How to put on an Oreck lifetime belt

[mieles5380leo]

Hi, I’m having great difficulty putting a lifetime belt onto a forever gold Oreck. I didn’t know if anyone has felt with these synthetic belts and had a technique to put them on. They’re so good at being stretch proof that I can’t stretch it from the brush to the motor shaft. Please help! Thanks.

 

[kirbyklekter]

Have you tried

soaking the belt in some fairly hot water for maybe ten minutes or so? It's helped with a few rubber belts I've wrestled with. You have to work fast, drying it and stretching it on before it cools off. May or may not work with synthetic belts as with rubber but it won't harm anything to try. Are you sure you have the right size belt? On some motors a way too tight belt can be rough on bearings and pulley.

 

[rugsucker]

"lifetime"--"forever"--?!

Sounds like the greatest vac ever!Why would it need anything?

 

[vac-o-matic]

I would say abuse by owner?  I sold Orecks part-time and serviced them and never had to replace the newer belt style..I had to remember that when I opened the vacuum for it's annual service..the first thing I used to do was cut the old belt off. Maybe TTI has cheapened the belts like they have on the classic brushrolls...they have done a number on the Oreck line for sure.

 

[gottahaveahoove]

A number

on everything!

 

[tolivac]

And remember the TTI idiots discontinued the Royal Metal uprights!

 

[vacuumdevil]

@mieles5380leo it just takes a little bit more elbow grease in a regular xl21 hopefully this video helps.





@tolivac That was a really smart business move on their part.
That machine really had no place on the modern market, as much as it tickles my collectors heart.

 

[mieles5380leo]

Thank you guys so much for your help. I ended up just stretching the roller into place with the belt on it. I don’t like doing that because it can warp the housing but I didn’t want to heat it up unless I absolutely had to. This machine wasn’t abused, I actually work at a vac&sew store and it was a friend of mines in for a repair because the bag collar came off and this the outer and inner bag. It was also in for a tune up while I was at it and our policy is to change the belts on all Oreck tune ups. The original lifetime belt in it seemed to be fine but I just went ahead and replaced it while it was in for service. It’s all clean and put back together now (since it came in dusty and dirty and everything had come apart in it.) It is a TTI model however so I’ve noticed the build quality on it was quite poor in comparison to my platinum pilot that was made pre-TTI.

 

[oreck_xl]

You're right about build quality suffering. I've noticed the plastics they use now are thinner gauge, the cords thinner and newer Orecks have circuit boards. Not a fan at all of the Magnesium series. I really couldn't say I think Oreck is brand to be sought anymore. The old man David Oreck is onto other business ventures - selling high end LUXURY candles. He prostituted his controlled interest in the company and that's when everything went to pot.

 

[vac-o-matic]

Can we get an Amen?

 

[mieles5380leo]

Amen

 

[mieles5380leo]

Honestly if I could put Oreck back to the way they were 10 years ago I would. I really miss the days when David Oreck was ruling things. They may not have been everyone’s favorite vac but at least there were over 300 Oreck stores nationwide that stood behind that specific brand. They were also built better, if anything did break, you could just replace it and have it up and running again. They weren’t “throw away” vacs which was David Oreck’s intention, to make them last.

 

[gottahaveahoove]

What's happening atTTI

wasn't Boss Hoover's intention, either... or any of the Hoovers.