Oster 5839/5840 - How to Fix

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How to fix a leaky and broken Oster Breadmaker model 5839/5840
The Story My wife and I make bread at least once a week. Throw in a pizza or breadsticks and we'll use the Oster 5839/5840 breadmaker several times per week. Back in 2000, I was quite irritated when the plastic "spinner" disc inside the cooking chamber shattered in the middle of the night. I can only speculate why the engineers chose plastic as a material to withstand the heat and torque generated by the machine kneading dough at 200+ degrees...and it wasn't to benefit the consumer's bottom line. When the plastic piece shattered, the breadmaker went crazy. From upstairs, it sounded a little like our neighbor revving his Harley-Davidson in our kitchen. Anyway, I gave their support line a call and they were "generously" offered to send me a refurbished replacement for $25. Whoopie. It'll break in another few months. No thanks. I'll keep my money since the machine's other components were in perfect working order. I told them I was going to weld a replacement part myself. They highly recommended that I didn't do that, "for my safety". "Fixing" the Plastic Spinner Disc On the right is photo of the Oster 5839/5840 breadmaker's cooking chamber. I simply bent a thin 1/4 inch, 1/8 inch thick steel bar in a "U" shape, and welded it to the existing steel spinning plate. Careful not to make the "U" to tall, or it will carve into the bottom of the bread pan. The aforementioned plastic spinning plate provided a rudimentary template for the approximate dimensions. Since I did this several years back, I don't have them. I assume if you've got the tools to weld, you can bend a piece of steel in the proper dimensions too. If you find this useful, please email me.
Leak Stopping the Oster Breadmaker model 5839/5840
More Story... Several months after the spinner was replaced, the breadpan's seal around the spindle sprung a leak. I suspect it had reached its life expectancy. In other words, I doubt the steel spinner had a detrimental effect on the pan's seal. Support said a new pan was $40! Um, no thanks. The leak started small and unnoticable, yet eventually lead to catastrophic bread baking failure... plus mysterious messes on the floor beneath the machine. In the photos far above, you can the results of leaked bread batter inside the breadmaker's cooking chamber.
The Leak Fix - Step 1 On the right is a photo of the bread pan. Loosen the screws. Take note that the screws were extremely tight. Be careful not to strip them. Note the in photo, I've already removed the retaining ring from the spindle.
The Leak Fix - Step 2 Get rid of the seal "innards" using a mini screwdriver. For some reason disassembling the spindle assembly seemed somewhat difficult. I can't quite remember those details several years prior. 3 photos to the right are the "after" shot. Note how the inside of the seal chamber is somewhat void of any rubberized components. Leave the white teflon like thing undamaged. Sorry, the photo was tough to get.
The Leak Fix - Step 3 Replace the seal "innards" with O-rings purchase from the local hardware store (mine were 25 cents a piece), Home Depot, or Lowes. I purchased 3 different sizes. The 4th, white colored ring seals the bottom unit to the bread pan...that should be okay...ignore it. Smallest: 1/4 I.D. I forgot the O.D. There are two of them on the spindle closest to the top, right beneath the paddle. This will be extremely tight around the spindle. You can probably use 5/16 I.D. and get away with it. Medium: #13 O-Ring, Danco, Lowes: 10 rings for $1.33, 9/16 O.D. x 5/16 I.D. (lower left in photo) The must fit snug around the spindle. Large: This should fill the "outer" portion of the seal chamber, yet the ID to too large to fit snug around the spindle. You'll see from the photo its approximate proportions. I got this from the hardware store. Obviously, slide the smallest to the top of the spindle. Squeeze the largest into the chamber first. It should expand to fill. Next, squeeze the medium size into the chamber. It will be on top of the larger one, and should be contained within the chamber just inside the top white teflon thing. Oh, on a side note, you'll see a groove encompassing the spindle midway. I forgot what went there. If I recall, it was a mangled retaining ring (that failed, obviously) contributing to the seal's demise.
The Leak Fix - Step 4 This is an "after" shot with the O-rings in place. Note you cannot see the large O-ring since it is hidden below the medium. I suppose if you could find an o-ring fat enough you wouldn't need the large and medium. The rings should be pretty well packed into place. The medium must be snug.
The Leak Fix - Step 5 Reassemble the pan. Reach inside the assembled pan. Be sure the paddle doesn't scrap the bottom. If it does, add another small o-ring near the top of the spindle. Spin the paddle with your fingers. You should encounter some resistance. It will/may wobble a little. Don't worry about it. My paddle/spindle assembly wobbled for a year before the replacement o-rings wore out. That's when I'm taking this opportunity to write this. This time, I've simply replaced the medium size. I imagine the spindle will eventually wobble too much after it wears the bottom of the collar (near the retaining ring).
The Leak Fix - Final Step Fill with water, place on paper tower. Monitor for leaks. If everything went well, your repair should be good for a bunch more loaves.

Afterwards Please send me an email using the address to the right. It would be great to know that this actually helped someone. Despite the appearance of the address to the right, I'll read it. I didn't hyperlink it to avoid spam.
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