KUCC151G KitchenAid Trash Compactor - Instructions

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 " ... Read more 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.

I read the Parts Select trouble shooting guide which indicated that 99% of the time the problem was with the Directional Switch so I ordered one. I pulled the unit out from under the countertop, unplugged the electrical plug from the outlet and took the trash tray out of the unit and set it aside. I took the top panel off with the nutdriv ... Read more er as well as the front panel along with the handle of the power switch. Better access to the Directional Switch can be made by removing the compacting unit. This can be done by sliding it up out of appliance and setting it aside. I used a phillips screw driver to unscrew the two screws on the right side of the switch and the two thin compression plates on the left side which hold the switch in place. I then carefully removed the contact wires from the Directional Switch one at a time and placed them on the new switch in the proper locations. The switch can then be reinstalled with the screws and compression plates. The compacting unit can then be loaded back into the appliance with the activating bracket to the front, BUT be very careful that the arm on the Directional Switch is out of the way when it is slid back into place and be sure that the bracket that activates the Directional Switch is facing the switch in order to send the message to the On/Off Switch to stop the motor when the cycle is completed. The bracket on the front of the compacting unit will force the thin arm on the back of the switch to activate a relay button that is supposed to tell the Rotary switch to shut off the motor and stop the cycle. The front panel and the top panel can then be reinstalled. I checked to see if it solved the problem before putting it back under the countertop. I had to tape the black cutoff switche on the front and on the inside of the container compartment to accomplish this. I then plugged it in and turned the Off/On switch. The unit cycled down and back up but did not shut off and the same noise came from one side at the bottom of the unit. I unplugged the unit and turned it on it's side and removed the bottom plate to inspect the gears and drive chain belt. All the gears and the drive belt were in good condition. So that was not the problem either. That left the Rotary Switch to be the faulty part. I then had to order the Rotary Switch Kit and wait for it to arrive which it did in a short period of time. The old switch was removed by pulling off the handle then using needle nosed pliers to loosen the ring nut that holds the switch in place. This released the old Rotary Switch from the front frame. A flat head screw driver was used to release the wires from the terminals on the switch and place them on the new switch. As per the instructions with the switch kit, the hole for the threaded end of the switch to fit through the hole in the front plate needed to be enlarged. The instructions tell you to use a 9/16 inch drill to carefully enlarge the hole size. Since I did not have that size drill bit, I used a small rat tail file to enlarge the hole. I placed the threaded end of the switch through the hole in the front plate and tried to screw the ring nut back on to the threaded end of the switch. The threads did not pass far enough through the front plate to allow the ring nut to thread and hold the switch in place. I found that there were two plastic ridges on the back side of the front plate that did not allow the threaded end of the switch to fit far enough through the hole to attach the ring nut. I then had to take the front plate off and used a chizel and hammer to carefully chip off the ridges so the theads would fit through the plate and allow installaton of the ring nut. The wires could then be placed on the Rotary Switch, ring nut installed and tightened, the front panel replaced and the top plate reinstalled and the unit tested. This time it worked and the trash compactor was plugged in and shoved back in place under the counter top. Now for the rest of the sto

At best it is advisable to load just one at a time and covered with newspaper etc., In this case someone put in three bottles with out covering with heavy newspaper etc.and for some reason one rode out and to the side. Crushing the side of the metal trash container. This pinned the container against the side of the compactor body and behi ... Read more nd the front rails. Using a lot of pulling and some nifty pry bars and two hours of prying and squeezing we got the container out( see attached photo )The replacement container was ordered on a Sunday night and arrived Tuesday morning. Removal of the existing front panel ,foot pedal and door switch was easy and installation on to the replacement container was a breeze with a little orientation required to line up the switch and pedal in the right configuration. 20 min tops and that was with five kids helping ;)

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 occurre ... Read more d 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 partsele ... Read more ct 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.

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. ... Read more 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.

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.

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.

The part was suppose to come with instructions, but did not. However, it was easy after reading the comments on-line, and discovering that the front cover had to be removed in order to expose the whole switch and wires. I did drop one of the mounting screws down the front of the compactor and was not able to recover it. So, I had to ma ... Read more ke a trip to the hardware store for a replacement. They couldn't match the remaining screw but I found 2 similar ones with lock washers and nuts that worked just fine. I saved a $90 service charge and probably double the cost of the switch by doing it myself.

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 properl ... Read more y. Need to add "Check the Start switch" to diagnosis.

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, ... Read more 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.

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.