Let's Turn Two Husqvarna Viking 507 Uprights into One Working Machine!

[henrydreyfuss]

I've been patiently waiting to acquire a second Viking 507 for a long time. I purchased one on ebay a while ago, and it ran smoothly for about 5 minutes, then completely locked up. I was so disappointed! I tried to salvage it, and attempted to rebuild the motor. No luck. So I was left with a lot of nice parts but an unusable vacuum, which went into storage.

Yesterday I acquired a second 507 upright, and eagerly went to work. Expect a full teardown and explanation of this unique vacuum soon! Electrolux threw together a really modern upright in a small and lightweight package. Very different early effort for a clean-air upright, but it's aged well and is still very pleasant to use. With proper marketing and exposure, I think these could have been tremendously popular in the US, but these are two of the only Viking vacs I've ever seen in person.

 

[collector2]

They were a very nice machine. I have the Canadian Dometic 505 and parts. Still works great. Did you get the accessories with either of your machines?

 

[vintagerepairer]

Here in the UK, these cleaners were horrifically popular. The model 500 first appeared in the early 1970's, being replaced then by the 502 in 1975, with the 504 (same as the Dometec 505 above) making a debut a short while before that. This design ran for well over 10 years, the biggest design difference being in the roller brushes - the 505 will have external sleeve-bearings, but your 507 has a ball-race bearing sealed into the roller, the design of which allowed for longer brushes for edge cleaning.

These cleaners were given a facelift when production of them shifted to the Twin Turbo models. Essentially the same cleaner, just a different handle, and in later years a different hood too.

Given the larger retail price of these cleaners, I am not too sure as to why they were so popular in the UK, other than to say they were a perfect size for many UK homes and had a reputation for being of very good quality. Certainly I saw more of these cleaners in circulation than the cheaper alternatives of the same era, such as Moulinex and Goblin. Having said that, these cleaners cost much more to buy, so of course it stands to reason people were willing to pay to get them serviced and repaired, unlike they may have done with a budget brand.

From the point of veiw of Electrolux, the cleaners had enough weak-spots built into them to last what one might describe as "long enough" for the customer to be happy. Perhaps if anything they were slightly too easy to repair and even fully recondition, although Electrolux went a little too far the other way on that front when designing the 600 series in the early 80's - a range of cleaners that literally fell to pieces.


I found several for sale in the UK on ebay just now. Here is one:




http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VINTAGE-R...875?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item25a9a3e6ab

 

[vintagerepairer]

And here is a TV advert for the 502

http://https//www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZAv22Idtck

 

[henrydreyfuss]

@vintagerepairer, you beat me to it!

I was going to link to that excellent commercial. I love marketing that can show the merits of product, in a short amount of time without gimmicks. Thanks for the information on these machines! Truly an enigma here.

The cleaner is finished, and looks wonderful. Runs flawlessly, and cleans much better than expected (there's a HUGE motor under the hood, and a gentle but generous brushroll). I'll post a gallery tomorrow.

You're right, these machines are a breeze to work on. I went in blind, and had no trouble at all tearing both of them down to the motors.

Collector2 - Thanks for the pic! Your machine looks very nice, and that bright yellow is one of my favorite colors. Sadly, I have not been able to find a set of attachments yet. I like the way the hose plugs into the bottom of the machine, and the tools themselves (Electrolux!) look excellent. I plan to keep my eyes peeled! When the motor locked up on the first Viking I purchased, I threw everything I could at it to save it, knowing that parts for these things are extremely uncommon in the US.

[this post was last edited: 7/16/2015-02:15]

 

[rugsucker]

Viking 507

There was one Viking office near here in the late 80s that sold several 507s as well as the 2 tanks and shampooer.I think most of mine(none perfect but many with good parts) were scrapped in my warehouse cleanout.I did have an att set I put on EBay.Not sure if it sold.If still here and found again it will be available.I do have a very few upright & tank bags(some genuine).They were, as you have found, a very nice vac.

 

[henrydreyfuss]

Rugsucker - I think a collector friend *may* have owned a Viking 507, but it may have been an imported Electrolux. Too long ago to remember. I didn't know that these were ever sold in the states, and it's a shame they didn't get to catch on here.

If the attachments are still available, I'd absolutely be interested. Also if you have any genuine bags, I'd be interested in those as well. I have a set of bags for mine, but they're generic, and single-layer. Pre-filter (thank God there's 2!), already had a fine coating of dust on it during my test.

 

[sebo_fan]

Chris/Turbo500 is a big fan of these uprights. I have only ever had a basic one, the Z517.

 

[henrydreyfuss]

OK! Here's the work in progress...

The cleaner smelled like it sat in a damp basement for 15 years, but the motor sounded great. I took the machine apart, and washed a handful of easily removable parts. I removed the motor, and disinfected the base, motor cover, and bag chamber.

As far as cleaning the machine, I keep it very simple. I very gently used denatured alcohol to remove scuffs (gotta be careful because it can strip the finish if overused). I disinfected the bag compartment and base with Lysol spray (I was a little apprehensive to use it due to the age of the machine, but it was fine). I used 3-in-1 oil for the wheel axles (no squeaks!), and bearing grease for the ball bearings inside the brushroll. The brushroll ends of both vacuums had no hair in the ends, just fine dust (a good design!) I then used just one coat of Mothers Aluminum Polish to buff the plastic up to a long-lasting shine.

The sticker on the hood was peeling in one corner, so I re-glued that down to the base.

The picture of the two shows the small differences between the two machines. Note the different placement of the warning sticker, and different color hose ends in the base.

