Dear bongobiltmore,

Sorry to hear about that. I bought the part for about $30 to $50 as I recall, and it went in pretty easily, but I got some grease on my hands. The replacement part is now made of aluminum. I came out ok on that one, but I just tried reapairing a dishwasher part that didn't come out so well. Don't feel bad, I ended up buying a new dishwasher and probably would have been better off to have a repair guy come out for that one.

You win some, and you lose some. Thx, for the reply.

Dan

It appears that the chain jumps off really easy, regardless of amount of trash being compacted. To repair you need to get this from Harbor Freight: 8mm Swingarm Spools Item #66925 for about $5
Also the following tools:
Drill
Tap & Die Set
Phillips Screwdriver
Allen set (Metric & SAE)

Unplug the machine. Remove back cover you see small gear & large gear. If no chain is between them take a light and look down underneath on top of the ram, the chain should be laying there intact.

Put the chain on the small gear and partially on the large gear and rotate it until chain is reinstalled. Don't be tempted to let it go at this, it will NOT stay on.

Take one of the 8mm spools and mark through the hole where to drill. The spool should be positioned about half way between the small and large gears and on the outside of the chain with the chain resting in the dip of the spool. Drill and tap to fit the allen screw that came with the spool.
Mount the spool. Now the chain should have slight pressure against it from the spool. Do the same thing on the other side.

The spools should be mounted tightly against the metal frame, not loose to spin. The metal initially feels too thin to tap a thread into but it is marginally ok and I think it will hold without further attention.

After doing this my compactor worked much much better and the chain did not jump off (resulting in what you think is a stuck ram).

Now it's time to figure a rebuild for the drawer front where the bag will not fold over. What a piece of crap.