KUCC151T1 KitchenAid Trash Compactor - Instructions

First let me say that I read many of the other posts regarding this repair and without them I wouldn't have had a clue how to fix this. Since the ram apparently moved up and down when I shut it off and turned it back on I reasoned the directional switch must be the problem. Ordered the part, Quick delivery. To replace the switch I removed the draw and removed two screws on the frame that hold the control panel in place. Lift up to remove. My unit is a stand alone unit although it is installed under the counter. There are two additional screws to remove the top and expose the ram and power screw drives. To remove the directional switch from the control panel you need to remove two hex head screws that hold it in place. This is a little difficult because of the small space. With the help of a small nut driver I was able to remove it. Note: the screws are held in place by a flat piece of metal that acts as a nut. Be careful not to drop it. Then simply remove the wire leads (all color and letter coded) and remove the switch. I was careful to reattach the leads to the new switch as I removed each one. Be sure to replace the switch with the limiting lever in the same position as it was in (it is vertical). Put everything back together and you should be good to go. That didn't happen for me! Problem persisted! Next on my list was the power nut. I got access to the ram and power screw drives (see above for instructions). The two power nuts are plastic wing nuts that are held in place by metal covers. The metal covers are each held down by two hex head screws. To gain access to the power nuts you have to remove the metal covers. Note the position of the nuts in relationship to the power screw shafts so that when you reassemble it they will be in the same position as when you started. In my case the top of the screw shafts were even with the top of the power nuts. (CAUTION: the ram is held by this assembly. Depending on what position your ram is when you started this repair it may fall! My ram was in the up position and when I removed the second cover it slammed down to the bottom of the drive screws). My advice is to be prepared by bracing up the ram before removing the metal covers. No harm when the ram fell but it did startle me. I then removed one of the power nuts. It was split in half. The other nut was fine but I decide to replace it anyway. Ordered parts. Quick delivery. Before I attempted to replace the power nuts I removed the ram (it just lifts out) and cleaned every thing. I put some new grease in the places that I had removed it. Then sprayed WD40 on the power screws. When I put the ram back in, I broke the new directional switch I had put in. So be careful!!! I still had the old one so I ultimately put it back in. I then replaced the power nuts. This was a little difficult because I had to hold the ram up while I was putting the metal covers back on. I would suggest you either brace the ram or get someone to hold it while you put the metal covers back on (In retrospect I suppose I could have just put the nuts on when the ram was down). Reassembled everything. Should be good to go. That didn't happen for me! Problem was still there! I turn it on, ram goes down. I turn it off, ram goes up. Desperation!! The only other thing it could be is the drive gear assembly. Ordered parts. Quick delivery. The gear drive is on the bottom of the machine. Lay the machine on it's side to gain access to the bottom cover. There are 5 hex head screws that hold it on. Remove screws and cover. It's pretty simple from here. The drive gear was missing a few teeth but the rest were in tact. This explains why the ram was still moving up and down and led me to believe it was something other than the drive. The only difficult part was the removal of the pin in the drive shaft. I wound up using a bolt the about the same diameter and a hammer to drive it out. Then just reassemble. There are some instructions that come with the gear parts that tell you how to set the spacing in the gears but I had no problem just replacing the parts without making any "adjustments". Should be good to go! Yessssss! Everything worked perfectly!!! My final words of advice. If your machine has this problem CHECK THE DRIVE FIRST. It the easiest thing to do because you can visually inspect it and know or eliminate it as the problem. It's about a 5 minute job and can may save you some of the problems I had. A big thanks to PartSelect for sponsoring these posts. The repair company that I normally use told me the machine was too old and probably wasn't worth the $100 just to come out and look at it, never mind the additional cost to repair it. All in I spent less than $100 and had I checked the drive first, I could have been done for less than $30.

