KUCC151DBL1 KitchenAid Trash Compactor - Instructions

Took the bent one out, put the new one in. The repair was not the story, the story was that we ordered the part on Monday afternoon and it was delivered on Tuesday! And the shipping was less than $8.00. Fresno to Elk Creek in less than 24 hours for that price was amazing!

I took the hex screws out with a nut driver and then punched out the role pin in the pinion gear (the little gear) and replaced it along with the large gear, less than 15 minutes. I was surprised how fast (day and a half) the parts were here.

Looking at the information I found online it was either one of 2 things the directional switch was bad, or the drive gear was broken. I replaced the directional switch 1st since that was the easiest and that did not solve my problem. I put it all back together and thought about it for a little while. After a couple of days. It occurred to me that I could see the ramrod's spinning as the plunger goes down, then when the plunger reached as far as it would go. The ramrod's would stop spinning. I reasoned that the problem had to be somewhere between the motor and those rods when I opened up the bottom of the trash compactor, Iran the cycle again and I could see that the drive gear was still spinning, but the chains to the ramrod's were not spinning. Once I saw that I realized that the sprocket that was attached to the drive gear had broken. The sprocket is metal and the drive gear is plastic and they fit together perfectly, but through age or stress. The plastic have become rounded and no longer fit perfect on that nut when you applied a good deal of pressure. I didn't have the tool that I needed to replace the small drive year. I think you need some kind of a punch to get that pin out. So I left that one in place loosened the nuts that hold the motor in place to create some slack in the chain chain came off the new drive gear one on. I tightened the motor back up in the correct position is reassembled everything and it's working perfect again.

Compactor ram was stuck in the down position after hearing a loud bang during a compacting cycle. Removed outer compactor casing to determine cause, only to find gear housing underneath the compactor that contained drive chain and gear assembly. Primary gear had split neatly in half. Determined the appropriate part needed with partselect part finder (of course, an entire kit, and not just the gear), had part shipped and had compactor repaired in three days. The actual repair and reassembly of the compactor took less than a half-hour. Consisted of removing chain tension from gear hub by loosening four sheet metal screws holding motor assembly, removing circlip and old gear hub from chain and shaft, replacing gear hub with new part, lubricating the gear mechanism, and reinstalling in reverse order.

Replaced the limit switch. This did not alter the problem. Took off the On/Off/Start switch and dissasembled. I found the the Start switch was stuck in the on position. I reassembled the switch mechanism assuring that the Red "ON" indicator moldings were correctly positioned and reassembled everything. The Compactor now works properly. Need to add "Check the Start switch" to diagnosis.

remove drawer remove two phillip screws lift off front panel remove wiring and plug into new switch.slide switch through the hole in panel install nut reinstall panel screws and drawer job done.

I removed the unit from under the kitchen counter by first pulling the trash drawer all the way out and lifting it out of the track and setting it out on the floor. I then slowly pulled the compacting unit out and unplugged the cord from the electrical outlet. With the entire unit out in the floor I took a nut driver and removed the screws from the top plate and the screws from both sides at the bottom of the front housing. This allowed access to the directional switch. Two screws on the right side of the switch have to be removed to remove the switch along with two holding plates on the left side of the switch. The switch can then be accesses for removal. Several wires are attached to the switch and should be removed one at a time and installed to the identical identical location on the new switch. The new switch can then be installed by aligning the holes and reinstalling the holding plates. When this is done the front frame and top plate can be replaced with the nut screws. Plug back into the electrical outlet and see if it works. In this case it did exactly what it was doing before I started. So either I did not reinstall the directional switch properly or I am in the one percent rather than the 99 percent that should successfully solve the problem as suggested in the trouble shooting guide. I will now recheck the installation of the directional switch nd then check the bottom of the unit to see if the gears or chain drive are broken .

All I really needed to do was to take the front facing off and put on the new container, but I took the opportunity to do a complete overhaul and cleaning. It now work like a new compactor.

The repair was a breeze, a piece of cake, a walk in the park, a day at the beach. The part arrived quickly and installation was fast and simple. A week earlier I had the misfortune of ordering these parts from another supplier. One of the parts obviously was not correct, so I called customer service. Although the operator was polite, she insisted that the part I received was the right one (even though it was 2 inches too narrow). I looked up the part at PartSelect.com and ordered it. It arrived the following day, and fit perfectly. Thanks, PartSelect.com.

Laid appliance on side - removed top sheet metal cover and bottom sheet metal cover. Broken delrin ring gear was on bottom of bottom cover (housing). Gear had broken off of its hub, which also was the sprocket chain drive for both acme screws driving the compactor platten. Motor had to be loosened so that the chain could be removed from the old sprocket hub, and the new delrin ring gear - with new sprocket hub attached - could be mounted on its fixed spindle. With new delrin gear/chain sprocket mounted, the motor had to be spaced and tightened to allow 0.010 inch lash between the gears. The only instructions included with the new gear was how to do this - by placing a piece of paper in between the pinion gear on the motor, and the new ring gear, and then tightening the motor into place. This was done, the sheet metal covers were re-installed, and the compactor works just fine. There is a design flaw in the original (KitchenAid) engineering of the gear, however, and I expect that in the next four years this will probably happen again.

Thanks to Parts Select and their detailed instructions it turn out great! Replacement Parts fit Great!

Followed PartsSelect instructions, the Compactor was appoximately $1000. when I purchased it. The kit was $26.14. I will forever be a customer of this company. Thank you, Brian

First off....I was surprised at how inexpensive the drive gear kit was. As others commented, they fit perfectly and I believe will fit other manufacturer's models since there is a lot of cross branding. The Drive gear replacement itself would be easy as described by others so I won't repeat that. However replacing the plastic tubular "ram stops" on the screw drive was a challenge since there are no "helpful hints" in the blog. To do that you have to work from the top and sides. Needed to remove the two gear cams where the screw drives are seated on the bottom of the unit, then (working with the unit on it's side)you have to raise the whole (heavy) plunger that is attached to the drive screws high enough to remove the old tubular ram stops and bushing and replace. To raise the plunger assembly out from the top you have to remove the sheet metal top plate of the unit....and....importantly remove the control panel on the front where the switches are. There is a limiter switch that has a metal arm which engages a plate on the plunger to stop the unit when it reaches the top. You need to remove that switch to be able to raise the plunger assembly high enough to get the new parts on the screw drive. Put all that back together and then go on to the gear replacement as described by others which was straight forward. Very messy job with all the grease and garbage residue. I am pretty handy figuring these things out, and there may be an easier way, but next time I will call a pro or replace the whole compactor.

Same problem as described previously on this site. Pulled unit out and replaced the gear as described. Thanks for the info - would have been tough with out it.

Very simple, changed the gear, adjusted the drive and tested. Very straight forward.