Once I discovered that the ram was down, I had to determine why. Opened up the bottom and discoverer the drive gear was broken. Ordered the parts kit and made the repair. Did not know what the other parts in the kit were for, but it works.
Ram Stuck in Mid Position, motor not able to move.
Removed unit from under counter. Moved to garage. removed Top, Bottom plates, and switch controller. Turned upside down and removed power screw nuts One came off easy. One side frozen. Took large pliers and worked nut off of drive screw. Removed ram. Ordered two new power screw nuts. Lubed screws, chain, nuts, rollers and cleaned whole unit. Straightened ram which was bent from so many years of use. Unit 26 years old. Replaced all plates and plugged it in. Works like a champ. Thanks for carrying parts for a unit this old.
Trash compactor was stuck, took apart to see the power nut stripped, ordered nuts and while putting the ram back in I didnt see the reversing switch lever and broke it off.Guess Ill order a new switch ($40)..moral of story...slow down and pay attention to the details..
Took of top housing; saw traveling compactor not properlly alligned. Removed cover from Power Nut; saw that it was stripped. Ordered new power nut. Replaced power nut & aligned traveling compactor. Replaced top housing.
Pushed button, made a buzzing noise, nothing happened.
Laid compactor over on its side. REMOVED 5 SCREWS holding cover plate to expose gear drive. Found that large drive broke in half. Used screwdriver to start split ring then pliers to pull it off the rest of the way.Take off the washer . Next I needed to losten the 4 nuts holding the drive motor. This allowed me to slip the rest of the drive gear off the drive shaft. It was then a simple matter to put the new gear back on the chain then slide the whole thing back on the drive shaft. Replace the washer then slip the split ring back in place and seat it home with the pliers. Retighten 4 nuts on motor support. Put cover back on with 5 screws 2 in front 3 in back Pushed button it worked.I must mention that this was a Sears compactor but when I went to their online parts they no longer supported it. I found Part select and they suggested I look at a Kitchenaid compactor and after checking out the picture it looked the same,Iordered the part and it was the same. Thanks I guess I'll come to you first now.
There were no instructions that came with the parts kit other than how to set the spacing for the gear lash. There were parts in the kit which I have no idea what they are (4 inch long plastic pipes?. Having 4 years experience with Sunbeam appliance repair was an asset. The old melted and broken gear came off easily with a few strikes of a hammer on a flat blade screwdriver. The replacement gear was a perfect match and the scroll pin was put in with a little gusto effort (tight fit as it should be). It would be great if just one gear or the other could be ordered....
Emptied all garbage! Laid machine on its side. Removed cover. Removed left over gear parts by removing pin. Loosened chain by removing two top left corner screws. Place new plastic gear in position with chain. Returned screws to top left corners. Returned pin to gears. Make sure chain is taught. Replace cover. Lift back up from its side. Test.
The repair was simple as you can imagine. Thought I could buy these legs at any big box store or at least at the local hardware store. No such luck. Partselect had the right product---easy to order and easy to install. Things around here are great.
So impressed with this Company. Was about to buy new trash compactor, because we couldn't find a handle for an old Frigidair. Found website and on Friday ordered part (only $57...a new compactor would have cost $800). Part arrived ONE DAY LATER and was immediately easily installed by taking out old part which involved unscrewing it and installing the new one using the existing screws. THANK YOU.
Compactor ram was stuck in the down position and door would not open
After inspecting to make sure the actuator was functional and that power to the unit was not an issue I was able to find that one the drive gears cracked in half and made the compactor inoperable. It was easy to remove the bottom casing with a nut driver. This casing covered the drive gear which operated the ram. After slightly loosening the gear mounts and I was able to replace center gear and re-attach gear chain and re-tighten. Then replace bottom casing and the compactor was back in action. Huge savings!
Removed the gear cover at the bottom of the compactor. Loosened the slack on the chain. Replaced the gear drive. Replaced the gear cover. Worked like new. No major obstacles.