TU4000XRP0 Whirlpool Trash Compactor - Instructions

replaced power nuts

Everything worked perfectly---thanks to the suggestion of your call center agent. She suggested that since the replacement door handles were no longer available, I should consider repainting them--it worked like a charm. Please tell her she was a life saver. We rent that house in Fl and my returning tenants had complained about the discoloring refer handles. Thank you

replaced the large gear and put it back together.

refloored the floor and so the unit would not come out. had to cut tile, broke edge off of formica counter but once the unit was out a piece of cake. 6 self tapping screws removed , right on the top, two screws holding the cover for the power nuts, replaced broken nut, leveled ram, replaced nuts and ready to slide back in. After thought, I had one nut on hand from a few years earlier. I ordered two new nuts and now i am going to pull the unit again and replace both nuts. thought being a longer period before having to do this again. The unit was put in in 1981 and used continuously.

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.

Pull unit from under counter (Held in place with 2 screws) Use nut driver to remove top and front panel. (I didn't remove the control panel from the front panel which probably made access more difficult) Locate the directional switch near the top of the unit and remove two screws, being careful not to lose a small metal plate into which the screws thread (similar to a Tinneman nut). I moved the wires one at a time from the old switch to the new as I am color blind and have trouble with wire colors. Fit the new switch in place, being sure the switch lever is positioned against the metal tab that operates it. Screw the switch in place and then reassemble the compactor.

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

changed out the big gear that was broken

Replaced drive gears.They arrived in a kit from Parts Select with instructions.They fit perfectly and the compactor works like new.

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.

bought new gears, pulled it out and replaced the gears. wasn't very hard. I did expect a jenn-air to be better built (plastic gears really!) but for 30 bucks it is all better.

The part that doews the actual compacting would not move correctly. The machine would not stop because the part never contacted the spring loaded switch. I had known about this for about a year, but put it off until it stopped working altogether. I ordered 2 power nuts and rec'd them in B.F.E. Alaska in about 5 days. I quickly replaced the parts and the machine works like brand new again. I estimate this compactor to be at least 10 -15 years old and replacing the occassional part once in awhile is a lot cheaper than buying a new compactor.

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.

Had to first raise the screw plate that compacts the garbage. Then had to turn the compactor over and remove screws holding the bottom plate on in order to get to the gears. Once that was done I removed the worn gears and the chain drive and replaced with the new gears and the chain. Put the unit back together and works like a new one. A $35 dollar fix for a unit that sells for around $900 today. Thanks to partslect for being able to help me with the parts needed. Not only did I save on a new unit but by doing this myself I saved around $100 in labor charges.