-Removed the forward sliding rail screws...lifted the rails up several inches to access the wheel assembly...bent back the steel tab to access the nuts holding the wheels to the frame...replaced the wheels and bent back the steel tabs to original position. Trash bin now rolls out completely as before

Compactor ram would go to bottom but not return back up after compaction. Keep running until unplugged. After unplugging flipped unit on its side and remover bottom plate (5) nut screws, exposing gears. Found that the main large gear had fine crack which caused it to spin loosely. Ordered gear assembly and lossened four mount screw on motor to move it forward and give slack on chain. Hint: Loosen motor mount bolts, DO NOT REMOVE bolts COMPLETELY! Removed broken plastic gear and reassembled with new. Held/ pushed motor back to retention chain and secured four (4) mount bolts Then reassembled bottom plate with screw nuts and it worked perfectly!!

Like others who experienced this problem, I removed compactor from under the counter and laid it on its side. I removed the screws holding the cover plates to the motor and gear/chain box. The larger (4" +/-) plastic drive gear which moves the chain that lowers or raises the compactor ram was broke. Using a socket and ratchet, I turned the shaft the gear was attached to in a counterclockwise direction and moved the compacting ram from the bottom position to the top so I could finally open the door, It takes a lot of turns to move the compacting ram to the top so be patient. I then loosened the bolts, in the base, that holds the motor secure and slid the base toward the broken gear putting slack in the chain. I removed the split ring from the shaft and removed the sprocket which originally is part of the gear but was left on the shaft when the gear broke in three places. I elected to not remove the original washer and spacer and put the new gear with sprocket on the shaft, put the chain on the socket and installed the split ring. Slid the motor base back to original position putting slight tension on chain and a proper clearance between the gear and drive shaft (sheet of paper seperation). Reinstalled the covers, tested and was finished.

changed out the switch and that fixed the problem

I have always used compactor bags made of paper & plastic. I was sent bags made of only plastic. I called and was told that is the only kind available. I am concerned that the plastic bags may not be strong enough.

I quest I will have to try these all plastic bags. I hope they are strong enough and work properly.

I removed the unit from under the counter. After removing all of the bits of old trash and making sure the chain and gears were not slipping or striped, I knew it was the power nuts on top of the ram. After all of these years they were worn out, almost smooth inside where the threads are. They were easy to locate on your website. I received them in 2 days (faster than expected) and in 10 minutes the unit was back together and working well. Today was the first bag to be taken out after the repair, it is much heavier than the previous ones, a sign that we are now packing much more trash in a single bag!

Removed 4 screws and the foot release to attach the new guard. Replaced the foot pedal and 4 screws and was done.

I held up on the compactor ram as i loosened the two screws on each of the two retaining cups. I then unscrewed the threaded bushings and lifted the ram out of the unit. I then cleaned the surface of the tracks on which the ram guides up and down and applied a thin layer of silicone grease to those surfaces as well as the threaded rods. . I placed the ram back into the unit and held it in place as i replaced the threaded bushings and their respective caps. Unfortunately i neglected to move the limiting switch that stops the ram when it reaches the top of the cycle and I broke the lever that contacts the ram and subsequently activates the stop switch. so i removed the ram and removed and inspected the switch. It was broken beyond repair so i ordered a new switch from the same place I purchased the threaded bushings and am waiting for them to arrive. Lesson learned, pay attention to the sequence by which the original parts are removed and understand how the system functions so that you can remember to put it back in the right order.

The first panel I received was scratched and had to be replaced. I called PartsSelect and they sent a replacement.

An easy replacement that made the compactor look like new, that is important since we will be selling the house.

pulled it out, turned it upside down, and removed the gear, then replaced it, turned it back up and pushed it back it worked.

This new one from part select I think fit better than the original so all I had to do was install the handles as the depiction on the packaging showed and install it. Less than 1 minute.

First thing I did was put the unit on its side and removed the bottom to access the broken plastic gear that moves the chain that drives the compactor up and down...There I was able to manually move the chain by turning the nut with pliers and moving the piston up (painfully slow) until I could at least use the bin for trash while I waited for the replacement part to arrive. Once I had the part I loosened the four bolts that allowed the drive gear to move a little and slacken the chain - I then put in the new gear - make sure you have the proper spacing and washers - my replacement kit didn't have any washers so I resused the old washers and all seems to be working well!

Put the parts in and reinstalled it back in it place

Bought wrong roller. The drawer roller is different than the stationary rollers. Note the difference.