I Gave Away Kitchenaid Mixers For Gifts This Year

WeberWho

itsmce said:

Nice gifts!

@itsmce Thank you!

WeberWho

jlsm said:

Fantastic! Really, really thoughtful.

@jlsm Thank you! It took some time picking them up off Craigslist, cleaning them, greasing them, waxing them, and wrapping them. The mixers kept me out of the mall almost this whole entire Christmas shopping. That was heavenly. Nothing worse than walking around the mall buying stuff that people only kind of want last minute. Much rather tinker on something than getting them some smelly soap lotion at the mall. Win - Win for giving/receiving this year!

SGH

@WeberWho?‌- What a great post brother. I can not personally speak for the mixers, but Hobart produced some of the very best meat slicers and grinders that have ever been built. I have a commercial duty grinder that was made in 1964 and it will grind up a spoon or a fork if you accidentally drop it in and will not even blink. Hobart made some extremely heavy duty stuff. Especially if you bought the commercial grade. Again, great write up and great gifts. Wish you would have sent me one of them. It's not to late you know

WeberWho

SGH said:

@WeberWho?‌- What a great post brother. I can not personally speak for the mixers, but Hobart produced some of the very best meat slicers and grinders that have ever been built. I have a commercial duty grinder that was made in 1964 and it will grind up a spoon or a fork if you accidentally drop it in and will not even blink. Hobart made some extremely heavy duty stuff. Especially if you bought the commercial grade. Again, great write up and great gifts. Wish you would have sent me one of them. It's not to late you know

@SGH Thank you for the kind words. A nice used Hobart slicer or grinder sure would come in handy at times.

jlsm

@WeberWho?‌ I told my husband about your gifts, and he got a little teary about your thoughtfulness. True Christmas spirit. He just kept saying, "Man, that's the nicest gift I've heard about in a long time." I concur. Months of planning and work.

bigguy136

@WeberWho

I like how you work on things. I've got the pro 600 (575 watt) from 2 years ago. I had a little too much flour in it and it was working hard. I bought the pro so I could work it but the internal breaker popped and I had to let it cool. Now I have some gear noise and I plan to take apart now the holiday baking season is over.
With your experience, do I want to order a set of gears before taking apart or are the gears heavy duty enough? Maybe just a fresh grease job? Any special pullers or gear shimming requirements?

NPHuskerFL

The high temp food safe grade grease/lube should be what is used from the git go. But, as you so pointedly said as long as it's used regularly as it intended you should be aight. I use our Artisan quite a bit and have been pleased with its performance. But, I'll relube exactly as you have. Nice work and excellent info thread. =D>

WeberWho

bigguy136 said:

@WeberWho

I like how you work on things. I've got the pro 600 (575 watt) from 2 years ago. I had a little too much flour in it and it was working hard. I bought the pro so I could work it but the internal breaker popped and I had to let it cool. Now I have some gear noise and I plan to take apart now the holiday baking season is over.
With your experience, do I want to order a set of gears before taking apart or are the gears heavy duty enough? Maybe just a fresh grease job? Any special pullers or gear shimming requirements?

@bigguy136 I personally would wait on ordering any replacement parts. Once you have it apart I would clean up the gears and look for any damage. More than likely it just needs some new grease. When I plugged in a couple of the used mixers I could hear some light gear chatter. It's probably similar to what you're hearing. Like I mentioned earlier in the thread I highly recommend the Tri-Flow synthetic food grease. It will save you from another tear down when Kitchenaids grease separates into liquid. If you do need any replacement parts you might want to check out Goodmans.net . Great prices and very reasonable shipping

WeberWho

@jlsm Thanks for the kind words! I have to share my wifes response when I read her your post. She said, ”I literary just saw your head grow 2 inches!!!” That was a good jab. I laughed out loud

jlsm

@WeberWho? I inherited an old Hobart model when my father-in-law died two years ago. It had sat unused since my mother-in-law's death two years earlier. The mixer is working fine, but do you think I should take it apart and grease? I'm not much of an electric gadget gal, though I can take things apart and put them back together, and the film was very clear. Because it's working well, I'm wondering if I should just let it be and not chance messing it up. 

WeberWho

@Jlsm If you take off the kitchenaid band (couple small screws in the back) can you see any yellow/brown liquid crusted around the gasket? Any liquid that has hardened around the front beauty/trim ring? To be completely honest I'm going to say you should get the old grease out. I would probably be safe to say that your Mother-In-Law never had it regreased? (Sorry to hear about your MIL and FIL passing) With it being a Kitchenaid/Hobart it has to be 30+ years old. Kitchenaid recommends you regrease them every 10 years using their grease. If you regrease the mixer using Tri-Flow food safe synthetic grease you shouldn't ever have to regrease it. It really isn't too bad regreasing them. If you take your time and remember how everything comes apart and goes back together it's fairly easy. The hardest part is removing the plantary pin. Do you have a small punch set? Before you buy new grease and tackle the project I would try removing the pin first. Lay you mixer on it's side and try pounding out the pin with a punch and small hammer. It might take some good wacks. Becareful and try not to scratch the plantary paint. It's easy from there. My friend just dropped of his wifes grandmas Hobart mixer for me to regrease. So I'll be redoing one myself. Let me know if you have any questions along the way if you decide to give it a try. I'd be more than happy to help!

