On Aug 3, 2:32*pm, wrote:
My wife has a KitchenAid Professional 600 watt stand mixer.
I started giving her poor performance and making a clunking sound, so
I opened it up.

For such a beefy machine, the transmission housing is plastic! *It's
all cracked to hell. *And unfortunately, the worm gear is stripped.

I found the parts at Sears: $13 for the housing, but $30 for the gear.
I hate to spend $50 with shipping to get another plastic housing.
Anyone know of a cheaper source?

I would forget repairing the mixer.........what year is it?

My suggestion is buy a low mileage (most are) mixer 'cuz lots of
people get them for wedding presents & don't use them much.

I would suggest a unit made ~1980-ish on ebay. Either a K45 or a K5A.

My mom had one from the 1950's, my dad worked for Hobart for a while.
That one went to my lab the early 90's after having sat in the garage
for a long time. My mom got a new one early 80's I think. Mine is
from ~1978. Both sisters have 1970's models (one cooks, the other
doesn;t)
I got a spare ~1970 model on ebay. And I've got my eye on my
mom's.

All have given great service, no trouble....I did repack the gear
boxes on my two machines in the early 2000's. Metal housings & gears.

My wife used it a lot more when the kids were still here by she still
bakes a fair amount.

The fact that the mixer self-destructed leads me to don't
waste your time & money on a repair, might happen again,

cheers
Bob