Recent content by superocd

I think a direct air carpet cleaner/extractor would be aweso Kirby could easily adapt the G-series for wet pickup. Since the handle is swappable, a special "handle" with the clean and dirty reservoirs (dirty routed from fan discharge, clean routed to floor nozzle with a high-pressure pump...

Question for @collector2 For Canadian Kirby machines, did they assemble the units with parts shipped from Cleveland? Or was the manufacturing process completely independent, with casting and other activities done in-house, without any involvement by Kirby, other than providing the specs? I...

Of course the 1CR is a white elephant Its shell and footprint resemble Omega/Legend II but is really a revised D80 internally. Perhaps it should be considered a Gen 2.5? 😂

I personally believe the 5xx series should be considered two separate generations - Model C/505-515 (as Gen 1) 516-D80 (as Gen 2), considering the motor shell is significantly different between the 505-515 and 516-D80, as the 505-515's motor shell doubles as the outer shell, while the 515-D80...

Correction: 2cb not 3cb 2cb - Classic 3 3cb - Tradition

Rebuilding a recently acquired 3CB and the old front bearing was a bear to remove. For a while, I thought that it was glued in, but the gluelike crud around the bearing was hardened grease, which I scraped away. The replacement is seemingly impossible to get into the recess. I've tried tapping...

I think the best Kirby ever would have a 7A motor comparable to the G3/Avalir placed into something resembling the 5xx series. Four row brushroll, HEPA bag, keep the Amodel fan for heavy duty use, 50' 3-wire cord interchangeable with a 30' for residential, heavy-duty wheels, heavy-duty outer...

Was disassembling newly-acquired Classic III for cleaning, sanitizing and rebuilding. Stripped one of the three screws on the discharge side of the fancase. I had two options...try to find my screw extractor set, or this: Since all the other screws were removed, the halves of the fan case...

This is what works for me I heat up the trim in a bowl of water in the microwave (not boiling). As soon as it is cool enough to handle, I massage the holes around and over the rivets, using my thumb and, if necessary, a small flathead screwdriver. This is so much easier than taking out the old...

That's the great thing about having a collection Don't want to unwind a cord? Skip the Sanitaires and Convertibles without cord hook releases and use the Kirbys or Royals with it. Don't want to push the vacuum equivalent of a 1970s Cadillac (aka Kirby Classic 1-CR) because you came home after a...

@huskyvacs Funny you mentioned eBay seller electricvac. I ordered a Kirby 1155 bearing from them and it never showed. I messaged them a month later and their response was along the lines of "well, we shipped it, but we'll send out another one. If the first one arrives, please ship it...

So far I have cleaned three field/armature sets with Tide, obviously with the bearings off as I replace them anyway. In a 5 gallon bucket of very hot water, I add about a teaspoon of Tide. While tide isnt as harsh as a typical solvent based cleaner, I don't go overboard keeping in mind the...

"modern" vacs didn't catch my eye that much When I was a kid. Even before, I knew that the kinds of vacuums sold in stores like Walmart or Target weren't as good as my all-time favorite, the Sanitaire commercial upright that the custodian used in my grade school and in most hotels at the time...

I don't think the classics will turn up as much In the after-xmas thrift store dumping. I have a feeling that any old stuff that happens to turn up in a thrift store is almost exclusively what was left over from an estate sale, or perhaps a family has foregone an estate sale altogether and...

My local Walmart had some PowerForce bagged on clearance for $30 several months back. I bought one. They went back up to the usual(?) $59 but for $30 I was interested in how these performed as I've heard from several that they aren't bad machines for the price. Granted they're no Kirby or...