Cousin Susan's Hoover

[hoover1060]

I have a handful of older cousins, as my Aunt Ruth married a widower with kids in their late teens at the time.
Anyway, one such cousin is Susan, whom saw this past May for the first time in about 10 years. She was asking about my collection and stuff, and then said: "I have an old Hoover, can't remember when I bought it, but it still runs and I have never had it serviced!"
I was intrigued.
So I told her anytime she'd like her Hoover restored, I'd be happy to do it for her.
Well, I recieved the machine yesterday, a U4009 Convertible. Indeed it runs, and it looks well cared for too. Here are some pics, I've spent most of my night working on this thing...

 

[hoover1060]

yes

Thats a replacement handle and bag!
The original switch went out, so the entire handle was replaced from a garage sale machine.
I think the bag as well...
Praise God she saved the originals!

 

[hoover1060]

underside

Aside from really worn brush strips, all looks good here!

 

[hoover1060]

under the Hood...

YUK...but not the worst I have ever seen

 

[hoover1060]

man she sure used the HE** outta this

check out these motor carbons... in 30+ years of working on Convertibles, these are the most worn carbons I have ever seen!

 

[hoover1060]

so far I have

replaced all 4 wheels and tweaked them so it sits squarely on all 4 wheels.

scrubbed clean the chassis

fixed the cord/switch in the original handle

installed NEW agitator with red brushes and new belt

The original motor was very worn, so I swapped it out for a 4.3/4.7 High-Performance motor from a U4317. I reused the metal fan though!

Installed NOS orange snap bag, which is a perfect match to the original.

Once I got that far I reassembled the whole thing and gave it a road test thru the house...
It runs beautifully and really grooms the rug nice.
All thats left is scrubbing and polishing, which I will do later this week.
For now, here is what she looks like:

 

[scott55405]

Very nice work! That bag does look very nice on the machine. Would this unit have had a solid, color keyed bag originally, or would it have been a patterned affair?

In all events, how wonderful that she's used it all these years, and now she'll get at the very least as much more life out of it that she's already had.

 

[petek]

Jeff wonderful, I've booked you a room here at chez PK and allowing you access to fix up all my old vacs to your hearts content.

 

[hoover1060]

the new bag

is an exact match to the original, except it says HOOVER on it, the original had a funky design...see my U4009 in the upper left of the pic...

 

[scott55405]

Oh yes I remember those...thanks Jeff

 

[vintageroyal611]

I'm sure...

Mr. Parker here will have that thing like new again in no time!
BTW I love that Guardsman in the background! I seem to be very partial to the older commercial Hoovers espescially the 91s, 913s, and early Guardsmans!

 

[buffster]

Jeff

Congrats on a great looking collection. I'd love to see it in person the next time I'm in your area.

Mike

 

[hoover1060]

Thanks guys

Been a while since I had a convertible to restore, so its been fun to work on this.
The best part for me is here's a cleaner thats 34+ years old that will be good for another 30 years when I am finished.
More pics to come as the restoration progresses!


So Pete, are you asking me to come be your "Hoover houseboy"?

 

[myhooverco]

Great job, Jeff. That 'ole Convertible is in very capable hands. She won't recognize it when she gets it back. Just wait until she uses it with the more powerful motor! This is a very early one as it has a "complete" base and not a skeleton like the later ones. I like the extra Hoover logo on the nameplate where the headlight would go on the deluxe models. This changed later on and they just stamped Hoover on the corner of the base of the hood.

--Tom

PS...all I can say is damn, she must have used this Hoover for hours and hours over the years to get those brushes worn down so much! I have never seen them that worn out.

 

[myhooverco]

Oh...I forgot...I really really really like that mint condition orange bag. It looks so good on that machine! LOL!!

--Tom

 

[hoover1060]

before shot

not too bad...

 

[hoover1060]

all finished now...

and she just gleams!

 

[hoover1060]

full shot

with flash

 

[hoover1060]

underside

like new!