Ragtop99

We got our MIL's because it was leaking the grease and she thought it was dead.  Good to know it is fixable.

WeberWho

Ragtop99 said:

We got our MIL's because it was leaking the grease and she thought it was dead.  Good to know it is fixable.

@ragtop99 Just broken down grease. Nice score!

WeberWho

WeberWho? said:

@Jlsm If you take off the kitchenaid band (couple small screws in the back) can you see any yellow/brown liquid crusted around the gasket? Any liquid that has hardened around the front beauty/trim ring? To be completely honest I'm going to say you should get the old grease out. I would probably be safe to say that your Mother-In-Law never had it regreased? (Sorry to hear about your MIL and FIL passing) With it being a Kitchenaid/Hobart it has to be 30+ years old. Kitchenaid recommends you regrease them every 10 years using their grease. If you regrease the mixer using Tri-Flow food safe synthetic grease you shouldn't ever have to regrease it. It really isn't too bad regreasing them. If you take your time and remember how everything comes apart and goes back together it's fairly easy. The hardest part is removing the plantary pin. Do you have a small punch set? Before you buy new grease and tackle the project I would try removing the pin first. Lay you mixer on it's side and try pounding out the pin with a punch and small hammer. It might take some good wacks. Becareful and try not to scratch the plantary paint. It's easy from there. My friend just dropped of his wifes grandmas Hobart mixer for me to regrease. So I'll be redoing one myself. Let me know if you have any questions along the way if you decide to give it a try. I'd be more than happy to help!

@Jlsm Just got home from work and decided to see if I could get the plantary pin to budge being it's the same Hobart/Kitchenaid you have. I was able to remove the pin in a few minutes using the punch and hammer. (Trust me the pins don't come out that easy the way the video shows it. I'm guessing the pin has been out many times with him making videos on the mixer) Make sure you keep the punch pushed against the pin firmly when hitting the punch so it doesn't jump and scrape the paint. You might even want to wrap some electrical tape or a heavier thinkness tape around the hole if worried about how it looks cosmetically. I'd say go for it!

WeberWho

Forgot the pic

Fred19Flintstone

@WeberWho?‌ - What do you use to degrease it? I assume it must be food safe. Awesome post. I bought mine new in the mid-late 90's so I'm sure it's a Whirlpool. I've never regreased it so I think doing so is in my future. I wish I had a Hobart.

WeberWho

Fred19Flintstone said:

@WeberWho?‌ - What do you use to degrease it? I assume it must be food safe. Awesome post. I bought mine new in the mid-late 90's so I'm sure it's a Whirlpool. I've never regreased it so I think doing so is in my future. I wish I had a Hobart.

@Fred19Flinstone I use whatever is handy at the moment. Most people aren't anal like me and don't even bother cleaning majority of the old grease out. If you want to be anal just some basic 409 should do the job. I just spray them down in a throw away aluminum pan or pie tin. You can also spray down the inside housing and wipe with paper towels.

Don't worry about it not being a Hobart. If you keep it maintained and the mixer does everything that you need it to do it should last you many more years. They still are nice mixers Horbart or Whirlpool

jlsm

@WeberWho? OK. You've convinced me. I'm ordering the grease today. I've taken my Italian expresso maker apart several times and I fixed an old slot machine, so I think I can do this without too much harm. Thanks for the advice and help. 

johnkitchens

@WeberWho great post. My wife has a KitchenAid. I mentioned this post to her, and she said hers started leaking grease two years ago! She didn't mention it to me. 

She said it appears to work fine, but it leaks a little. 

I guess I should order the grease and try to re-grease it? 

Where are you located?? 

texaswig

Good post I'm on the Craigslist hunt now.

bcsnave

Hi..

I have a Kitchen aid from 1998 and it probably could use a fresh clean and re-grease.

 Do you have any instructions on how to?

WeberWho

mountaindewbass said:

I wish you lived in my area...my mixer needs maintenance.  On its lowest setting..its super slow at times and super fast at times..its variable.  Cant figure it out..ive taken off the back plate and adjusted the screws...still cant fix it.

@mountaindewbass‌ This is just a guess but it might be your mixer speed control plate that needs replacing. My mom's Kitchenaid Hobart needed some adjusting with the screws in the back. I had to lock the screws all the way tight to get the correct speed. Any more adjusting I'll have to buy a new plate. I did read that someone replaced the two screws in back with longer screws to fix the adjustment speed. There are a couple good videos on YouTube to show how to adjust them correctly. The screws need to be adjusted the exact same with one another. Maybe your screws are adjusted differently from one another making the mixer jump around in speed? It could also be your mixer speed control board going out of whack? I'd start with readjusting the screws and if it's the same problem I would order the speed control plate and start from there. It's around $5 from Goodmans.net. I'm no pro so these are more less my guesses. Hopefully the info might help guide you into the right direction

WeberWho

jlsm said:

@WeberWho? OK. You've convinced me. I'm ordering the grease today. I've taken my Italian expresso maker apart several times and I fixed an old slot machine, so I think I can do this without too much harm. Thanks for the advice and help. 

