Vacuum Cleaners Discussions

I'm not a Kirby Mechanic but I have a Tranny out of a G6 and was wondering what the "Y" shaped armature is? It doesn't seem to match up with anything. I pulled the tranny out without taking off too much but...putting it back in seems it might take some trial & error. Do I haver to disassemble the upper housing or just fiddle with it. Any info would help thanks. Lucky

I belive what your talking about is the drive arm and has to mate with handle yoke this is what  makes it go forward or reverse, you should take off top housing to see how it clips in

Lucky1, Pull the 4 screws that hold the top bracket on 2 long in the front  and at the top of the fan case and the 2 short ones on the bracket towards the rear of the bracket , It will be a lot easier to install the tranny,

Just be sure to install the geared belt on the end of the motor shaft first  and as you slide the transmission in pull the belt over the gear on the transmission,Did you pull the transmission out to replace the switch?

If the switch went bad the right way to repair it is to pull the motor and transmission out ,[Its a lot easier to install the switch when the motor is out of the machine. Its not real hard to do except for remembering where all the screws and small parts go,If you get hung up ask for help, [DONT FORCE ANYTHING BACK TOGETHER.

After doing 3 or 4 generation machines it will become [A piece of cake] I really enjoy tearing down  KIRBY in front of the customer looking at them and saying ,you know i really dont work here im just watching the store while the owners out to lunch, you should see the reaction from the customers[ ITS HILLARIOS].........


MOLE

Mission Accomplished... Thanks Alot for the help!

Lucky1 wrote:

I really enjoy tearing down  KIRBY in front of the customer looking at them and saying ,you know i really dont work here im just watching the store while the owners out to lunch, you should see the reaction from the customers[ ITS HILLARIOUS].........MOLE


MOLE, Lucky1

Too funny!  I love it!  BTW, nice work on the G5 repair. 

Carmine D.

Hi Carmine,Do you think W.B. will want to unload kirby.He more than likely feels that KIRBY and S.F. has ran its course.I would NOT be surprised to see them going to the indys and box stores in the near future. A loaded SENTRIA sounds like a good deal at 500 beans...............

Welcome to the REAL world Mr Kirby........were positive.................

MOLE

mole wrote:

Hi MOLE:

Certainly is an option on the table.  WB has lost money in the current down market by buying too soon and the stock market depreciation.  Even his own company Berkshire Hathaway is down from its high.  However it is uncharacteristic of Buffett to sell his holdings.  He typically buys and holds.  I don't expect this strategy to change as long as Buffett and his long time partner Charles Munson are still in charge.

Carmine D.

Thinking of our troubled times, I thought a little humor might be in line. Someone's been thinking . . . My God, they just never stop.

http://www.kirbybagsneveragain.com/

Venson

Hello Venson:

Very interesting.  Thank you for posting.  I read the bio about Jim Keeler.  His insights into bagless vacuum design and current competitors doesn't leave much room for misinterpretation.  For only $99 retail and 4 iterations, appears he knows his stuff.  

Tho, I have to ask him why he would take a perfectly good working/looking Kirby and morph it into a wannabe?  Looks like an upright passing itself off as a tank!  All in the name of saving money [while costing the user more time and money].  Of course, the answer is obvious.  Apparently Kirby feels the same way since it does not sanction this add on.  Have to wonder too if Jim Keeler parted ways with Kirby over the Kirby self-propelled feature.  Kirby gets rich, Keeler gets notta.  [Remember the paper bag converters for the lux 30's?]

Like buying a brand new Mercedes and/or Jaquar and then immediately having the dealership convince you to pay to remove the hood ornament and replace it with a peacock!   Or buying a $1200 top of the line premium vacuum cleaner and having to plunk down another $70 for a turbo tool!

Carmine D.

Hi Venson, Carmine,

Keeler also took a stake with BISON, in Ocala the company failed, use to sell these overpriced KIRBYS nothing but a headache for the the dealers and customer,

Keeler used his KIRBY connections and other friends to convert KIRBY distributors to Bison distributors,aparently Kirby did not take to kindly to this.

Now you can add BISON to the sought after collectors list of nostolga machines to round out their collections. The mark 2 was one of the biggest mistakes in Vacuum history.

Sort of like the EDSEL. But now both very collectable and sought after,I cant for the life of me figure out why BISON failed,you think maybe the price had something to do with it,or the way it was marketed, DOES THIS ROAD TO DISASTER REMIND YOU OF SOMETHING?????

