Kirby Hose Conundrum

[akvac]

Hi - Recently I purchased a Kirby replacement hose on eBay. It showed promise as the machine end is compatible for not only heritage models, but tradition and earlier, as well. However the working end has an unusual elbow built in. The downside is the end of the elbow is just a tad smaller than any Kirby attachments I’ve ever owned (which is currently quite a few). While some of the attachments “fit”, they don’t stay on. Has anyone else come across this issue?

 

[blackheart]

There's definitely something off about that hose but i can't tell exactly where the problems begin. That attachment end and the cuff it attaches to are definitely not OEM, it bears a strong resemblance to an oreck buster B hose. Now the part i'm confused about is the hose itself. It's lacking the little metal ring on the machine end like an OEM hose so it's like...did they just attach a generic length of hose to that machine end? It's possible to do if you have the metal insert. I'll show you an example of the metal ended Heritage 1 hose and the plastic cuffed H2 hose.

 

[akvac]

Yes - thank you. I don’t see the metal ring that you mention, but know what it is. I’ve had experience with both hose styles you’ve shown here (and prefer the non metallic working end, as it doesn’t dent from occasional dropping on the floor).
I think someone may have modified that end on mine, for some special purpose - but it looks like a clean professional job. I’ll try to confirm by comparing actual hose measurements to determine if some of it was “lopped off” and then reglued, for this conversion. Thanks for your input!

 

[kirbylux77]

Will, I would bet the original owner brought the hose in for repair to a vac shop, and they "bojacked" the repair for the customer with parts they had on hand. As for the metal ring missing on the machine end? I would guess that Kirby phased that part out over the years to cheapen it's cost of manufacturing the hose.