Kirby Motor Maintenance

[gusherb]

I've got my Heritage 1 in pieces right now as I'm cleaning and polishing it. I cleaned up the motor and am gonna get some new brushes to put in it. But I'm wondering what else should I do with it while I have it apart, and I'm not sure what points to grease/oil on this particular motor.

Thanks,
Jonathan

 

[powertank]

I'm not a believer in regreasing bearings, but I won't get into that right now. I would replace them, they aren't that expensive. Make sure to hone/polish the commutator. If the fan is plastic and it is worn, replace it as well.

Make sure to post pictures, we all love shiny Kirbys!

 

[eurekastar]

The bearings on your Heritage are sealed, so you won't need to repack them with grease. The only thing you can do is replace them. The bearing that usually needs replacing first is the front bearing (closest to the fan). You'll often find that the grease has seeped out of it, causing it to run dry. It carries most of the load too and will wear out faster. The other bearing is on the opposite end. To replace the bearings, you'll need some special tools, among them a bearing puller (for the rear bearing), and a special type of pliers to remove a retaining clip (for the front bearing).

 

[tom519]

Bearings

I always replace the bearings (front and rear) on any older Kirby I have restored, first because I don't know when they were last changed (or regreased if they are the old type), and second, since I have the whole thing apart I may as well change them. As powertank stated, they aren't that expensive. I get my parts from A007kirbyman so he can give you decent prices.

 

[eurekastar]

I always replace the bearings

Like Tom said, I always change both bearings for the same reasons he mentioned. If you've never done that before, give a007kirbyman a shout. He can get you most of what you need, except maybe the retaining clip pliers. But you can get those at Sears, Lowes, etc. Several of us can help guide you through that process too.

 

[gusherb]

Thanks everyone for your help! The local vacuum guy had the motor brushes in stock but he didn't have a front motor bearing, and I talked to him about the condition of them and replacing them and he said he rarely sees the bearings go bad on them until there about 40 years old (Kirby Classic) and then showed me a good bearing off of an old Kirby. So I didn't do the bearings at this time since these ones are still in pretty good shape.
I did the motor brushes, old ones were 2/3rds the length of the new ones.

After getting everything cleaned up and back together and turned the vacuum on it's running quite a bit better now! before I did anything the motor bogged down on carpet enough to concern me, when I got the motor apart a big giant dust/hairball fell out. Motor fan is moving a ton more air now.

I'm gonna start a new thread with photo's of my shiny clean Kirby, and later I'm gonna post a video of it.

 

[eurekastar]

Excellent! I'm looking forward to the photos!

 

[cardsvacfan1]

Jonathan, you did a wonderful job cleaning and polishing your Kirby! I watched the video on YouTube and that Heritage is running great! Nice job!