Kenmore High Desert Restoration Facility

[DesertTortoise]

Another busy night in the Kenmore High Desert Restoration Facility. This one is a more straightforward job, disassemble, clean, easy polish and reassemble. This is a suction unit only. Future plans call for the installation of the necessary two wire connector at the swivel, and a possible heart/lung transplant at a later date with the motor currently residing in the Avocado Bomber. Tomorrow night we will test fit an identical sized motor from a 4.5 undergoing a more extensive rework. The necessary rubber motor mount is on order. The support plate seems to be common across the line. We will also use the opportunity to test fit some different cord reels to see what swaps to what.

Some of the staff are pretty lazy however, and require more or less constant supervision.

Some of the images are taken to use as reference for reassembly, particularly those of the orientation of the on/off switch and what wires go where on the two terminals.

 

[marks_here]

Awwww the staff is/are cute!!!

You wonder the people before you got this, don't they see that the interior is dusty & could use a cleaning before installing a new bag or maybe they didn't?? Makes you want to take it outside for a good leaf blowing session, that is just a dust bowl.

 

[DesertTortoise]

It was worse than what you see in my photos. Before I even paid for it I took it out in their yard, opened the lid, shook a ton of dirt out of it and brushed some more out of the bag compartment. I wouldn't put it in my car in the condition they handed it to me from inside their home!

If you go down to my earlier post "Sunday fun in the kitchen sink" you will see that $25 Kenmore was worse still.

I'm debating whether or not I want to open up the motor and clean out the fan. I'v never done that before. One side of me says to do it, the other side says I need both to be working vacuums to relieve some even older Kenmores from daily duty and don't want to take a chance messing something up.

 

[Gr8DaneDad]

Open it and clean it. Just be patient and don't force anything. It's amazing what a moistened swab can remove from a fan. It's pretty hard to do any damage, and in the end you'll find a great deal of satisfaction.


I see that your staff suffers from some of the same traits as mine. Though mine also suffer from ADHD and if not VERY closely supervised are liable to 'kill' a dusting brush or floor tool in a moment of distraction.


 


Keep the pictures coming, they are very enjoyable.

 

[DesertTortoise]

The staff got a burst of energy last weekend and moved a melon from the kitchen floor, through the dog door and out to the back yard. We don't know if this was a team effort or not. We didn't see them do it, we only noticed our melon laying in the yard. We were laughing so hard we couldn't even begin to say "baaaaaad dog". Every time we looked at them we'de practically fall down laughing. And then there was the freshly cooked hamburger my fiancee turned her back on for a few seconds to get another tomato from the fridge. Their new thing is to take the kitchen throw rugs onto the patio. Dogs!

 

[Gr8DaneDad]

Ahh, mine too have discovered the joys of removing throw rugs to the out of doors. Fortunately the laziness of the staff, combined with the ADHD means that 98% of the time I will find the 'killed' object in one of 3 auxiliary  work locations, completely unharmed other than a bit of slobber glued dirt to wash off. It is so hard to even think bad dog whilst laughing over the antics. Good thing I love them so ;-) I had one of my older girls steal a steak resting on a platter during a dinner party some years back, I think that once I reached in and retrieved it, she decided it was much better to wait for her portion. She must have also shared the experience with the other members of staff, as I've not had more than one attempt from even junior members not quickly addressed by current senior staff.

 

[suckolux]

when you watch the neighbors cat take one off the grill, then be impressed! he was a stinker

 

[marks_here]

Ahhh

Kitty cutlets

 

[fan-of-fans]

Good work. I'd place that model in the late 90s or early 00s with that logo. There was another I've seen on here that was a teal color with the older logo. It had the smaller Power Mate with headlight and there was a sliding performance indicator near the hose inlet. I never saw any of these models in person and haven't seen many on the internet... they were very BOL models.

 

[DesertTortoise]

That teal colored one you refer to was more of a cream color but it yellowed from age. My parents old 4.1 did the same thing. There is an identical cream colored vac of that series with brown tools recessed into the bag compartment lid, brown trim, brown wheels and the same graphics on eBay right now. The seller is asking $145, which seems high, but it's complete and spotless. You wouldn't have to do a thing to it if you bought it. It comes with a presumably good hose in the period correct ivory color, matching Powermate and wand. Believe me, even starting with a $25 beater, by the time you buy a used fifty something dollar Powermate, wand, hose, maybe some brushes and a few other odds and ends you are there. It's not such a bad deal.

Btw, those older Powermates are identical to a brand new Hayden/Nutone/Centec powered brush under the plastic cover. Only the headlight cover is smaller. The base hasn't changed in over 35 years. I rebuild these old style Powermates with new production, up to date parts from Hayden. New quiet motors drop right into the same hole in the base and old beater bar brushes swap directly with modern brushes using the chevron bristle pattern. All the mounting points remain unchanged. There has only been one cogged belt in all these years. Sears branded belts work just fine on Haydens. You can take an old one like that and drop in a modern quick release swivel (I'm doing one that way now because Kenmore only sells gray replacement parts while Hayden still sells them in ivory)and use a modern wand (also still available in ivory from Hayden but not from Sears, gray only). Parts like the swivel cap, height adjuster, wand release pedal and overload protection haven't changed either. They are produced at a Panasonic plant in Mexico, probably the same place modern Kenmore vacs are manufactured.

That blue one is interesting because of the way the tools are carried on the motor cover and because it seems to be the last vac of that series to remain in production after the intro of the Whispertone, or Whimpertone . The early Whispertones were made in the USA and said so on the data tag, but this one only says Manufactured for Sears Roebuck ......bla, bla, bla, like all the current Kenmore vacs. Not sure why this one survived like that. Maybe it had a market in Latin America. Certainly not one you see every day.

 

[fan-of-fans]

The one I'm thinking of (can't find photos right now) was just like that one but teal on the bag cover.) As I mentioned these seem very rare compared to other models.

 

[DesertTortoise]

Teal is a blue color. Duh. What am I thinking? Come on Tortoise, everything isn't a subdued desert color.

Eh, not so rare. I encounter them pretty frequently. Most of the 3.5s and 3.9s I've seen use that lid. I was bidding on a 4.8 with that lid (outbid during the last 15 minutes when I walked away to answer the phone!). It was blue too, but more of a bright blue. Teal would be a pretty color for one.