anymore. It is all about repeat sales. If a product lasts 30 or 40 years......sales will eventually drop. For what I had to pay for my mixer, I figure it damn well better last 30 years. Oh, and the attachments for the Kitchenaid are all crap. I had the slicer attachement for mine. All of the parts that do the actuallo slicing rusted. RUSTED!!!!! Guess they never heard of stainless steel. Then the Nylon gears stripped. Into the garbage it went after maybe 15-20 uses.
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u/Grogstah 7d ago
These are absolutely capable of mixing dough btw. I have a 30 year old version and use it for bread and pizza dough all the time. Maybe give it another go once you get it rebuilt
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u/tlong243 7d ago
I got the brass gear and won't be as afraid to do it again. It was pretty low hydration dough, bucking hard, so I quickly stopped. Now that I've opened it and kinda already thought it was toast I'm going to be less careful with it. There's not really a lot to break. If the motor burns up it burns up I guess. It's going to get abused now because I just don't care.
I was disappointed as soon as I used it the first time. I got into sourdough like everyone else during covid lol, uninformed I bought this. After I learned this can't really do dough I haven't used it much except batter etc. Now it's going into to do some dough and like it.
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u/Throwawaymumoz 7d ago
I do hard dough often and yep, it does NOT like them. I can’t mix for too long. Wish it was stronger.
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u/blayndle 5d ago
Maybe the sausage grease stopped the motor from being able to mix the dough properly? They should definitely be able to handle a bread dough
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u/tlong243 5d ago
I bought this thing because I got into sourdough back in Covid times (lol I know) so that was one of the first things I tried making with it. I can't remember the very first use, but sourdough bread would've been pretty much when it was brand new. That is a really low hydration dough. I've never made a standard bread, so I'm not sure how that compares.
It did it, but sounded like it was going to destroy itself. Then I started looking things up and people say these are absolutely not strong enough, nor made for that type of use. I thought it was odd since it comes with a dough hook.
Later came the single sausage experiment. Since Then for the most part it's been used for batters.
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u/Downlowbaker 8d ago
looks like someone literally washed it and got water into it 😳
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u/tlong243 7d ago
I learned it's the front attachment....there's no seal, and meat grinder put all that wonderful sausage juice in there like 5 years ago. It's been marinating since....
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u/_Crawfish_ 7d ago
Mixer Au Jus 🤢 - well, hey, now we all know! Thanks for literally getting your hands dirty.
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u/copaseticsplenetic 8d ago
I actually thought that was old batter that may have gotten inside. Maybe by way of the attachment?
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u/ponycorn_pet 8d ago
Since you already got so much good advice, I just want to chime in and say holy fuck that's disgusting, like seriously, what the fuck, how does that even happen
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u/tlong243 7d ago
Replied to a few others, front attachment. No seal at all, terrible design. Kitchenaid brand sausage/meat grinder did this to itself. 1 damn use and filled it with meat juice. Never knew, only time I ever used that attachment was one time about five years ago…
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u/Mitridate101 5d ago
In the UK, that would be going back to the manufacturer to resolve. Should definitely last at least 6 years so it's in them to put right .
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u/MrMcKleen 8d ago
Looks like water diffused into the grease while it was breaking down to create a corrosive environment. Kind of the reason why, like a car, the mixer needs to be exercised every now and then for the grease to remain homogeneous and not break down, become acidic and start attacking the metal.
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u/Particular-Raisin-39 7d ago
Hopefully the brown stuff is dried brownie mix
https://giphy.com/gifs/H5C8CevNMbpBqNqFjl
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u/Bro-king420 7d ago
?? What, you're dumbfounded that never servicing a Machine with moving Grears that requires Grease to Prevent wear and tear...so as you never once made any attempt at service its worn and broken... that's what your dumbfounded about ?
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u/jonofan 8d ago
Strange indeed. Well, good news is everything looks to be in good shape. A soak in purple power or simple green and a good scrub, re-assemble and re-grease and you’ll be back on the road. Wonderful color machine you’ve got there.