1986 Hoover Junior U1104

[jmurray01]

Well, she arrived this morning at 7:30AM much to my surprise because Parcelforce normally deliver on week days only, but I am in a bit of a rural area so the Royal Mail delivery must have been given it to deliver hence Saturday delivery.

Anyway, I'm rambling on already and I've not even mentioned the Hoover!

Before I did anything I brewed up a coffee in my Hoover Genuine Spares mug (rather fitting, no ?) and took a quick sip then got started knifing through the parcel tape (carefully, of course).

After a 20-30 seconds I opened the box to be almost drowned by polystyrene (opening the box was like breaking a dam of polystyrene balls).

I slid the contents out by lifting the closed end of the box and out came more balls, the bag (aftermarket but I actually like it), the cleaner head and the tubes, wrapped in bubble wrap.

I firstly checked the ID Sticker for the Serial Number so see when it was made. This one was made in September 1986 (last three digits after model number were 609, that's how you date the older UK Hoovers in case you didn't know).

It took me about 10 minutes to put the handles into place because I'd only awoke 10 minutes prior (putting a flat head screw in was like rocket science) but I got there.

Then while attaching the flex guide, I noticed a nice clean split in the flex insulation that had cracked right open and was exposing the neutral and live wires... BUT, it hadn't actually broken their insulation, so no copper was exposed, thank goodness. This meant a bit of gaffer tape fitted neatly around the split will more than suffice. Phew.

Then came fitting the bag, my Lord the bellow was hard to clip into place! It kept coming away until I pushed it on very very hard and got the metal latch to secure. After that I took a look at the finished product to find a "This one's made in Britain!" sticker on the top of the handle, which is reassuring!

After that I got to work taking the brush roll out to lubricate the bearings (he said it sounded rough when running) so I did that and decided to swap the generic belt for a Genuine Hoover one (getting that new belt over the pulley was damn near impossible!) and off I went to test drive it.

Test DRIVE being a good analogy, since when I turned it on it sounded like an Indirect Injection Diesel! Looks, or rather sounds like those bearings need more than a drop of 3-In-1. I'll buy new ones ASAP.

But, it performed really well with its agitator brush roll, not activator.

I can't believe how light and SMALL it is. I have it upstairs now with the other vacuums and next to the Senior Ranger it looks like a toy vacuum, literally!

I can't wait to buy the new bearings so I can use it without sounding like a high millage diesel, but until then I'm sure I'll manage to cope with the sound.

Right, picture time! I haven't actually polished it up yet so bear with me (not that you have any concept of time while reading this...) and I'll do that then take some pictures and come back to the computer to post them.

Right, done!

Here we go...

 

[jmurray01]

Picture 2, showing the aftermarket bag, which I actually think is a very nice pattern.

 

[jmurray01]

Picture three, showing the wrong colour face plate, unfortunately.

 

[jmurray01]

Picture 4, showing the undercarriage and a very worn agitator brush roll!

 

[jmurray01]

Now a picture of the Junior with its big brother, the 1977 Senior. Look at the size difference!

 

[jmurray01]

And one more of the two Hoovers...

 

[jmurray01]

Update:

I tested it out on the upstairs carpets half an hour ago and lets just say I was disappointed to say the least.

First of all it was louder than an 18 wheeler hitting the governor, then the handle was vibrating and to top it off it wasn't even grooming the carpet. It picked up the dirt, but didn't turn the pile over at all.

Then, just as I was finishing I could smell burning rubber which turned out to be due to the brush roll being so stiff it would barely turn let alone at full speed so the belt was slipping.

I rolled the flex up and sadly put it back in the spare room where it would sit until I could buy new bearings for the brush roll...

Or would it ?

I then remembered that the Senior and Junior brush rolls used the same bearings, which didn't help, until I recalled having a brand new Senior brush roll somewhere... Could it have brand new bearings in it ?

I fished it out and YES! The bearing was the right one! I say bearing, because the one was all I could use as the other was fitted to the rod which can't be swapped over for obvious reasons. But it was still worth changing one of the Juniors bearings, so I took the brush roll out and pulled the bearing and housing out. Well, no wonder she was vibrating and as loud as she was - The bearing had seized and was spinning inside the housing! Yeah, that could make the brush roll slightly stiff!

