A Replacement for my sold Kirby G3! (Kirby G4)

[tase]

The Kirby G3 was one of my favourite vacuums... But I sold it in order to get a Sentria II.

I have missed it so much, but I finally have a replacement for it!

I bought this G4 at the Mile High Flea Market for $30. It is in pretty decent shape and I am amazed that there is not a single thing wrong with it!

 

[tase]

Didn't take a single picture of the teardown... So here it is apart while I wait the next could of days for a new fan to arrive. The one on it was bojack and broke when I tried to get it off.

It was surprisingly clean though.

I'll post pictures when I get it all back together.

 

[sptyks]

I have both...

A G3 and a Sentria. However I find that the G3 is a good cleaner and the Tech Drive is very smooth, but it does not seem to deep clean my carpet as well as the Sentria does. The Sentria grooms the carpet better and it is a deep cleaning BEAST.

 

[tase]

I think that may be due to the faster motor.

Even if my Sentria/Sentria II cleans better than a G3 or G4, there are just some things I can't stand about them

The handle is much wider
the carry handle has less grip
the handle isn't that comfortable
The outer bags don't have enough self-shape to them
And the mini-emptor on the Sentria II never seems to catch anything...

These are all just personal preference though. Most of my problems with the Sentria/Sentria II could be solved by buying an older handle and putting it on the vacuum. Sure it may not look as pretty, but I'll enjoy using it more.

I do have to say that any Generation Series Kirby could beat the living crap out of most vacuums. My Dyson, Eureka, nor Rainbow D3C come anywhere close to cleaning as well as my G3 did. The Sentria/II has to be one of the best cleaners ever made.

 

[kirbymodel2c]

Hi,

<span style="font-family: book antiqua,palatino;">Hi Will, You got a nice looking G4 there. Great find!</span>


 


<span style="font-family: book antiqua,palatino;">James

</span>

 

[sptyks]

Yes the G4 should be a good substitute for the G3 that you no longer have.


 


BTW I find my Sentria carry handle is more comfortabe to me than the G3 handle. I guess it all comes down to personal choice.

 

[tase]

Here's my G4 after I finished refurbishing it...

Two little problems...

Why is tech drive trying to walk itself backwards? Why is it so powerful going forward and back?



When replacing the fan, I noticed the new fan kit I bought didn't have a little rubber piece to go the metal piece with a lip like in this kit: So I used the one off my old fan.

Now my Kirby is a bit noisy when cleaning (I'll try to get a video of it's sound tomorrow.) However, I cannot get the metal piece with the lip and the little rubber piece off of the armature uhh... stick (I'm drawing a blank tonight so bare with me.) I think I may have damaged the bearing trying failing to get it off... So when it comes time that it is in fact a damaged bearing, I guess I'll have to show what I am talking about as talking about it isn't making a lot of sense.

But yes, why wouldn't the piece of rubber and metal lip thing come off the armature stick?

Oh, and the cord is in fact discoloured by paint. There's a small spot on the bag where paint is and the bag topper had some paint that I was able to scrub brush off.

On a happy note... WOW is this thing powerful. Never have I had a G3/G4 perform like this.

 

[bikerray]

TASE

The fan didn't come with the spindle, washer, mylar washer, metal spacer and rubber seal? Was this fan kit for an older Kirby?

Next, when you push the handle forward the Kirby should go forward, if it goes backward the leads for the carbon brushes are reversed and the motor is running backwards. You also will not have much suction. If you push forward and the Kirby goes forward then it sounds like a slide bracket adjustment. There also could be pits in the slide bracket blocks that the roller bearings are falling back into, causing it to want to creep forward or backward.

Hope this helps

Hey wait a tick, is that a Bissel steam cleaner in the background?

 

[tase]

This is the fan I bought: http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/271436051632?lpid=82 and everything there is what it came with...

It's a ****** kit. I have no idea why I bought it.

The Kirby is running fine. Everything is running normal. I've fixed over 40 Generation style Kirbys... and this is the first to give me a problem.

It just likes to walk itself right now which is probably just a slide bracket adjustment.

It still doesn't explain the slight grinding noise and why the rubber seal and metal spacer won't come off.


And yes, it s a Bissel Steam cleaner. I bought my Sentria and Bissel Steam cleaner as a lot for $75.

 

[bikerray]

The ebay listing looks like 119078S (516 / LGII) fan kit.

The 119078A (505 / 515) fan kit has the taller spacer

The 119096S fan assy would be for the G series

There may be rust on the armature so the spacer and seal won't come off.

 

[sptyks]

You may need to adjust the forward and reverse clutch adjustment screws on the back of the transmission. Careful, the adjustment screws are very sensitive and may only need 1/4 to 1/2 turn.


 


There are instructions on how to do this on the web. Search for "Kirby Tech Drive adjustment".