I accidentally bought another vacuum today.

[ecaden1]

I accidentally bought another vacuum today. I was out and decided to drop into the pawn shop that is by my house. I normally don't go to pawn shops as they normally want way too much for things, and only have modern stuff that "people want to buy". This one is a bit different and I have found a few things in the past there. I have for around 5 years or so had my eyes on this machine, but the price of $99.95 has always discouraged me from even breathing on it too hard. I finally decided to ask about it, since it has been there since 2011 and the tag had literally faded away to just white, the guy said he could do $60, which I still thought was too high, but I checked it out and the motor in the vacuum sounds absolutely great and it is in pretty nice shape aside from being dirty, and it includes the power nozzle (something I never get with these machines for some reason). The only issue was that the old woven hose was leaking so badly that there was absolutely no suction at the end, so with that I was able to talk them down to $40, which is more than I would usually pay for something like this, but for some reason I felt the need to get it.

I know I will get some hate for this, but I really do not like these old woven electrolux hoses, They always leak, even if just a little bit, and even the ones that are in good shape, they are not very flexible, so using them to do anything is annoying as they are bulky and non flexible. I much prefer a rubber hose.

It runs well and I "fixed" the hose with some of the finest dollar store masking tape available. The power nozzle works well also, and the brushroll is in pretty good shape. It sounds quite week, but every one of these I have had in the past has also sounded weak, so I guess it is normal (although I have only had one other power nozzle). It does feel quite loose, but I checked and everything is as tight as it can get, so I guess it is either normal, or worn out. But it seems to work okay either way. it is the PN4A, which I think I will eventualty get the PN-5 to use with it as it has a wider track and can be got on ebay for not too much, and it will work with the wand I already have.
I think I mentioned it, but if not, it is an Electrolux model 1505.

 

[gsheen]

Yea I accidentally buy allot of vacuums. Sure fire way of knowing I am about to buy another is when I say Right No more I have enough..
Nice machine

 

[dysonman1]

I love the Silverado. One of my all-time favorites.

 

[ecaden1]

I took the power nozzle apart and oiled the motor (which uses sleeve bearings) and it sounds and runs a lot better. It was pretty stiff.
are the bearings in the motor sleeve type bushings as well, or are they ball bearings?

 

[royalsuper]

this vacuum cleaner had been waiting for a new owner since 2011 ! you did a good deal! the prices on ebay are much higher and the machines are not sold with all the parts or are very expensive ...

 

[ecaden1]

Yep, it has been sitting there in that same spot for over a decade waiting on someone to buy it. I wonder hoe much longer it would have sat there if I did not buy it. I remember going in there when I was little with my dad and I was looking at it then, and then again about 3 years ago with my friend when he decided to sell them a TV, and for some reason I got the feeling to go in there and ask about it today.
I am happy with the deal, I had wanted to get a descent power nozzle anyway for a while, so I would not be able to find a better deal on a whole machine with the nozzle included. I do have to get a new hose, and I am going to get a rubber hose, but it seems like at this point they all have at least one split in them on ebay, I think I found one or two that are in okay shape. I am probably just going to use it with this hose for a little while longer though.

 

[bikerray]

The rear bearing is a sleeve bearing the front is a ball bearing.

 

[ecaden1]

cool, I guess I should probably eventually lubricate that as well.

 

[bikerray]

I wanted to make sure we are talking about the motor in the Silverado. It uses the same motor as the Super J.

If you look at the back end of the motor it will have a cap over the end of the armature. Under that cap will be a felt disk that has oil on it to lubricate the sintered bronze sleeve.

The ball bearing is in the plate under the fans and fan housing.

 

[bikerray]

If you have a plastic bridge over the back of the motor instead of the metal casting you will have ball bearings at both ends of the armature.

Sorry I can't remember if the started the plastic bridge with the Silverado or it was later.