 

[henrydreyfuss]

Here's the finished product! *yay*

No more musty smell, and it shined up very nicely. Cleans great (the straight agitator brushes beat the carpet nicely), sounds great, and I'm very happy with how it looks.

 

[collector2]

Nice job. You've got a great looking machine there.

The attachments for the Viking are a bit different than those on the Dometic (newer style) This picture is from the net. The white small nozzle, of course, isn't from that machine

 

[henrydreyfuss]

Thanks!

It's very quiet, and on the recommended speed for rugs, the gentle cleaning action reminds me of a classic Hoover Convertible.

As far as build concerns, I could see these being prone to clogs, as the dirt path is quite narrow by American standards.

Those tools look nice! I like the maroon/orange/gray color scheme. I love that Riccar has brought back Lux's excellent combo tools. Much better than the combination tools on most modern vacs!

I can see where Lux USA got their inspiration for their machine from these models, but their first attempt at a clean air upright was an absolute beast in comparison!

 

[singingrainbow]

It is an interesting little machine. Very quiet, suprisingly small, and good cleaning action. That machine from the recent most picture is sitting a few feet away from me right now. Sadly never got the manual though...
Great find and wonderful job on the restoration!
Scott

 

[turbo500]

Chris/Turbo500 is a big fan of these uprights

He certainly is!

I love the 500 series and Twin Turbo's that superceded them, hence my username.

Ok, so they didn't clean a carpet quite as well as a Hoover and they didn't have the suction power of the cylinders of the time, but Lux found the perfect middle ground between performance and convenience. They did a very good job on both carpet and above floor cleaning.

As Benny mentioned earlier, these were absolutely everywhere at one time. They ran in this design from 1971 to 1985 when they were replaced by the more modern looking (although still the same cleaner under the hood) Twin Turbo.

The original series went 500 (1971), 502 (1975), 502S* (1978), 504* (1978), 506 (1981), 550 and 560 (1983).

*The 502S and 504 were launched at the same time as budget and top of the line models. The 504 was superceded by the 506 in 1981 whilst the 502S continued as the budget model. In 1983, both the 502S and 506 were replaced by the 550 and 560, which were the last of the original design.

The very last variation on this was the z1070 Turbo2. Originally, this style was discontinued in 1990 as it was replaced by the newly designed Glider range, but they continued to sell back stock in such huge numbers that Electrolux brought it back as a very budget machine, so the line up went Turbo2, Glider, Contour (BOL - TOL). Funnily enough, despite being a budget model and retailing for around £70, the z1070 was actually a much better cleaner than both the Glider (£90) and Contour (£120) which were above it in the range. The z1070 was also a Which? best buy.

The z1070 Turbo2 continued as Lux's budget upright until 1995 when it finally started to disappear from the shelves. Even after it started to whittle down in stock, it could still be picked up if one looked until as late as 1996 when it was finally ditched completely. By then, the Lux had 2 new TOL machines available - the Widetrack and the Powersystem - so the Glider became the budget model, Contour became the midrange and the Widetrack & Powersystem models became TOL.

 

[rugsucker]

Viking attachments

My set was(or is)same as reply 10.As mentioned the white nozzle was not included or needed.I have never had instructions.I know where bags are.Will have time to search for atts next week(I hope).Hose may have been cracked from age.Some Euro hoses seem fragile with time and use.

 

[vintagerepairer]

Actually, the 502S did not show it's face until at least 1980. The 502 was still to be found in the 1979 Electrolux brochue. It also carried on after production of the 550 was started, ending up eventually as an excljusive model for Comet stores. There were a couple of changes to the 502S and 550, this being added plastic supports to the rear of the handle and at the very end of production no bag full whistle.

The Z1070 was a cracking machine, although I never understood why Electrolux wanted to make it when they already had the basic Glider selling for around the same price. There was absolutly no need for it in the sales line up, despite the fact the customers loved it. Without the 1070 the customers who wanted Electrolux cleaners would have had to buy a Glider, simple as.

Interestingly, that warning label on this Viking 507 was never fitted to UK cleaners. If this was a UK cleaner, the two internal hoses would suggest an overlap of parts from the 504 and 502 cleaners, where the hose end is brown on one and black on the other. In the UK the black replaced the brown colour. Also there is some variation in the colour of the motor cover and sole plate too, because the 500 cleaner was light grey to match the hood, whereas the 502 and 504 were almost always light brown, save for late examples where the motor cover was green or yellow respectivly.

This extended into the 506 and 502S cleaners which had black sole plates and motor covers to match the main cleaner, but soon after it all changed to generic black. Manufacturers do this again and again; they make so many individual coloured parts for a while, before reverting to black, white, or grey. It's never been cost effective to make so many coloured pieces and it never will be.

 

[henrydreyfuss]

Wow! Thanks for all the great information, everyone!

They're fascinating machines, and I'm really enjoying it so far. Did the European models use cloth hoses for most of their run? Did Lux or any generic brands ever release really quality paper bags for them?

 

[vintagerepairer]

At the most the bags were 2-layer. Cloth hoses were used up to the first of the model 506 with plastic hoses taking over from there. However, not all cleaners came with the tools - sometimes you had to buy them seperatly, and as there are so many variations of tool kits in the time these cleaners were in production for, it is quite possibly to see a tool kit much older or newer with a cleaner, depending on when the tools were purchased and what kit the retailer had in stock.

 

[vintagerepairer]

Also the 504 was launched in the later part of 1974 / early 1975, not 1978.