Electrolux Diamond Jubilee needs new brushes

[blknblu]

An old post mentions Helwig Carbon brushes, part number 146 will work for the diamond jubilee motor.this should be for the motor on the left.

https://www.helwigcarbon.com


https://www.vacuumland.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?11901

 

[chafer444]

Yes I saw that post and spoke to Helwig. To be certain this was the right part they wanted the part number of the motor which I didn't have. They also have a $25 minimum charge when ordering. So you can't just order two brushes for $12.

Steve

 

[blknblu]

Maybe try giving these guy a call:

Eurton Electric
https://store.eurtonelectric.com/vacuumbrushes.aspx

It may help to pull the carbon brush out of the holder and measure the thickness & width with a digital caliper. The length should be slightly longer than the brass holder. You can pick up a cheap set of digital calipers at Harbor Freight.

 

[blknblu]

Eurton Electric 549 seems to match the Helwig 146

Eurton Electric 549
.25" x .43" x 1.02" Brush 549
https://store.eurtonelectric.com/25x43x102brush549.aspx

Helwig 146
thickness 0.25″, width 0.437″, length 1″
https://www.helwigcarbon.com/shop/146/

 

[real1shep]

That motor.....

on the right looks like a Lamb motor. They were often subbed in by dealers. I used to restore Diamond J's specifically and never saw an original DJ with the motor on the right.

Don't wanna start a war...just sayin'....


Kevin

 

[jo]

Are you sure it’s the brushes?

Not sure how much testing on the entire unit you did. Are you sure it’s not just the power switch that has gone bad? If the check bag light comes on with the bag door open and the switch on and plugged in then the switch is working.

Reason this occurs to me is you said the symptoms were that the unit suddenly was not working one day. Just wonder how you got to determining it’s definitely the motor brushes. Could be something else and want to make sure you eliminated all else since the brushes seem to be a hassle and if it’s not them then it could be something else more easily fixable.

Jon

 

[chafer444]

Jon
My cousin is the one who took the vacuum apart and told me the brushes are bad. He said he put in some other brushes to see if they might fix it. The vacuum ran but he said there was some sparking that happened. So they weren't a fix.

Kevin and Sven, thanks for those other sites, but I may have tracked down a repair shop in another part of the state that can get the the brushes and holders. I sent them a photo of the brush/holder and the plastic part that attaches the brushes to the motor. I'm waiting to hear back. If they can't get the right one, I'll check those other sites. One other thing I learned from Helwig is they sell only the brushes, not the metal holder.

Steve

 

[chafer444]

After calling and emailing numerous repair shops, I had one tell me those brushes can't be bought anymore. Their fix was to replace the motor and I was told Electrolux made a brushless motor available years ago. I was told the price was $350 so I passed. Another shop told me, Those brushes are not from an original Electrolux motor … that motor must have been replaced at some point … the brushes should look like this (without a cord attached). I provided their photo below. If that motor was replaced it's news to me, I don't recall that being done. That shop also sent me a link to a replacement motor on the evacuumstore site, but it's $126. Last week my cousin found a Marquise at Goodwill for $9 that seems to work great, so my mom is happy.

Steve

 

[real1shep]

I used to buy.....

brushes on eBay for that motor. Maybe even from one of the vacuum shops. Anyway it wasn't an issue but I haven't rebuilt a DJ in about 5yrs.

Glad you found a solution.

Kevin

 

[human]

That's the irony of replacement parts...

Yeah, it's kind of ironic that entire machines can often be found far cheaper than individual parts. I guess why there always seem to be machines being parted out on eBay. This past summer, I walked away from a Kirby Sentria at Goodwill because even though it was inexpensively priced, the replacement parts to put it to rights were prohibitively costly. It's a bit of a twist that the $9 thrift find will will become the daily driver, so to speak, allowing the Diamond J to potentially become a parts donor for the for the Marquise as needed.

 

[jo]

I would keep

The Diamond Jubilee and all of its parts and attachments if you have the room. Anything still functioning on it will work on the Marquise as the Marquise was the next model after the Diamond Jubilee. All main unit parts and attachments and the hose are all interchangeable between the two.

Glad you have a solution.

Jon

 

[chafer444]

Not the solution

I wanted but my mom has something like what she's used to. I do plan on keeping the DJ for the parts. I got another reply from one of the franchises in another state, they can't get those carbon brushes anymore, only solution is to buy a new motor for $230. There's still a part of me that thinks somewhere those brushes can be found, but that may be just wishful thinking. I do appreciate all of the suggestions everyone passed along.

Steve

 

[jo]

You could...

Always put the Marquise motor into the DJ if you really wanted it to be complete especially if the DJ body is better but I’d probably just pick whichever one has the best body and keep the other for the parts.

Perhaps you’ll come across another in the future with a good motor and you can swap the motor into the DJ.

Glad we could help.

Jon

 

[chafer444]

The body of the DJ and Marquis are about the same condition actually. My cousin found a Silverado at the dump and it works just fine. The body has rust places and the cord was repaired with electrical tape. That might be why someone got rid of it. Does the Silverado and DJ use the same motor?

Steve

 

[suckolux]

I believe so

 

[real1shep]

The Silverado motor is the old Super J motor design. The Diamond J motor has a different history.

It was the first motor not to come in-house from the Connecticut plant. Depending on who you talk to it was either a completely outsourced motor or a motor made in another Electrolux plant down south.

They had problems with the motor originally, but Electrolux stood behind the vac completely and fixed all that had issues. I would think those vacs with problem motors either got fixed or went to the landfill.....I've never seen a Diamond J with a bad motor and I've restored at least 15 of them.

As to whether or not a Silverado motor will fit into a Diamond J...I don't know, never tried it. But I bet the Diamond J motor has the same lift or more of the old Super J design....albeit noisier.

Kevin

 

[real1shep]

There was a.......

fire early on in production of the Super J at the Connecticut plant. So they went out of house to have the motor armatures made. Electrolux also had trouble with those motors and again, made good on replacing them.

The serial #'s of the motors in question have been documented in here. By the time the Silverado was introduced, there were no more motor issues that I'm aware of.

Kevin

 

[chafer444]

Thanks for the additional info on the motors.

Steve

 

[real1shep]

You're.....

welcome. And for some more weirdness....all the motors in Electrolux Canada tanks were stronger than their US counterparts. Up until the 90's when Electrolux merged the two factions(and not for the better).

Kevin

 

[madman]

The brushes and their metal sleeves look nearly identical to me. Will the metal sleeves fit in the plastic holders? Is everything the same dimensions? I feel like everyone may be overlooking a very simple solution.

The old brushes have a wire on them, but the wire appears to be a tiny pigtail, with a female spade connector on each end. All other things being equal, the only difference would be the manner of electrical connection. Apparently, the spade connector on the brush sleeve is somewhat of an anomaly. Perhaps a different supplier, oddball in-between revisions thing, or aftermarket. Looking at the terrible photograph on the seller's website, the lower brush in the picture looks to have two tiny holes on the bottom left hand side of the picture. Those look like holes for a small gauge wire to be fed through and soldered on. That's what it looks like to my eye, anyway. Mind you the picture is awful.

So if these brush & sleeve assemblies fit the bill every other which way, solder some wire in there and boom, you're done.