I'm such a vac addict...

[gottahaveahoove]

Well, with 400+ Hoover appliances,

I think that ship has passed, if not sunk!


 


But, My 2 Kirbys will hopefully go to fans of the  brand.


 

 

[texaskirbyguy]

Human,
Awesome score on the Legend! I think these are the some of the best Kirbys to have if you do not want the self propel or narrow nozzle.
So far, with my experience, the only way Kirbys are beyond use or repairing is if they had been murdered. If you see broken outer castings, or it smells cooked (or plain gross), then those should be passed by.
I only had one Legend in my possession, which looked nice, but the moron who used it sucked up a screw, partially breaking the grey fan, which ended up catching fire, melted then broke, locking the motor up, and the idiot still kept trying to vacuum with it for minutes, and then wondered why it stopped. It stunk so bad I could not keep any of it. The motor inside was totally charred and took a hammer to get it apart. I think I did salvage the carbon brushes for a 1CR...
If I find another, I might sell my Heritage set as I like the Legend colors better.

Barry,
You will like the G4. I just did a basic resto of a G4 motor unit for a member here and it runs just as nice as my restored G6.
If it does come with the attachments and hose for hard floors, you are getting a stellar deal and lots of usability! Despite their added complexity with Tech drive, they are still long lasting machines. Bearings in these are likely to still have 5-10 years in them also. For free you cannot go wrong! Hope you get it. If you do, please share some pics.
I would love to get a G5 set some day as I love the colors of it. All the rest of the G-series are colorless in my opinion. Thats the only thing I dislike about my G6 set. However that things drives great on carpet.

 

[texaskirbyguy]

BTW, "Vaccuholics Anonymous" my behind - I just about know everyone there!

 

[gottahaveahoove]

perhaps, then

"Vacaholics Unanimous"??

 

[human]

Yes, I like the Legend II also, and now I have two of them, along with a Heritage II/Legend, which, as far as I can tell, is pretty much identical to the Legend II, other than the color scheme, and perhaps the tools they came with, not that any of mine came to me with their tools.

I, too have always been impressed by the degree to which Kirbys are over-engineered and designed to be serviced and rebuilt. They are definitely not intended to be disposable and it does irk me to see one that's been treated that way. There just aren't that many things left in this world that are literally built to last a lifetime.

 

[justjunque]

Well... I did it.
I just got done lugging it all in from the car.
I don't even know what all came with it, but it looks like a lot.
I know it has the shampooer, a hose and wands with bare floor tool and miscellaneous small tools, a sprayer, a turbo tool of some sort, and the caddy for the tools.
If there's more, I haven't unboxed it yet.
There's also a nearly full box of bags, and about a half dozen belts.
The vacuum itself is pretty dirty, but I've seen worse.
There's a few gouges on the top of the nozzle, but they're not horrible. They're going to be staying there, because sanding and polishing metal is way above my pay grade.
Also, both rear wheel covers are missing, and there might be a little white paint on the side of the outer bag.
They fired it up for me before I took it, and it sounds good to me. Everything is pretty dirty from sitting around. I think it's been in the basement or garage or something for a while. They're "getting older", and the wife found it too heavy. Plus, they don't have much carpet. (I have none. Just a couple of area rugs.)
The thing I'm the most pleased that it came with is the instruction manual; since I know nothing about Kirbys.
I'll post pictures eventually. I'm just a bit overwhelmed right now.

Barry

 

[texaskirbyguy]

YAY!!

Congrats, Barry - you are in for a fun time with your new Kirby.
One thing that is a sure turnoff with used vacuums is that they are dirty. However you can easily fix that. The plastic attachments wash up easily and look like new afterwards. I like simple green, but most any other detergents can work well in moderation.
You could do a quick hand polish that will improve its appearance if desired. Machine buffing is a pain, so dont blame you for not wanting to tackle that now.

Below is a quick resto I did on my G6 a while back, just so you know what you have and what is possible. Perhaps you can use it to do some minor disassembly just to clean it up more.
https://www.vacuumland.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?37399

Certainly start a thread on your machine. The hose and floor wands and nozzle will work great on your hard floors.
I cannot collect anymore due to lack of space and time, but still enjoy seeing the progress of others. I do not mind offering tech advice as well.

