This might be a bit late, but for future readers, try Tri-Flow TF22021 Grease, which is food grade. About $15-20 for a 14 oz tube.

I saw a video once of KA mixers being assembled at the factory. The grease they used was dark.

I chose the Super Lube multipurpose grease when overhauling my KA Pro 600 mixer. I'd used the mixer without trouble for about 8 years, and it finally started seizing up (turned out the main planetary shaft was starting to slip, so the issue was not about the grease).

That said, the grease inside was not in great condition. It had separated on many occasions, dripping black goo into the food bowl and run down the back column of the machine. This loss of oil meant that thickener sludge was being left behind in the transmission case, doing no one any good.

The mixer didn't suffer damage from this grease breakdown, thanks to the insane quantities of it that KA packs in there. They seem to hope that good grease will eventually find its way to where the bad grease is, and help keep things properly lubed. This approach isn't exactly a sound engineering principle, even if in my case it kept the mixer alive.

Anyway. In my opinion replacing the grease is one of the simplest and most logical ways to upgrade these mixers. That Benelene appears to be KA's rebrand of Shell Darina #2, which is an economy grease used in high temperature applications. Every single one of its specs is lower than the Super Lube's. It's a mineral (petroleum) oil thickened with bentonite clay. Old school technology. The one benefit—cheapness—is more than erased by KA's markup.

The Superlube synthetic grease has a more consistent viscosity over wide temperature ranges, better protection against wear, lower friction, and much better resistance to breakdown from heat, water, or oxygen. It will probably never separate and drip. I don't see any downsides.

That said, I haven't put many miles on the new grease. Time will tell. It does seem to run cooler and more quietly now, especially under heavier loads.

BTW, the Tri-Flow synthetic grease mentioned above is pretty good stuff; I've had a tube of it around for a while, mostly for road bike cables and bearings. I didn't use it in the mixer because it does have a tendency to separate. Also, Tri-flow lists the ingredients as "unknown lubricating oil," which doesn't inspire my confidence. Superlube has an informative site where they tell all. I'm planning to use it on the bike now as well.

I too ended up purchasing the Super Lube. It's arriving Monday and I'll be doing my overhaul then. I don't want to use the same as the original KA lubricant - if it separated once, it'll do it again.

For my bike, btw, I use Boeshield for cables and chains. I might try the superlube for bearings (though most of my bike's bearings are sealed).

Here's the guts with the new grease. The planetary assembly is greased with the same stuff (though just a thin coat). A film of grease is on all the bushing surfaces as well. I like to get grease all the surfaces before assembly, and then slather on some some extra. Not as much as KA does, but enough that the worm and helical gears are always pulling in new grease.

These mixers are imperfect (which is why they're a lot cheaper than commercial mixers). But I'm pleased that they're easy to work on, and that every part is available online for a reasonable price. I replaced a couple of worn gears and the planetary, and now this is basically a new mixer.

I wish you could service my KA. I've been using it since 1972 but it's never been worked on.

I also used Super Lube when I had to replace the worm gear inside. It is synthetic containing Teflon micro powder. It is also food grade. The mixer runs quieter and cooler than with oem lube.

http://www.super-lube.com/synthetic-multipurpose-grease-ezp-49.html

How did you get the old black gunk off?

I used screw drivers to scoop most out and then a lot of kitchen paper to an extent that I can play with the parts with bare hands. There is still a little bit old stuff left at hard-to-reach corners.

I'd recommend that in addition to a screwdriver or popsicle stick, you get some citrus-based degreaser and lot of paper towels. Try to everything in there pretty clean. It's more work on the old-style mixers like plytowolf's, because the gear case is so big and has so many crevices. But if you get all the old gunk out, you can know you've gotten rid of any abrasive bits of metal worn off the gears.

I used a plastic scraper to get out the majority of the gunk, then a few paper towels to get most of the rest out, then used an awesome degreaser I found at Home Depot called Formula 88 (biodegradable and non-hazardous) with a toothbrush to clean out all the gears and scrub the surfaces clean. I've also used citrus based degreasers on my bike, they work great too, but I didn't have any handy and they didn't have any at Home Depot.

Yeah, anything like that is fine. They're all better than the old school petroleum based ones.

I have a K45 approx mid-60's vintage that I started to rehab. What a mess. Now i need new grease. Is this Superlube available in stores or is it order only? I was trying to find a Shell Darina #2 equivalent (the original brown grease) but after reading this it seems smarter to use something more modern.

Going to tear into my K5A circa 1960. I found an open 14 oz tube of 4025 quinplex semi synthetic food machinery lube. It is white and sticky. has anybody ever used it in their KA?

bernie