I'm writing this on behalf of a friend of mine who isn't to up on PC's and forums.

I haven't seen the problem first hand but, from talking to her it appears to make ice just fine and fills the ice bucket accordingly, it just won't dispense them. She wrote in an email to me:

"We thawed out the ice box and it would then spit out 1-2 cubes, whatever was in the chute. After that it did not have enough power to keep the dispenser turning. When I put my fingers on the coupling motor bars the force they were generating was minimal"

Is there some type of shear pin between the motor and coupling or is it some how stripped? This is my neighbours fridge so there is no problem with me doing any follow up with it, should any of you have some ideas as to what might be the cause.

Thank you in advance to your replies.

Cheers :)

Jack

Hi Denman:

Thank you for your reply. I had a chance to look at the ice maker this past weekend and once I had it removed I could see the problem. The motor electrically is fine but, the "motor coupling" has stripped itself on the thread of the motor. I was able to use my mini grinder and cut off the coupling but, unfortuantely the threaded area of the shaft is damaged, from the the first 2 threads from the shoulder of the shaft. Because of this I don't think a new coupling it would tighten on to the motor shaft.

I was thinking if this would work. Do you know what size thread this is and whether its metric or imperial? I know it's left a left handed thread, so that's going to make this a little harder. I was wondering if I could threaded a bolt through the new coupling for a referance point and then screw a nut down onto the bolt and jam it against the coupling. Once tight I could then have it welded to the coupling, in effect extending the threaded portion of the motor coupling thread, where it would then engage with the undamaged part of the electric motor thread. I could even use a bit of thread locker to increase integrity of the connection between the two.

I don't see why this little trick wouldn't work and save me from buying a new motor, which here in Canada is close to 200$. Trick is finding the nut and bolt.

Cheers :)

Jack Roberts

I am also a Canuck so know that getting a price close to the US price is a pain.

The motor is 2188385 replaced by 2188242

The coupler is 2205716 replaced by W10169511

Try sears canada parts sometimes their prices ar decent.

Also I did find the motor at part select canada for approx $150 delivered.

Hello again Denman:

I know you suggested cleaning the thread and possibly drilling the shaft and placeing a roll pin through the shaft to better secure the coupling to the the shaft.

Do you still feel strongly about the welding of a nut to the coupling (again NOT to the motor shaft) to extend the threaded portion of the coupling.

Thanks again in advance for taking the time to respond.

Cheers :)

Jack