The rear bearing fits into the plastic bridge and there are a couple of holes next to the bearing one of which will have a small rubber ball in the hole to keep the bearing outer race from spinning.

 

[ecaden1]

yeah, it does not have it. I successfully took it apart and lubricated the bearing. While I was in there, I checked the brushes because there was a lot of carbon dust. They only have about 1/2 inch left, not sure how long they were originally, but I am guessing they need to be changed sooner than later.

 

[ecaden1]

Of course now the cord reel is acting up, I didn't even mess with it. I will have to take it back apart and see what I did.

 

[ctvacman]

Silverado handle

I’ve noticed several silverados that pop up have the old style front handle that is recessed like a super j. I’ve noticed this enough to know that it’s not a hack thing. Wondering if anyone can weigh in on this, I’ve seen more paired with a PN5 than 4 with that style handle.

 

[ecaden1]

I was actually wondering about that myself. I thought at first it was missing/broken, but nothing is missing/broken and it does not look like someone messed with it.

 

[human]

It was waiting for you...

Yeah, $40 really isn't bad for that machine, especially with the power nozzle. I saw an Olympia one with the flippy floor tool from a 1205 and a set of aluminum wands at a thrift store here for that price last year. I ended up paying $10 more for a Kirby Sentria with a full set of accessories that was next to it instead but the Olympia sold quickly to someone else.

The Silverados are really good machines. I've got one that I snatched from the jaws of death a couple of years ago. It was pretty beaten down but I just couldn't bear to part it out so I resurrected it instead. It still looks sort of rough but it runs fine.

I'm actually more partial to the square PN2 and PN4/4A nozzles than I am to the later L-shaped ones. The only thing I'm not fond of about the PN4A is the paint, which gets scarred up and makes the nozzle look shabby. I've got two Silverado gray PN4A's, one of which I repainted with Rustoleum Hammertone black paint and primer in one. The paint is actually sort of a gunmetal gray, slightly darker than the origina. It came out looking great and the textured paint hides a world of sins. I thought about painting the other one but ended up getting a polished aluminum PN4 shell for it. It fit on the nozzle perfectly but the PN4A screws were a tad longer and wouldn't secure the shell into place tightly. The simple solution was just to use the ones that came with the PN4 shell.

 

[repairman]

I sold one of these last year. Good vacuum but I have no interest in canisters unless it's a Rainbow. Paid $5 at Goodwill and it came with a practically perfect woven hose, working power nozzle, wands, and floor/carpet head.

 

[ecaden1]

yeah. the main reason I bought it was because of the power nozzle. I had one like this one a long time ago, but not the wand that went with it, and somehow that got gone, and I have what I believe is a PN-1 that came with my automatic G, but it has an attached plastic wand that is not removable, and it is cracked and taped all up, and that whole thing is just very worn out, so a good power nozzle that is not completely worn out is a great thing to have gotten, and I would pay more on eBay for just a power nozzle than I did for all of this.
I still want to get one of the little small power nozzles that they had for stuff like my couch that is always covered in cat hair and stuff like that.

 

[kirbyklekter]

Your vacuum cleaner,

has got to be the most patient vacuum I've ever heard of. 10 yrs. waiting around for you to come to your senses and bring it home,lol. You did great on the price, really. I agree that the vinyl hoses perform better and are more flexible and easy to use. What a lot of collectors do is hang on to the original for posterity and in case they were to sell the cleaner at a later date, but use a vinyl hose for the day to day usage.

By the way what brand is your reel to reel? I had one years ago and foolishly sold it, only to find out later as I got older and started learning about things that mine only needed a new belt for the idler arm. My big bad.

 

[ecaden1]

yeah, I am good with the price. It is more than I usually spend, Most of what I get is from thrift stores or the flea market for like $10, but not bad at all. I have seen A LOT worse.
That is an AKAI GZ-4000D, came out of a bar my friend used to own, it's got a lot of hours on it, but has never had an issue.