Attention Bread Makers, Check your Bosch dough hook!

I have a Bosch Universal MUM6 series, purchased in 1999(now12 years old).  I have now replaced a blender lid, dough hook, wire whips and upgraded to a metal bowl, and made hundreds of loaves of bread, and it's been worth it.
 
Summary:

Red circles indicate wear points.

• Attachments should not touch the bowl at all when moving
• Bosch dough hook can wear out with  heave use.  It's worn out if it you can wiggle any part of it
• Whisks can also be warped, if they hit the bowl, replace them, you can buy one whisk at a time for $8, it's worth doing
• If you need to replace the plastic bowl, you can buy a shell, and use your original drive shaft & spur gear (the thing on top that's hard to clean)  This option is about $30.  A whole new bowl w/ all the parts is more like $70.
• Metal Bosch bowl is wicked cool because you can twist out the drive shaft to clean it!  Yah!
• If you buy a metal bowl (not the dough bowl, but the normal one), you'll need a new splash ring if your bowl had 3 attachment points. Older bowls after the outside splash ring fit and before about 2008?  The bowl cover doesn't need to be replaced, it will still fit the 4point splash ring. (all the pictures show the 3 point bowl and lids, but the only metal bowl made now is the 4 point one.)

If you own a Bosch Mixer and use the dough hook frequently, check it for wear.  How?  Try to wiggle the bar that goes through the middle "joint".  It should not move AT ALL.  If it does, the hook will rub on your bowl and can ruin it.  I learned this the hard way.

After about 12 years of heavy use, my Bosch bowl started peeling on the inside.  There were also a few scratches from a whisk that had detached at the top welded point, this is important, replace it if this happens.

My bowl has white spur gear (shown
black in pic) and the bottom is still plastic.
You can still melt it if you put it on a hot
plate. I would advise not doing that.

After accidentally melting my bowl, I was forced to buy a new one.     I chose the stainless steel option because it has a twist lock feature so you can take out the drive shaft and clean the dough bits that can get in there when you've got a large batch.  No more squirting water down the holes and hoping  it comes out!

Attachment point that can break
Not fixable, it will scratch your bowl

Upon using my new bowl, I was disappointed  to hear a metal on metal sound. I thought the bowl was defective.  I took my bowl, dough hook, and on a whim threw in my whisks too.  At the store, we trouble shot the situation.  Low and behold... it was not the bowl.  My dough hook had, over the years and with lots of heavy use, worn down, and was loose, thus making it hit the sides of the bowl with centrifugal force.  My wire whisks had also become warped and did the same thing.  When we put new dough hook and whips in (on my original whip attachment mind you) nothing hit the bowl.

If I had purchased a new plastic bowl, I would never have realized my hook was to blame, and would probably have ruined another bowl.  I think that is what caused the peeling, it shouldn't normally do that.

All toll... about $150.  Small price to pay for full Bosch function again!  The motor is fine, many more years of use. I'm okay with paying for a few parts that I've worn out.

This is a great place to buy your parts (best prices I've seen)  .  http://www.fykitchen.com/