I’m usually relatively observant but it turns out that my stand mixer has been playing injured for at least a couple of years. Not days or weeks……..YEARS! My red mixer should have been red-shirted a long time ago. But it’s the little mixer that could, I tell ya!

The head has been wobbling, like I said…and I’m not proud of it…for years. I really just figured it was because I mix a lot of dough in it and thought it was normal that the big ball of dough would make it wobble.

I did notice the hinge pin sticking out on the left side but forgot that it didn’t look like that when I first bought the mixer. I wondered at one point whether it was a handle or an anchor for an attachment. Turns out, it kind of walked itself out, similar to how a washing machine will walk across a room when it’s off-balance.

In spite of its sorry physical condition, the thing kept working. I feel like an abusive parent. I was mixing pizza dough this weekend when finally, it called “TIMEOUT”! Poor thing was still trying to work but it’s head was coming off.

At that point, I figured out that the hingepin was not a handle. I tried to jiggle it in but couldn’t get it even though it looked like I had lined up the head with the stand and could see straight through to the other side.

I googled “Kitchenaid troubleshoot” and found a video about how to fix a wobbly head. I figured it was too late for mine. Nothing addressed a decapitated head so I watched that video, did what it said and it worked!

Here’s what I did:

Warning, this post contains graphic images that may not be appropriate for small children! Viewer discretion is advised.

After I scrubbed in….

2. I loosened the smallish screw that apparently holds the hingepin in place. As I suspected, it was in just far enough to prevent me from replacing the hingepin while the thing was upright.

3. The pin slid right through to the other side. Head successfully reattached!

4. Gave the same screw a few turns until tight. Done!

(You have to admit, the photos are kind of gynecological…not to mention the language!)

Do you have a Kitchenaid mixer? I’ve had mine for probably 8-10 years and love it. I use it a lot to make pizza dough and the dough for the french bread. My neighbor has been using hers for 40 years and she’s a person who bakes all the cookies for everyone’s weddings, showers, birthdays, funerals, communions. Not just a couple of dozen but a couple of hundred dozen. I’m not kidding. If you’re considering finally getting a stand mixer, don’t even think about getting a different brand.

Chances are you would never have let a wobbly head go as long as I did. If you’re mixer’s head wobbles, tightening that little screw should do the trick.

There are affiliate links in this post but my opinion is my own and nobody from Kitchenaid knows me or has asked me to say nice things about their mixers….or perform surgery on one. I am not a licensed practitioner.

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