@jlsm Awesome! I can almost guarantee that your more mechanically inclined than I am. You'll do good on it. I re watched the video and I'm going to add to it. My suggestion would be to remove the shaft/bevel gear and the worm gear assembly. The worm gear assembly comes off with 3 screws. For the shaft removal you need to remove the rubber circle piece from the shaft and the the washer towards the top. The shaft will lift right out. The gear is connected to the shaft with a pin. I'll show you with pics below without grease. By removing these part's it's easier to clean and doesn't hide any old grease. (I just got done removing the grease but still need to degrease them with a cleaner and toothbrush. I also need to clean the underside as you can tell by the pictures where the plantary surrounds) Just remember to run some grease around the shaft when placing it back in the hole when your done. You can wife off any extra grease on the shaft once in the hole.

WeberWho

johnkitchens said:

@WeberWho great post. My wife has a KitchenAid. I mentioned this post to her, and she said hers started leaking grease two years ago! She didn't mention it to me. 

She said it appears to work fine, but it leaks a little. 

I guess I should order the grease and try to re-grease it? 

Where are you located?? 

@johnkitchens‌ Thanks! I'm up in Minnesota. I would definitely have the grease replaced so your mixer doesn't start to strip or wreck gears. It still has grease in it so don't worry too much that your wife has been using it. If you like to tinker on stuff it's fairly easy to do. Basic tools. I highly recommend a punch for the plantary pin. Definitely the Tri-flow grease. I'm not the most handy of people but I was able to do them without too many issues. I say go for it!

WeberWho

texaswig said:

Good post I'm on the Craigslist hunt now.

@texaswig‌ Thanks! Best of luck on your search!

WeberWho

bcsnave said:

Hi..

I have a Kitchen aid from 1998 and it probably could use a fresh clean and re-grease.

 Do you have any instructions on how to?

@bcsnave‌ I would watch the video in this thread as a reference. He does it kind of crude but you can use it more of an outline. A few prior post's I've mentioned how I've done it differently than the video. Let me know if you have any questions. I'd be glad to help out

Durangler

@WeberWho? ... I have followed this thread and am impressed with your effort & documentation. 

I have a couple questions, if I may. 

I have an Hobart branded Kitchen Aid K45SS. The band is the same as the one you pictured before, (I think the one that came off your Mothers) I don't know the age, but read somewhere that there is a sticker on the underside of the base with a few numbers on it. Well mine has the sticker & says 3382. Could this number mean 33rd week of 1982? Or March 3, 1982? Do you have any insight as to how to find the Mfg Date?

Also, the gasket. Were you able to salvage the gaskets during your restoration, or would you advise purchasing one prior to the process? If this mixer is over 30 years old & has never been re-greased, I'm thinking the gasket may be stuck on pretty good.

I need to replace the rubber feet also. They are smashed down like pancakes. I see Goodmans.net has them plus the gasket and the wire mixing attachment. One of the wires is broken on the attachment as well.

Thanks & Happy New Year to you! 

Durangler

BTW, @WeberWho? this is the same band as mine.

WeberWho

Durangler said:

@WeberWho? ... I have followed this thread and am impressed with your effort & documentation. 

I have a couple questions, if I may. 

I have an Hobart branded Kitchen Aid K45SS. The band is the same as the one you pictured before, (I think the one that came off your Mothers) I don't know the age, but read somewhere that there is a sticker on the underside of the base with a few numbers on it. Well mine has the sticker & says 3382. Could this number mean 33rd week of 1982? Or March 3, 1982? Do you have any insight as to how to find the Mfg Date?

Also, the gasket. Were you able to salvage the gaskets during your restoration, or would you advise purchasing one prior to the process? If this mixer is over 30 years old & has never been re-greased, I'm thinking the gasket may be stuck on pretty good.

I need to replace the rubber feet also. They are smashed down like pancakes. I see Goodmans.net has them plus the gasket and the wire mixing attachment. One of the wires is broken on the attachment as well.

Thanks & Happy New Year to you! 

@Durangler‌ Thanks for nice comments! That's really interesting about the manufacturing date. I'll have to read up on that. I'm still learning about these mixers while I'm working on them. The gasket is salvageable. If you carefully lift it up and go around it slowly you should be able to save the gasket. The gasket is a rubber material that can clean up and look like new with some cleaner or soap and water. You just don't want to tug or pull hard on it. I believe some of the older Kitchenaid/Hobart mixers used cork feet. The rubber feet will be nice. Plus the rubber feet will help keep the mixer in place instead of it moving around with heavier loads. Hard to go wrong with Goodmans.net. I don't think you can find replacement parts cheaper anywhere else. Good luck on the project! Let me know if you have any questions.

jlsm

@Durangler, try removing the feet and putting them  back in. If they slide around, take a little sandpaper to them. 

Thanks, @WeberWho? for the additional tips. I'll keep you posted.