Drive Coupling

First I inserted a small diameter rod in the motor fins to keep the motor from turning. Then I simply loosened the coupling. (Please know this is a left-hand thread). The coupling was not that tight. New coupling only requires a snug hand -tightening. You are are good to go!

My first step in repairing the broken KitchenAid blender, was to politely inform my wife HOW & WHY the blender broke in the first place. She thanked me for that, so she would know for the future. (whew...)
Replacing the drive tooth wheel was a cinch. We who are reading this are all fortunate to have others, before us, fill us in on the details. I'm glad I read previous testimonials instead of banking on KitchenAid's instructions. Although the motor shaft is a left-hand threaded mount, the mfg's instructions said to remove the defective coupler by prying the wheel off in various positions with a 1/2" screwdriver!! Reading previous repair stories here, proved to be more reliable.
It took more time for me to find a tool to aid in the removal of the old part, than it was to replace the part itself. I needed to find something that was thin enough to fit around the motor shaft and hold it from turning while I unscrewed the defective coupler in a "clockwise" direction. I eventually found a small, old pair of adjustable wire strippers. I was able to wiggle them in and barely grab the motor shaft. I turned the coupling clockwise and it came right off. No problem at all. Turns out that all that was probably needed was to insert a small punch between the motor fan blades through the bottom of the unit just to keep the motor from turning. The new fitting doesn't have to be on any more than hand tight, as the blender runs in a clockwise rotation, and will keep the fitting snug all the time.
Good luck, home mechanics.

I slid a cheap, stamped-steel 7.5 mm bicycle wrench under the coupling - into the grooves on the shaft - and held the shaff so that the coupling could simply be unscrewed. (backwards thread) Took less than 60 seconds to make the entire repair. No prying, no problems.

The drive coupling on my Kitchen Aid Blender shattered into dozens of pieces. Found this website and realized I could buy a new one. Could not remove coupling base with "official" instructions. However, user comments on how they removed coupling base very helpfull. Put thin blade screw driver thru hole on bottom of blender base, held the blade from turning and twisted the coupling base off. Very easy and quick. New one when on just as easily.

Inserted a very thin (approx. 3/32") open-end wrench into the gap between the old coupler and the base of the blender to engage two flats on the drive shaft and hold the shaft from rotating. Grasped old coupler with adjustable pliers and turned clockwise to loosen and unscrew. Threaded the replacement part back onto the drive shaft and patted myself on the back for a job well done.

Other people's repair stories were extremely valuable -- alerting me to the fact that the coupler has a left-hand thread and that the shaft has flats ground on it to engage a very thin open-end wrench. The only advice I can add to others' stories is that you can use a bench grinder to slim down a wrench which is too thick to fit into the gap between the coupler and the base housing. I already owned a set of so-called "ignition" wrenches, and all the sizes up to "1/4" were thin enough to fit into the gap. But the 9/32" wrench (which was what I needed) was just a a little bit too fat. Grinding down the head to fit into the gap was the most-time consuming part of the repair.

I have to disagree with several other feedbacks. The instructions included with the part direct the user to "pry" the old attachment plate off the drive shaft. Because the plate is made of aluminum and the shaft is steel, this took about 1 minute to accomplish with absolutely no damage to the shaft. It took about 30 seconds to install the new part. It took longer to clean up than it had to perform the repair and I didn't need to find and/or make any special tools.

Old coupling was harder to get off than I anticipated from reading the other repair stories on your site, but those reviews gave me encouragement to keep trying. Using the screw driver under the coupling as instructed, I lifed up on the coupling but had a very hard time getting it to budge. After many tries it eventually came off, but the rubber and metal parts of the coupling had separated by that time. No damage done. I cleaned off the shavings before installing the new part, as instructed, and had no more problems at all. To test the repaired blender I then made a batch of margaritas. Success! My problems getting the old part off might have been partly because I' m 77 yrs. old, female (less strength to gein with) with arthritis in my hands, BUT I DID IT! Thanks!

The coupling simply screws on to the base. The only difficulty is holding the shaft still to break the coupling loose. You need a thin wrench which I didn't have so I had to grasp it with needle nose pliers. Remember the coupling has left hand threads.

Our blender is about two years old. My son was making a smoothie and must have not seated the glass carafe down correctly, because after he was done, all of the plastic teeth on the drive coupler (on top of the base) were sheared off and scattered on the countertop. I was about to throw the thing away and spend another $125 on a replacement blender. After an internet search, I found the replacement part at PartSelect for $8.00. I watched their online video on how to switch out the drive coupler and realized how easy it was. The part arrived three days after I ordered it. In a little more than 15 minutes of gentle prying with a screwdriver, I had removed the old coupler and hand tightened the new one on the drive spindle. I had my son christen the new coupler with a smoothie. Worked perfectly.

1)removed remains of the rubber
2)bent the metal so the pliers had room to hold the pin
3)hold the pin w/pliers
4)while holding pin unscrew the copling
5)screw new copling
6)done!