So I put the new bearing and housing from the Senior brush roll in, reassembled the Junior and with trepidation as to whether it would be fixed 100% or not turned it on...

At first I thought I hadn't even pressed the pedal right because it was so quiet! Needless to say the quiet purr so common with old Hoovers was back and as if to answer the question I was wondering, the cleaning head sucked itself to the carpet despite being on the Shag Pile setting.

I took it downstairs to the carpet in the hall and gave her a good test drive. Lets just say I'm grinning from ear to ear. She is quiet, light, manoeuvrable, beats the carpet brilliantly and has better suction than any new upright you can buy.

Am I pleased ? Come on...

 

[kirbyloverdan]

Beautiful

you guys are so lucky here in the US they only sold a few of that model it never took off here . I really loved that machine and thought it was a really good cleaner kinda reminds me of a Kirby but a more practical version of it .

I have two brand new ones and one is still in the box , I forget the model for they are all the way in the back of my closet .

 

[super-sweeper]

No wonder they call them Junoirs!

Congradulations of your find James!
(Do you pefer to go by James? :O)

-Alex.

 

[jmurray01]

Well I know exactly why they didn't take off in the US - they are tiny!

You Americans with your massive rooms would have had to vacuum forever in a day with the wee Juniors to clean the whole carpet whereas the "regular" big cleaners would be more practical.

For the UK the Junior was a MASSIVE success for Hoover because a lot of homes have small, often tiny rooms in which big vacuums would bash into everything.

I'm lucky to have larger rooms, but still nowhere near on the scale of American houses.

I really am chuffed to bits with my U1104 now I've got that seized bearing replaced, I think I may even use it as a daily vacuum for the reasons stated above.

Plus it is very economical on power since it only has a 300 Watt motor.

 

[jmurray01]

Ha ha yes they are very small Alex, probably the same size as a kids toy vacuum in the US. Hell, they aren't much larger than a kids toy vacuum in the UK!

I actually prefer Jamie to be honest, never really took to "James", probably because my name is short as it is and James doesn't really make it any shorter anyway!

Jamie or JM is fine

 

[alexhoovers94]

Don't be put off by the size...


They are very efficient cleaners and will no doubt clean the same as a senior I am sure.
Now even for british homes a junior is still a little small, it does takes me a good length of time to clean my living room with my junior, where as I can blaze threw it with my hoover turbopower.
I think if I had a choice in the 70's and I had the house I have now, I would choose a senior because it would not take as long, although, I do love the juniors.

Just remember, the juniors are small but MIGHTY!!
Haha.

Alex.

 

[vintagerepairer]

I have little dislike of the Junior as it was easy to work on, easy to fix, and they have to be the UK's all time best selling model. What I do dislike about them is that although they can sweep and beat up grit, they can have a good deal of difficulty in sucking it away. I think maybe this was because the suction port was so far up the cleaner meaning that the heavier grit was not successfully lifted high up enough by the suction to take it away, and there it was left to ricochet off the roller brush for all eternity. Tipping the cleaner back from the carpet when switched on could launch that loose grit particle into outer space.

 

[alexhoovers94]

So what are you sayin Benny?


Do you mean the juniors can't deep clean?
I have found what you have said to be true but it will suck that grit up with a good 2 or maybe 3 passes, and don't forget, grit is something alot of vacuums struggle with, my kirby legend ll can take a good 2 or 3 passes to get up heavy grit up and that is set as it should be.

Alex.

 

[vintagerepairer]

No, I am not saying that, I am saying it does a very good job of deep-cleaning, but can't always carry away the heavier, solid grit particles, and they just rattle around.

 

[jmurray01]

I did think as much Benny! One good thing is the fan blades are large and well spaced out so at least blockages wouldn't really be a problem.

I think the fan behind the brush roll method works better for heavier pieces of dirt than the fan above method, but even with the former some grit still clinks around for a while before being blown into the bag.