A Tale of Two Kirbys

[human]

Yesterday, I broke out one of my Kirby G6's (the 2000 Performance, which I had bought at a thrift shop last spring) to do a little cleaning and I noticed every time I pushed it forward with the Tech Drive engaged, it bucked like a bronc but when I pulled it back toward me it was smooth as silk. While eating breakfast this morning, I got the bright idea to isolate whether the problem was with the Tech Drive or the brush roll, so I pulled out my other G6 (the 2001 Limited Edition), swapped the nozzles, and tried them both out. I first tried my 2001 Limited Edition, which has operated smooth as silk ever since I rescued it from a dumpster and still did with the other nozzle and brush roll assembly in place. Then I was in for an even bigger surprise when I tried the 2000 Performance and found that its former rough behavior was now completely smoothed out with the 2001's nozzle assembly installed. That was also a big relief because now I don't have to tear into a Tech Drive. I'm not sure what to make of it but the one thing I'm certain of is I'm not swapping the nozzles back to their original machines.

 

[human]

Just on a lark today, I decided to try the same experiment with my G5. With one of the G6 nozzles in place, it too was smooth as silk. I had always thought the Tech Drive might be a little out of adjustment but again it turned out to be the newer Sentria style brush roll I installed when I got it the machine. It is smooth when pushed forward but bucks slightly when pulled backward. In this case, I didn't swap anything around but just put the G5 nozzle back on and returned the G6 nozzle to the machine from whence it had come.

 

[sptyks]

Do both G6's have the same brushroll installed? There is a soft bristle and a stiff bristle brushroll. They both have the same brush pattern so they look identical. If you run your fingers over the bristles you can tell the difference. 


 


When I have the stiff brushroll installed in my Sentria, it bucks on my carpet like you described earlier. But when I install the softer brushroll, it runs smooth as silk. This might be something you may want to check into.

 

[human]

The G5 definitely has the newer, more aggressive Sentria style brush roll. I always assumed the two G6's both had the older, gentler style brush rolls. I'll have to check them and see if they feel different from one another. What surprised me was that by swapping the nozzles, the bucking stopped on the G6 Performance while the 2001 Limited Edition remained smooth with either brush roll. I was not at all surprised when the bucking stopped after I swapped a G6 nozzle onto the G5. What pleased me was that the G5's bucking was entirely attributable to the brush roll and not to any malfunction of the Tech Drive.

 

[human]

They're the same...

I just checked the brush rolls on the two G6's a little while ago and they're definitely the same except the one that originally came on the 2001 Limited Edition (and is now residing on the G6 Performance) feels like it has just a slight bit more wear than the other one.