Hoover 725

[madman]

Hi all, I have been absent for a long time, hope you have been well.

This is an estate sale find. Old people house, they had three more Hoovers that look like they were purchased once a decade. The bag is in very nice shape, I'm just washing it, it was filthy and has a stubborn water stain. The bumper is falling apart. The cord is shot. Motor brushes are worn down to nothing, I'm going to find some new ones. Incidentally it looks like the brush holders were adjusted way too far away from the commutator, almost 1/4 inch! It was in the basement and looks like it's seen a couple of floods, but nothing too badly damaged from that. It needs wheels, I'm thinking I can 3D print some, but the rear wheel adjuster is riveted to the case, so that might be an issue. I think it's missing a clip to hold the springy motor wire to the handle fork... does anyone have one, or just a picture of one?

I also need a belt. I searched "Hoover round belt" and got a lot of the same... belts for the Convertible. Would that work or is there a particular belt for this?

And lastly, does the brush roll have ball bearings? It looks like it's pressed together, they are kind of sticky, I'd like to take the roller apart, but I'm not sure how.

I'm sure it will run. Given the wear on the brushes, it could not have run well, they probably stopped using it because of that. And uh... it seems really over-engineered. I counted, there are twenty individual manufactured parts (including fasteners) to hold the brushroll in. My old Cadillac has two clips and two screws.

 

[huskyvacs]

Great find! I do believe I have two 725's, one original and one Hoover rebuilt in the 1960's. They make a great pair to compare to each other to see what all Hoover was doing to them to refurbish them "for the modern home". I think I have original OEM Hoover belts for this (no idea if they are but they look old), but I'd need to find them. Not selling, but could get measurements.

 

[cheesewonton]

View attachment 169974

Hi all, I have been absent for a long time, hope you have been well.

This is an estate sale find. Old people house, they had three more Hoovers that look like they were purchased once a decade. The bag is in very nice shape, I'm just washing it, it was filthy and has a stubborn water stain. The bumper is falling apart. The cord is shot. Motor brushes are worn down to nothing, I'm going to find some new ones. Incidentally it looks like the brush holders were adjusted way too far away from the commutator, almost 1/4 inch! It was in the basement and looks like it's seen a couple of floods, but nothing too badly damaged from that. It needs wheels, I'm thinking I can 3D print some, but the rear wheel adjuster is riveted to the case, so that might be an issue. I think it's missing a clip to hold the springy motor wire to the handle fork... does anyone have one, or just a picture of one?

I also need a belt. I searched "Hoover round belt" and got a lot of the same... belts for the Convertible. Would that work or is there a particular belt for this?

And lastly, does the brush roll have ball bearings? It looks like it's pressed together, they are kind of sticky, I'd like to take the roller apart, but I'm not sure how.

I'm sure it will run. Given the wear on the brushes, it could not have run well, they probably stopped using it because of that. And uh... it seems really over-engineered. I counted, there are twenty individual manufactured parts (including fasteners) to hold the brushroll in. My old Cadillac has two clips and two screws.

There are currently a bunch of vintage Hoover wheels on eBay.

 

[cheesewonton]

Is that steering column from an old Ford Thunderbird?

 

[madman]

Is that steering column from an old Ford Thunderbird?

Good eyes. Yes it is. I own a 1977 LTD, without tilt/cruise. So I picked that up when the chance presented itself. I have the rest of the gizmos to add cruise, but the column is a tad different. Perhaps over the winter I'll take the column out of the LTD, and swap parts around until I have a tilt/cruise column.

 

[hygiene903]

Glad to see you back on here again, it's been a while! Nice find on the 725, good luck with the restoration. I have one too, with the optional add-on headlight, which became standard equipment with the 750. I have added the guard on the headlight since this pic was taken.
Jeff

 

[madman]

Glad to see you back on here again, it's been a while! Nice find on the 725, good luck with the restoration. I have one too, with the optional add-on headlight, which became standard equipment with the 750. I have added the guard on the headlight since this pic was taken.
Jeff

Hi Jeff! That's a nice one. My bag looks way different.


So mistakes were made today. I had the motor apart to clean it, make the brushes and adjust the brush holder gap. Decided to polish it, too. Well, the polishing wheel sort of ate the motor cord. The plug was fine. I have a spool of this cotton covered cord, black with white tracer, so I used that to replace the springy thingy.

The only place I could find brushes was McMaster and they wanted $22 for a pair. Plus $10 shipping. I found that outrageous, and I'm in a financial situation where I really shouldn't spend any money. I did have a whole bunch of those replacement brushes you get when you buy a power tool from Harbor Freight. Those are 6mmx13mm. I needed 1/4"x5/16" so I just ground down the ones I had. They'll be about 1/2 a millimeter too slim, but they are working just fine. Have a look at the pic to see how bad the brushes were.

I finished the bag cleaning and put it on. I'm keeping the original cord. I went through and removed all the old tape patches, and replaced them with heat shrink tube. Nothing was too bad to condemn the cord entirely. I had to come up with a new spring strain relief and improvise something to grip the cord so it can't be pulled out. I just jammed a bunch of O-rings in there to act like a packing gland.

Still have to polish the rest of it, but I still need a belt and I need to improvise a new bumper. Didn't somebody make a reproduction bumper?