Have fun!!

 

[human]

Welcome to the Kirby club...

Sounds like you have pretty much the full Kirby package. Don't let a little dirt put you off. I like to give my machines a thorough wipe-down with Tub-O-Towels cleaning wipes when I first get them home. The cloth outer bag is machine washable, but removing the emptor and fill tube assembly can be tricky. I ended up just washing my G3's bag by hand without disassembling it. Manually polishing the aluminum parts with Mother's metal polish is pretty easy and can be done in an afternoon with good, albeit not perfect, results. I agree about the leaving the deep scratches. I refer to them as 'battle scars' and all of my Kirbys have them to one degree or another. The rear wheels on G-series and newer Kirbys do wear down over time because the rubberized 'tires' to give the Tech Drive traction. Replacement wheels are readily available and easy to install. They're just held in place with a horseshoe clip. The beauty of Kirbys is they're designed to be serviced and repaired, mostly with common hand tools. There are tons of YouTube videos out there to show you how, and the procedures are pretty much the same for any G3 or newer unit.

Enjoy!

 

[human]

So I took the bag off of the Legend II to throw it in the washing machine, and when I did, I found a small problem with the rear wheels assembly. The axle was loose because the screws were wrong. They were brass with slotted heads and were too long. The length was easy enough to solve with a hack saw and a pair of vice grips, and now they're snugged up like they should be. The only problem is the plastic spacer sleeves are chewed up on the ends, so they'll need to be replaced. Oh, and the third part of problem is that the axle is slightly bent. I think I can put it in a vice and give it a few taps with a hammer, to straighten it back out. The rear hubcaps are also missing, presumably due to the excessive side-to-side wheel play from the damaged spacer sleeves.

As usual, Kent Oyler had everything I needed at a pretty reasonable price, made even more reasonable by combined shipping. The irony is these little, tiny parts, with shipping, ran me a dollar more than I paid for the whole machine. No, it won't break the bank, it's just that my $10 Kirby has now become a $21 Kirby. It's still cheap enough, and it proves my initial rationalization when I bought it, that the machine was worth the price, for the value of its parts alone.

 

[human]

I'm waiting on the mail...

I saw this morning that my hubcaps and shaft spacers from Kent Oyler are out for delivery today, so I took advantage of pleasant afternoon weather to get things ready for their installation.

I took everything apart and lined the axle up in my vise so I could give it a few whacks with a hammer to straighten it up. I was able to get it pretty close, but not completely true, so I decided to make the final adjustment with the axle on the vacuum.

One of the brass screws I had cut down was just a hair too short and fell out, so I looked in my screw collection and came up with a couple of stainless steel ones that were the correct diameter and thread pitch, but at an inch and a quarter long, they needed to be cut pretty much in half. This was accomplished easily enough with a pair of Vise Grips and a hacksaw. When I tightened the screws with the axle in place, I could see that one side was maybe a couple of milimeters off from being snug against the body of the vacuum, so I gave it a couple more light whacks and got it trued up. It's probably not NASA precise, but it'll work for a 33-year-old Kirby, in that it's visually true and there's no play in the axle.

So now, I'm just waiting on the mail. which should get here in about three hours, give or take, so I can do the final reassembly.

In case you're interested, the screws that I used were stainless steel Pan Phillips machine screws 6-32 x 1-1/4, cut down to roughly 1/2-3/4 inch. Yeah, I could probably have found that exact screw off the shelf at Lowe's or somewhere, but why do that when I could just make my own with screws that are already paid for? Besides, there's more of a sense of accomplishment that way.

 

[human]

It's all back together better than before.

The mail came a few minutes ago and my package from Kent was there, as expected. Everything went together without a hiccup. If anything, it was easier than anticipated. I had the axle assembly back together, on the machine, and the new hubcaps in place in less than ten minutes. The next step is to bring the machine in the house and give it a test run.

 

[human]

I think I'm back on the wagon...

