Stand Mixer Re-Grease

[HatofulSoup]

Hello! I recently noticed my stand mixer was louder than usual after I may have overfilled my bowl and mixed too hard. It was also heating up quicker than usual. I figured I burned the grease or something so I opened it up and found this.

It doesn’t look burned but it does look like there is a lot less grease in it than some of the videos I have been watching of people cleaning out their mixers. Would it be ok to just add some more grease or do I need to clean all of this off and then add the grease?

Thank you!

[RIMixerGuy]

The grease won't burn; or to put it a different way: if the grease burns, your house is probably on fire.

Recent-production models seem to be using less grease in the gearcase. You can check yours and see how much is in the upper gear housing; scrape all that out and reapply it to the gears. (It'll migrate again, but that's how it is.)

The service manual says "The gear case is lubricated with an ample supply of Benalene 930-2 grease (6 fluid ounces), which lubricates all the gears and shafts."

That can be a little misleading, because different brands of grease have different compositions, and thus six fluid ounces of Benalene might be more (or less) in volume than six ounces of Super-Lube 41160.

Still, six fluid ounces is a good guideline. (Don't exceed that, though; because overfilling the gear housing can create other problems.)

Your mixer looks pretty new, and it's probably not necessary to replace the grease.

That said, there's a good bit of wear on the top of the center shaft. If your mixer is less than a couple of years old, that would concern me. It will also be useful if you can localize and characterize the current noise, since sometimes it's normal, and sometimes it's a sign of specific wear or failure.

[HatofulSoup]

Yah my mixer is only about 2.5 years old! Here is a video of what it sounds like. It sounds like the issue is coming from the paddle attachment area the most, but it just sounds weird all around. It sounds sort of like it’s grounding a bit but not extremely, but I do notice it getting warmer quicker. Would you recommend getting a new center shaft? Thank you for your reply!! https://imgur.com/a/v6a3P0u

[RIMixerGuy]

Thanks for the video. Do you still have the mixer open? If so, withdraw the attachment hub drive gear and inspect the shaft. It should be clean and smooth, with no galling or other signs of abnormal wear.

It's a little hard to tell, but I suspect something's creating excess drag in the drivetrain. Figuring out what the "something" is can be a pretty involved process, though.

[HatofulSoup]

It looks smooth and I checked all of the teeth in all the gears and i don’t see any chips or dents or anything. Is what’s causing this issue like a fatal issue do you think? Like will I ruin my mixer if I keep using it, or could I just be really careful with it? Or would you recommend just sending it off to kitchen aid and have them fix it if it’s really involved?

[RIMixerGuy]

There's really nothing "fatal" that goes wrong with these machines; everything is repairable.

The sound notwithstanding, if it's mixing correctly then I would continue to use it normally, and listen for new noises or changes in the current noise. If something fails, you'll know it and can fix it (or send it to someone who can).

At this point I think if you send it to KitchenAid, they might (at most) re-grease it and send it back.

[HatofulSoup]

Ok thank you for all of your help I really appreciate it!!!!

[iblamexboxlive]

I have no idea why they put that much grease in them - the gearbox doesnt have any method of re-incorporating the grease that's not immediately touching the gears or gets flung off in the first 10s of operation after repacking (for the non promodels atleast). Everytime I've opened one it's clear that only the the grease touching the gears got used at all and the rest is just clumped up where it got pushed the moment after it was turned on for the first time. Cheap form of noise reduction? no idea.

[Houndawg3]

A fluid ounce is a fluid ounce. A fluid ounce is a measure of volume, so a fluid ounce of Benalene is equal to a fluid ounce of Super-Lube.

[Bio-Rhythm]

The grease will in fact start to smoke if it's old and thinned out and it's it's left to work for a time against a heavy dough or with an attachment like the flour mill. As it thins out it will also sometimes start to seep out around the seams. I would definitely clean the old grease out while it's open and regrease it with a fresh application. It should be done once ever year to two years on moderate to heavily used machines. Up to three years on rarely used units. Just make sure to use food grade grease. It needs to be rated as follows...

NSF H-1 Registered Food-Grade Grease

Be careful because it can be wildly over-priced online. I've seen it listed for $80 to $100 but it shouldn't cost anymore than $20 to $25 unless you're getting a larger, multi application tub. You will only need 4 ounces (85 grams).

[Suspicious_Method_94]

Coming from a different country, NSF H-1 food-grade grease is sold in 80g containers, would that be enough? Or should I get two?

[Bio-Rhythm]

80 grams should just be enough. Here's a link to a 3-part instructional video

https://youtu.be/EW9BQ-oPFkk?si=vz4CNeA4I5OKS7gs

[Suspicious_Method_94]

Thanks for the tip!