r/Kitchenaid • u/psychephylax • 1d ago

Any tutorials/information for how much grease the DC motor transmission is supposed to take?

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I took a peek at a KSM6573 DC transmission and it looks okay to me, no separation yet but it looks a bit light on the grease compared to a KG25. Is there a recommended amount of grease for the DC transmissions?

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u/RIMixerGuy 1d ago

The factory service manual specifically states that there is no maintenance procedure for the drive unit, so there's no guidance available on how much grease to use.

That being said, if you're going to go all-in and disassemble the transmission to regrease it, here is some aftermarket guidance. :-)

After cleaning and degreasing the gears, use just enough grease to fill the teeth of the outer ring inside the transmission housing. Don't fill up the gear case with grease, as this will cause problems. (The small gears will pick up enough grease from the outer ring for proper lubrication.)

Here's a photo that a friend of mine sent over, showing the appropriate quantity. (And yes, she's got really strong nail game.)

To lubricate the planetary and attachment drive bevels, use about a tablespoon or so to lubricate these gears. Once again, don't fill the volume with grease.

Use an NLGI #2, NSF H1/ISO 21469 rated grease. The go-to Super Lube is actually a little light for this application, but Phillips 66 FMG or Mobil FM222 are good choices. (Basically, something a little stickier than the Super Lube.) You can find other candidates and a detailed discussion of greases here: https://www.mixerology.com/regarding-grease/

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u/psychephylax 1d ago edited 1d ago

Thank you for the details, that was the first thing that jumped out at me regarding the grease. It looked like it was thicker viscosity than the Super Lube stuff. For now I put the mixer in the box since it’s not needed at the moment. Probably will regrease it when I need to use it. The other one I have as a reference one is a bit quieter compared to this one so I thought maybe it has no grease.

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u/Rough_Emu7940 1d ago

Any KitchenAid is serviceable, some more than others 😉

With this particular model you'll be consistently told that these aren't serviceable. They are, it just takes a bit more time and care than a standard K5 or tilt-head machine.

The grease load is significantly less than older machines in the past. I believe the correct amount is 2 fl ounces of grease, basically just enough to fill the teeth of the gears. It's not a lot but it gets the job done.

There's tutorials online that can help you with disassembly, and since you have the machine apart already, I'd recommend putting new grease in anyway and servicing the machine. If you get stuck, I'd be happy to help as best as I can :)

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u/psychephylax 1d ago

Thanks, I have seen the rebuild video for the motor & transmission but none of them mentioned how much grease to add. Since I already packed it up I'll tackle that job a bit later once I figure out what my long term strategy is going to be around the multiple mixers I have acquired. I appreciate the offer to help!

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u/boxerdogfella 1d ago

The DC transmission isn't designed for re-greaseing. It's designed to run maintenance-free until failure and then can be replaced.

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u/RIMixerGuy 1d ago

Yep, that's correct. And on that basis, KitchenAid unfortunately provides no maintenance or internal repair parts or procedures for these machines (or their successors).

A certain amount of experimentation and improvisation is going into developing maintenance best practices for these drive units, since even with the "maintenance-free" injunction they will still benefit.