MOLE

Carmine wrote: . . . For only $99 retail and 4 iterations, appears he knows his stuff.

Hi Carmine he also has a $149.00 version. You supply him with the handle for your cleaner and he attached a vertical bust bin that's fed by a hose attached to the blower. It's a bit more sensible than the horizontal add-on.

Venson

mole wrote:

Hi MOLE:

I'm not familiar with the business and marketing operations of the BISON.  I suspect that it was never welcomed by the independent vacuum cleaner store owners/operators and hence failed.  In this respect, if accurate, it reminds me of another brand with similar lackluster industry acceptance. 

Carmine D.

Venson wrote:

Thanks again, Venson.  Don't know how I missed that version save the yellow lab that distracted me.  One of my fave 4 legged best friends.

Carmine D.

mole wrote:

mole,

Do you have any experience with the Sentria?  This is the Kirby model that I bought for only a few more than 500 beans.  My biggest concern is the handle.  This vacuum is not easily maneuvered and the handle feels flimsy.  I wonder how long it will take to break.

Hi H.S.

The sentrias handle assembly is the same as the g3 thru g10, the sentria has the red or orange built in carry handle at the bottom of the fork.Its a KIRBY chacteristic that handle walks side to side,nothing to worry about, the handle locks into the transmisiion mount,the part that slides back and forth when under power the handle movement forward and backwards makes the tranny shift from forward to reverse,I must say its been pretty bullit proof, the transmission has a clutch pack in it, and is run by a geared toothed belt from the end of the motor shaft to the planetary gear on the transmission itself,[sort of like a LENCO transmission.] As a side note only use the transmisission in the drive mode when under power and using on your carpeting,when moving the machine to hard wood or tile leave the transmission in neutral.the transmission must be in neutral when not under power .Try and move the machine with transmission engadged when not running and you will hear the transmission make a clicking noise,this is not good.

The motor and transmission are warranteed for 3 years parts and labor.DONT confuse this with the lifetime rebuild warranty, As some people think it a lifetime warranty on everything parts and labor,and most kirby salespeople misrepresent this.

I hope this helps ,yeah im a little familar with kirby.........

MOLE

mole wrote:

mole, thanks for the reassurance on the handle.  I don't know why anyone would use this vacuum on carpet without engaging the transmission.  It would be easier to push and pull a concrete block without the self propel feature.

I do not use the Kirby as an upright on hard surface floors. It blows too much dust/dirt out of the vacuum path.  Not as bad as the Royal though.  Dyson is the best on hard surfaces in my experience (silence Carmine ).  Converting the Kirby to a canister reminds me of the days when my son had all those transformer toys.

You already know that I like Dyson performance above any that I have used.  None the less, the Kirby is built like an army tank and I can see why it should outlast a Dyson.

Thanks again.

mole wrote:

MOLE, HARDSELL:

That's an offer I can't refuse [to ignore]!  I don't have the experience MOLE has with KIRBY, but.....I always felt that the Achilles heel of the Kirby vacuum, despite it's ironclad form and substance, is the handle fork/bail. 

Carmine D.

Hi Carmine, the bail failures on kirbys are minimal in contrast to the hoover convertible,how many bails did you replace because of breakage on the left hand side of the fork where the casting got thin and broke at the same spot?I use dto do do at least 10 a week in the old days,it seems like every uprights weak spots at the pivot point between the handle and the base of the machine.It seemed that the older kirbys without the transmissin wre more prone to breakage that the G series uprights.

I see a lot of handle grip breakage on these machines than bail fork failures.The harder people are on the vacuum the more stuff they can break, most repairs come under misuse and abuse,than just parts wearing out.

H.S. i dont agree with you about the kirby on bare floors,these machine really do quite well on bare floor surfaces, I agree about the attachment use though they really need on board attachments,but would have to redesign the whole system from front to back. Dont think thats ever going to happen...........

MOLE

mole wrote:

Hello MOLE:

HOOVER Convertibles were the worse.  People did not carry the vacuum by using the grip under the bail.  Instead they carried from the top handle grip.  This worsened the problem for bail and handle release failures.  Overfilling the bag contributed to bail/handle release breakage too.

Consumer Reports rates Kirby Sentria "Excellent" on barefloors just as it does dyson and ORECK.   I would agree on all accounts with CR and you.  Seems HS is the minority view and disagrees with CR on its ratings on barefloors for ORECK and Sentria.  But agrees with CR on dyson's rating on barefloors.   Have to wonder who is right/wrong.

Carmine D.