The locking pin on the Kitchenaid Artisan mixer (KMS150) will not fully engage. The hinge pin had come out and we put that back in, not the lever will not fully engage.

The "beater height" may be set too high causing interference with the lock mechanism. Please see the following kitchenaid instructions on how to adjust beater height.


https://www.kitchenaid.com.au/blog/kitchenaid-tilt-head-stand-mixer-beater-bowl-clearance-hinge-pin-adjustment-0

Remove back cap, remove white wire and black wire from lower corner of speed control plate, both on same side on adjacent terminals. Remove the gasket thing at the back as well.
Remove chrome drip ring from around planetary, knock pin out of planetary and remove the planetary.
Flip upside down on a towel and remove pedestal by taking out hinge pin (1 locking screw from underneath inside pedestal)
Remove all screws from bottom side of gearcase, 5 around planetaty, 2 in the middle and 2 at the back.
You can now seaparate the gearcases to get to the speed control lever which is held on by 1 screw.

Make sure that the hinge pin is locked up firmly with the grub screw that is accessed with machine upside down on a towel. It is right up the middle of the pedestal. Next fit bowl & flat paddle and adjust head height with the screw that you can see when the head is raised up. The screw is right in by the middle of the hinge for the head unit. Screw it in (clockwise) a bit to lower and anti clockwise to raise. You want to screw it in enough to just hear the paddle tinging on the bowl and then anti clockwise the screw so it just clears. 1/4 turn from tinging is roughly it. If the head is still not locking down you may need to run a rat tail file through the locking slot to allow the lock better engagement. This is a last resort, if you file too much it is permanent and cannot be reversed so don't do it until everything else has been done properly. It's not a big job for your local Kitchen Aid service agent to sort out for you.

You need to make sure that the hinge pin is tight, turn machine completely upside down and tighten the slotted screw up inside the pedestal. If that doesn't fix it you will need to check that the locking lever is properly engaging in the slot. You may need to "SLIGHTLY" file the slot in the pedestal that the lever engages into. If you go mad with the file you could wreck the slot.

Adjust the head height first, flat paddle should just clear the bowl. Te head height adjustment can be seen in by the hinge looking from the front when the head is raised. Screw in (clockwise) to lower and out to raise. You cannot get the head lock right when head height is miles out

Put it upside down on a towel and tighten the hinge pin screw right up inside the pedestal. It's in the middle & retains the hinge pin.

did you turn your mixer over and unscrew the set screw on the hinge shaft before trying to put back in? there is a small set screw that holds the hinge pin in place during normal operation. the screw sometimes comes loose and the shaft will vibrate out of it's normal operating position but when you try to push it back in the screw now stops the hinge shaft from going in, You have to turn the mixer upside down and look into the base cavity and you will see the set screw in the middle. Loosen first, return hinge shaft to normal operating position and the re tighten the setscrews, you can be firm with this screw, let us know if this helped

I an sorry but the only Rod in the back of a K45SS is the pivot hinge pin that holds the motor head onto the base. if it fell out then the answer is simple. Turn the mixer upside down and wiggle the base while sliding the pin back in. Once the pin is back in place, there is a set screw in the middle of the shaft that you can see while you are replacing the pin, turn this back down with a flat head screwdriver untill it is firmly against the hinge pin. The culprit of the problem is this set screw. It came loose and allowed your hinge pin to vibrate out and then fall down or fall out as you said. once the set screw is back in place you will be fine. To avoid this problem in the future you might remove the screw entirely and put a drop of "Lock-Tight" on it that will help hold the setscrew in place for a very long time.

If you have also tightened up the screw that you can see from the front in the middle where the hinge pivots when head us up then that's where your problem is. That is the head height adjustment and is to set the flat paddle to just clear the bowl when the head is down.

Hiya,

It sound like the hinge pin keeps making its way out, which can be fixed by tightening grub screw that sits inside the pedestal (you will need to turn the mixer around) or you could purchase a Super Hinge Pin, which will NOT work its way out - please see the relevant links below:
http://www.kaparts.co.uk/Help/KitchenAidHelp/KitchenAidMixerHelp/HowtoremoveyourhingepinfromyourKitchenAid/tabid/637/Default.aspx
http://www.kaparts.co.uk/Help/KitchenAidHelp/KitchenAidMixerHelp/KAPartsSuperHingePinforKitchenAidMixers/tabid/599/Default.aspx

You can purchase the Super Hinge Pin here:

KA3009 KitchenAid Tilt Head Mixer Super Hinge Pin Upgrade Kit https://secure.kaparts.co.uk/sku/KA3009

ALSO - it sounds like you need to adjust the head height of your mixer - please see the link to our help page below:
http://www.kaparts.co.uk/Help/KitchenAidHelp/KitchenAidMixerHelp/KitchenAidHeadHeightAdjustment/tabid/598/Default.aspx