Recently we got a comment from a customer on there order who has been having continuing problems with their mixer:

Here is there comment:  

Is this gear made from butter? Why does it break so easily? This is my third time ordering this gear, is it made of a weaker material?

They ordered a 9706529 KitchenAid 5 & 6 Quart Worm Gear, here was our response and hopefully it will help some of you fix your KitchenAid too!

You placed an order for the worm follower gear (9706529) and were asking what the gear is made of and why it breaks so easily.  I understand this is the third time ordering the gear, I do not show any previous orders through us so I am not sure where you ordered the previous gears or how long they have lasted for you, however here are a few things you might want to check and that might help the gear last longer.

The first thing you will want to do is take each gear out and clean off all of the grease, I find WD-40 and paper towels work really well, once you clean off each gear, carefully inspect each gear to see if you can find any damage on any of the gears.  If you notice a gear is worn, nicked or damaged in any way you need to replace it.  Please do not reuse any of the old grease, small pieces of the metal gears can be left in the grease and that can make the mixer run loudly and strip the gears. Here is a link to the gears:

The next thing to look for after you have inspected each gear carefully would be to check the bearings, thrust washers, snap retainer rings and the pin that holds the worm follower in place, if any of these items are worn or damaged please replace them.  Also be sure to check the transmission cover, in older models these were plastic, if you have a plastic housing, whether it is cracked or not, I would highly recommend replacing it while the mixer is opened up.

When replacing the gears make sure each gear is installed correctly, and coated with the KitchenAid Benalene 930-2 Grease.  Once reassembled make sure mixer sounds good, loud or rough noise indicates that there is still a problem with the gearing.

Lastly, when using your mixer make sure you follow the operating instructions, most importantly would be not to take the mixer over speed 2 when you are kneading heavy dough.

I hope this will help you get & keep your KitchenAid Mixer running.

The Mending Shed

Orem,UT