My stand mixer threw a gear yesterday mid-batch

Was making a double batch of brioche dough around 6 PM, about 8 minutes into kneading, and my KitchenAid started making this grinding noise then just stopped. Opened it up and found the plastic worm gear stripped clean off. Had to finish mixing by hand which took forever and my arms hurt. Ordered a metal replacement gear online for $15 but it won't be here till Friday. Anyone else had the plastic gear fail on them and switch to metal?

2 comments

2 Comments

miles2791mo ago

My buddy had the exact same thing happen with his Artisan last year. He was making a batch of cinnamon roll dough and mid knead the thing just made a loud pop and quit. He found the plastic gear had basically turned into powder. He swapped in a metal one too and said it sounded different after, kind of more metallic and chunky, but it never broke again. He did mention he keeps his speed on 2 now for doughs cause he heard the metal gear can put more strain on the motor if you run it too hard.

mary_martin221mo ago

The whole "metal gear puts more strain on the motor" thing is a bit of a myth honestly. I think @miles279 is right that it sounds different but the worm gear is actually designed to be the weak point so it strips instead of destroying the motor. The metal one just takes that sacrifice away but the motor itself handles fine if you keep speeds reasonable like he said.