We had some one clean out our grinder a year or so ago and he took a few minutes and made it look easy and charged a pretty penny. So, when we started to get more smoots on the glasses we decided to try to do it ourselves. After unscrewing the spinning arm, I got to see the screws and after a bit of web searching I figured out they were Torx 20 screws. So, Gail bought a Torx 20 screw driver and getting the first three screws out was easy. No budging! There is a fourth Torx screw - under a piece of the piping. What to do now? (click on images for higher-res)
When I looked at Handy Guys Podcast in a hurry, I thought it was only an audio podcast and when I had more time I did not go back. There is a 10 minute video that goes one step further than I did here. Oh well.
After a lot more web searching I thought I found the right answer. hydrangeakiller posting some promising advice here:
http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/appl/msg111052554973.html
I got mine off...I had a couple of screws fall down there and was afraid to run it in case it messed up the garbage disposal. I unscrewed the cap (reverse thread) then unscrewed 3 of those torx screws. It still did not budge but looked like there was a white plastic thing that went around the cap and had a tube that went up the back of the dw. It looked like the tube could come apart (it was a couple of pieces snapped together with a plastic tab) so I undid the tab and pulled it about 1/4 turn clockwise and the pieces came apart. It then unlocked from the base and I pulled it off. The piece in the middle that had the thread for the cap came off next. Then there was another torx screw and voila, we were able to get the dropped screws out. Also I found that the little piece in the middle with the threads needed to be pushed down in order to get the white thing back on, but after it's on you need to give it a good yank to pull it back up so it spins freely...that sounded maybe like the problem someone had above. Hope this helps.
Unfortunately, that did not turn out to match what I was seeing, but, it was the right idea. The repairman was so quick it had to be fairly easy. I just kept looking until I figured taking everything out was the easiest way. So, take out the top rack, which actually is documented reasonably well in the owner's manual.
To the right is an overview shot with all of the pieces. In the order of disassembly
1) Rotating arm - unscrews off the rotating core
2) UpAndOver - Large "up and over" piece of piping - clips in 2 places, top & back
3) Lower piping. Still in place here.
4) Rotating core with screw top. It sticks out of the lower piping.
5) toothy oval top filter
Also, the 4 screws, screwdriver and 2 clips from the upper rack.
[ no picture of grinder cover ] See the video and send me a picture.. A little screw on the left side unhitched the grander cover. IMPORTANT!!!
To the left you can see the top of the of the UpAndOver piping and the two clips holding it to the ceiling of the dishwasher. Unclip it to get it a little loose. There is a second pair of clips at the very back of the washer. Unclip those.
To the left: the piece that says "turbo zone" can be lifted to make it easier to slide out the UpAndOver piece.
With the clips off and the turbo slid up, you can wiggle out the UpAndOver piece.
To the right: Rotating the lower piping to align the slots to remove.
 Rotating Core with screw top |
 The inner chamber |
 Rack clips and torx screws |