So, Saturday afternoon, I was walking around a Goodwill store and spied a Kirby G7 (standard, not Diamond Edition) tucked in a corner and felt compelled to take a look at it. The $35 price tag was enough make me continue walking around the store, but addict that I am, I had to go back for a second look. On closer inspection, I found that the bag wouldn't clip into the handle and the cord and cord retainer at the bottom were both torn up. At that point, I decided it wasn't worth my while and walked away without further inspection. I didn't plug it in or turn it on, didn't check the belt or the brush roll, I just walked away.

And you know what? I feel better for having walked away than I would have if I had bought the darned thing. I have no regrets and feel no urge to go back to the store, just to check on it. The truth is, just doing the mental math, I realized that by the time I fixed the things that I saw were wrong with it, I'd have at least twice as much as the purchase price tied up in it. Compared with the last G-series Kirby I bought in late 2021, which was a Gsix 2001 Limited Edition that cost $5 less than this machine, and needed basically nothing, the value proposition just wasn't there for me. I've been down that road before and I don't need to go there again.

At the same time, I'm also not beating myself up about buying that Legend II a couple of months ago, although I've just left it in the barn for the time being. Once school gets out and I have a little more time on my hands, I may haul it up to the house and vacuum a couple of rooms with it, just to see how it performs.

I do love my Kirbys, but I know I don't have to buy every one of them that I see.

 

[human]

FrankenSwitch...

So, I've had this Legend II for almost three months, and I've never fully gotten past the idea of replacing the brown Classic cord with a proper red Legend II, or even a black Heritage II cord. I finally found one on the cheap, but when I went to install it, that vacuum had yet anther surprise in store. The 'proper' cord wouldn't fit!

It turns out somebody had swapped a Classic cord onto the vacuum, but had swapped a Classic foot switch onto it as well. But here's the kicker. Whoever did it took the extra step of swapping the red foot pedal from the original Legend II switch onto it, so it would match—even if the cord didn't. I thought for a second that it might be a foot switch from a Classic III, but the plastic isn't the right color. The Classic III's plastics are more a bright crimson than the Legend II's brick red. The pedal perfectly matches the Legend II's plastics.

Looking at eBay, that substitution makes a certain amount of sense, given that Heritage/Legend style foot switches have become increasingly difficult to find, while the older Classic/Tradition style ones are still somewhat more plentiful. The good news is I have a complete Legend II foot switch that I took off of my other Legend II and then subsequently repaired. One day, I may go ahead and swap that one onto this Legend II, but that may be a while, since I fell broke a rib a few days ago. Gotta let that heal up first.

 

[kirbyklekter]

The difference

Human,can you tell me what the difference is between a diamond addition and a standard Kirby? Do they still do this with the later model G's?

 

[kirbyklekter]

P.S.

I'm sorry to hear of your fall and broken ribs,yikes! Hope you heal up fast,any pain?

 

[human]

The Kirby G7 (aka Ultimate G) came in two versions, standard and Diamond. The Diamond edition is immediately recognizable by the diamond pattern on the bag, whereas the standard edition's bag is gray with random flecks of yellow and burgundy. Functionally, it is more or less identical to the G6 and G5 models that came before it. But that's just cosmetics. The functional difference is the Diamond Edition has a toggle switch on the back of the motor housing that manually adjusts the motor speed from the normal (high) setting to a low (delicate) setting. Apparently, it isn't good for the motor for it to be left perpetually on the low setting, and a lot of Diamond G motors got burned up as a result. The speed switch feature was only ever available on the G7 Diamond, although there was a thread a few months back where a member here fitted a speed switch and accompanying circuit board from a G7 Diamond to an Avalir.

The cracked rib has not been fun. It's slowed me down a bit for the past week, but it's getting better. It's a closed fracture; that is, it's cracked but not completely broken. Most of the time, I have minimal pain and only need naproxen to manage it. They also gave me oxycodone, but I'm avoiding taking that unless I really need it. I'm not doing any heavy lifting right now, and paying attention when the rib tells me I'm overdoing. It should be completely healed in about six to eight weeks. Amazingly, in my almost 60 years, it's the first time I've ever broken a bone.