Ge WR17X11457 Helix (Ice Bucket Auger) OEM Part

Ice was not being dispensed when lever was pushed in either crushed or cubed mode I removed the ice bin. After searching the web for reasons for this I pulled the bin out and started looking at auger assembly. I noticed that the sections of the Helix blades were missing. Ordered the Helix here at AAP and received the part the next day. The whole process took about an hour and as others have noted, you have to disassemble the bin assembly to get the auger assembly out. I watched the video which had some helpful hints. Remove the ice bin unit from the freezer and dump any ice into a bag and place the bag back into the freezer. Place the bin assembly on some towels on your work surface and let warm up for an hour or some. This will allow the plastic to "relax" a bit so it won't crack while you wedge out the auger end housing. Remove the four screws holding the bin to the rail plate. Set the rail plate aside. Using two thin screwdrivers to allow the dispenser end to be pulled out. You will probably have to wiggle this part a bit to get it to slide out. Be sure to note which side of the ice dispenser plate faces inward, it only goes in one way. Dis-assembly was easy. Another note is to wrap your pliers with tape or use the plastic tip covers as not to chew up the auger nut. Before removing nut measure the length of the threaded auger shaft protruding out of the nut so you can reassemble it properly and not have the end of the shaft hit the front of the bin assembly. The nut is removed turning it clockwise. Next note the order of the single impeller blades. They are numbered 1; 2; 3. My unit had blade #1 going between the crushing blades. It helps to take a picture with you cellphone. Another helpful trick is two take a thin shafted screwdriver and place the tip at the end of the auger then slide the blade stack off the auger shaft and up the screwdriver shaft as one piece and set aside. Remove the ice plate and then slide the Helix off the shaft. Mine just came right off though others have mentioned needing to release tabs. Note the metal blade piece has 'Nubs" and note which direction they face. Pop this metal blade out of the slots in the helix ring and pop into the new helix. Examine the center of the helix and make sure that the hole is clear. Once again, others have noted that the piece they received had some plastic in the hole from the mold. Slide the new helix onto the auger shaft, metal blade facing inward. Place the ice maker plate onto the shaft, then take the blade stack on the screwdriver and slide it onto the auger shaft. Doing it this way means no scratching your head and wondering which blade goes where. Screw the auger nut onto the shat (it is a left hand threading) and screw down to length you measured before you unscrewed the nut. Slide the auger into the ice bin and place the dispenser end cover onto the auger. Drop the cover into the ice bin housing, lining out the ice plate tabs into the slots in the bin and gently slide end housing in. You made need to wiggle it a bit to everything to snap together. Take the bin with auger in place and put onto the rail bottom plate and replace the four mounting screws. It goes without saying, do not overtighten these screws. Wipe down the ice bin and make sure that you have removed any plastic bits from when the helix failed. Slide the plastic cap onto the auger shaft (it only goes on one way. Dump the saved ice back into the bin and put the ice bin/dispenser unit back into the freezer. Set the dispenser for either crushed or cube, place a container under the dispenser mouth and push lever to dispense ice. If it comes out then set the ice dispenser to the other choice and test again. It will take a minute for the auger to move some ice cubes into the blade area and drop the ice. This is why you saved the ice that was in the dispenser before starting. You have ice to test once you have finished without waiting for ice to be made. Sorry this is so long.

Old one came off, and the new went on. The biggest issue was separating all of the component parts to get to the broken part. Slow and steady wins the race here.

Accessed Appliance Parts web site and easily found the required part. Most helpful was the exploded view of the ice bucket and the video showing how to replace the auger cup. That video is essential to disassemble the bucket. The comment from other users were also most helpful to disassemble the ice crusher. However I found that when trying to remove the ice crusher blades they were restrained on the auger shaft by burrs caused by the blades re-action against the shaft. This required removing these burrs with a flat file. After trying to remove all the blades and bushings carefully to facilitate re-assembly, they became disoriented. The exploded view was helpful to get these back into the proper order but it would be more helpful if the dotted center line would be shown going through all these parts in order or another view showing these parts in order. I would suggest that when removing these parts they be slid onto a small rod to keep them in the proper order. The new helix required running a 3/8" drill through the center hole which was filled with plastic molding "flash".

Good

I Disassembled the auger mechanism and replaced the. Stripped parts. Make sure you pay attention to the ice crusher blades before taking apart.