Hi TJEWKES67. Before you tear into the ‘guts’ of your mixer any further, I’d like you to make a simple check the vertical play of the planetary. Locate where the planetary comes out of your mixer’s head, and place your left index finger on the edge of the planetary (rest your nail edge of the mixer head). With your right hand, push the planetary straight up (like you were trying to push it through the top of your mixer) until it stops, then let go. How much vertical movement did your index finger feel as you did this? Your planetary shouldn’t rise vertically more than a 1/16 of an inch, or less. If that’s the case, relax, your planetary is not coming out of your mixer, but just normal play within the transmission, and perfectly OK.
Before linking the beater to bowl clearance with the planetary gear ‘falling’, it would be much easier to first check the adjustment screw on the back of the pedestal to ensure that is properly adjusted. You don’t say how hold your mixer is, but I assume it is out of warranty.
Do you still have your Instructions & Recipe Manual for your mixer? If not, you can easily download a PDF version of it from the KA website at: (http://www.kitchenaid.com/flash.cmd?/#/page/home).
Click on Customer Care>Locate Manuals& Guides> and enter the 6 character model number, in your case, use KB26G1XN, and select the file that appear under Owners Manuals: KB26G1XGR5.pdf (2974.69 KB) and save it to your PC. Turn to Page 11 and you will find the instructions for adjusting the Beater to Bowl Clearance, which I have extracted for you below:
Beater to Bowl Clearance
Your mixer is adjusted at the factory so that the flat beater just clears the bottom of the bowl. If for any reason, the flat beater hits the bottom of the bowl or is too far away from the bowl, clearance.
Beater to Bowl Clearance:
Your Stand Mixer is adjusted at the factory so the flat beater just clears the bottom of the bowl. If, for any reason, the flat beater hits the bottom of the bowl or is too far away from the bowl, you can correct the clearance easily.
1. Unplug Stand Mixer.
2. Place bowl lift handle in down position.
3. Attach flat beater.
4. Adjust so flat beater just clears bottom surface of bowl when in lifted position by turning screw (A) clockwise to raise the bowl and counterclockwise to lower the bowl. Just a slight turn is all that is required: the screw will not rotate more than 1⁄4 turn (90 degrees) in either direction. (The full range of adjustment is 1⁄2 turn, or 180 degrees.)
5. Place bowl lift handle in up position to check clearance.
6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 if necessary.
NOTE: When properly adjusted, the flat beater will not strike on the bottom or side of the bowl. If the flat beater or the wire whip is so close that it strikes the bottom of the bowl, coating may wear off the beater or wires on whip may wear.
See second comment...
Good luck and have fun. I hope this helps. Howard, Burke, VA
If this solution has been helpful, please rate it, thanks! - hslincoln
On the chance that the above does not work, or that your planetary is dropping from your mixer’s head, then you’ve got a much more serious issue to correct, but it’s still something you can do by yourself. While you’re downloading your Instructions Manual, also download this file, KB26G1XGR5.pdf (727.75 KB) for a series -5 mixer, under Parts List (definitely check to see if it matches your mixer. If it doesn’t, download KB26G1XGR3.pdf (299.02 KB) for a series -3 mixer.)
(FYI for the Beater to Bowl clearance solution, on page 6, Base And Pedestal Unit, you’ll see Illus. No. #20 Adjusting Cam, which is the part you were adjusting.)
Turn to pages 4&5 titled ‘Case, Gearing & Planetary Unit, for the disassembly, troubleshooting, and reassembly of your mixer, along with all the parts. Locate Illus. No. 28, the Planetary/Agitator (Illus. No. 34) assembly. For your planetary/agitator assembly to ‘fall’ from the mixer head, both Illus. Nos. 9, Retaining Pin and Illus. No. 7, Retaining clip, would have to fail simultaneously, and although probable (extremely low), I find it highly unlikely that this would occur. To get to these parts you’ve got to remove Illus. No. 4, Transmission Housing, and the rest is just following the Illustrations.
If this is the route you wish to pursue, then while you’ve got your mixer’s innards exposed, it would be ideal opportunity to check for any other unseemly wear and tear on the gears, etc. It’s a lot of messy work, but extremely gratifyin, if you’re a DITY person.
Here are five potential vendors in no particular order: RepairClinic.com; mendingshed.com; searspartsdirect.com; partstore.com; and Grainger.com. You should be search for ‘food grade grease’ if you start digging into the transmission. Prices can vary widely between vendors, so do your comparison shopping.
If you feel troubleshooting and repairing is beyond your capability, then I would seek out a local small appliance repair shop in your area. KA Customer Care can give you names of local KA authorized repair shops in your area, but you can also do an online search to supplement what KA may provide you. Call to explain your circumstances and find out their hourly rate and get an estimate of what they think it would cost to repair your mixer. Also, always obtain three or more estimates – do some comparison shopping.
Finally, here are some links to several excellent websites that detail the disassembling/reassembly of a KA Mixer. The mixers are different models than yours, but the principles are the same.
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