Hoover Wide path steam cleaner - help please

[turboace]

Hi all, looking for some help. My partner brought me his parents, my outlaws, Hoover steam cleaner, model# F6023-900, because it was not working right. So, took it apart, found the cover/hood was cracked causing a suction problem. Also found the brushes were not going around at all. I took the brush block out and kept going. I found the air-turbine gear box that drives the brush block, removed it and took it apart - very carefully and didn't let the gears come out. The bearing was totally rusted and i think stuck. I loosened it by hand, put it back together and then tested. It works now, but obviously not for long. There was also a huge glob of grease on one of the bigger gears that was not eveny distributed at all.

So, I ordered the new hood. The turbine assembly is NLA but I did find just the bearing. Has anyone replaced one of these? How much grease should be in that gear box and what gears should it be on? It almost looks right now like the machine was on its side all the grease melted, and then solidified in the wrong place.

Everything else on the machine looks good. The turbine for the sprayer works just fine, and now that I cleaned out the brush block, it should be fine as well.

If anyone has any advice on replacing the bearing and greasing the grears, please let me know.

Thanks!
Andy

PS I will get some pics, but right now I'm just lazing around because I have that horrible cold thats going around vacuumland.

 

[hoovercelebrity]

Hey Andy-

Even when I worked at Hoover, and that would happen; we wouldn't fix the turbines... we'd just replace the assembly.

Not sure if you can even grease and fix the turbine...

~Fred

 

[turboace]

Thanks, Fred. I'll take some pics for everyone as I go. I'll just wing it, its pretty much trash anyway, so I can't make it any worse. The parts showed up today but I don't even have the energy to open the box. I still have the mega crappy cold, I finally went to the doctor today and am very glad I did since I have pnomonia, as determined by the sound of my lungs and the confirmitory chest xray. No wonder I was not getting any better. So right now I'm tucked warm in a chair, with my laptop, a blanket and kitty on my lap, and a cup of pepermint tea with honey. I have the chills and feel miserable. Once I feel up to it, I'll get to this machine.

Also sucks that I can not go work out until further notice. Last time I went was Friday and I have been making such good progress, hopefully it won't all be lost. Doc wants me to come back for an all clear check before I do anything. Ugh.

Andy

 

[turboace]

Finally got to this

Felling a little better today, bored, so here is the turbine

 

[turboace]

here is the little door that controls the brush speed, or the amount of air drawn thru the turbine

 

[turboace]

topside removed, this is the turbine

 

[turboace]

here is the gearset with the bottom removed

 

[turboace]

another shot of the old grease and the rusted bearing

 

[turboace]

the new bearing ordered...hmmm, its different

 

[turboace]

all torn apart, ready to clean up

 

[turboace]

Look, I finally found a use for this thing!

 

[turboace]

Clean, dry, now where did all these bits go?

 

[turboace]

That wasn't too bad, all lubed up and ready to close it up

 

[turboace]

Houston, we have a problem. So I thought maybe they had redesigned the bearing and thats why it looked different. Not so. I closed it up and it didn't spin. Turns out that the bearing I got, was just slightly thicker than the orignal one. So, I cleaned up the orignal one and packed it with grease.

 

[turboace]

Put it all back together and it works! Tested before I reassembled the machine and it works great. I put the machine back together and its scurbbing like a champ. This is the first Hoover Steam Vac I have worked on, and I have to say, it is MUCH better designed and thought out than the bissell machines I have repaired. Everything is much sturdier, and just better all around. It was interesting to note that full suction for carpet extraction is only acheived with the brushes off. Since the turbine uses the suction to spin the brushes, part of the intake, or suction air, is shunted through the turbine. However, if you turn the brushes off, you get all suction through the extractor nozzle. I tried a test area in the basement on some indoor outdoor and a final pass with the brushes off left the carpet nearly dry. Very impressed. I'm also going to advise that mother in law props the front of the machine up when done and lets it run with the brushes on for maybe 15 minutes to draw air through the motor, and to heat it up even more, so that when it is turned off it will have dried its self and if there is any residual moisture, the latent heat from the motor will help it dry quickly and avoid the problem I have just fixed! If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask.

Andy

 

[aeoliandave]

Well done, Andy!!!

You can join me at the workbench any time. You got 'The Knack'.

 

[turboace]

Dave,

Thanks, i'll take that as a compliment. Yeah, I do have the "knack" I guess, that pretty much describes how I grew up, and low and behold, I turned out to be an engineer!

Thanks again.

Andy