Long-term Kirby ownership, and rebuild processes

[sopranojam85]

A few years ago, our family-owned Classic Omega was rebuilt by the factory, and I was only "officially" able to pull that off by having my mother (who is the original purchaser on the invoice) sign the service request form and mail it to Kirby.

I anticipate that in 10 or 15 years, if I still have this thing, I'll probably want it to be rebuilt again. Not to sound morbid here, but here's no guarantees either one of my parents will be around that long. If I still have the original invoice from the back page of the Kirby manual, is that all it "officially" takes to have Kirby rebuild for the printed rebuild price? What I gather is that there's an "original owner" price (fixed, as what's printed on your manual), and then there's a sort of retail price for if you're not the original owner.

I'm also willing to service it myself.. I've done just about everything one can do except for things directly related to the motor. What I am gathering is that the things that can wear out are bearings (front and rear), armature, and commutator brushes. The only "special" tool I'd need for replacing bearings is the rear bearing removal tool, right? I guess my second question boils down to - what sort of things will I eventually have to replace after 20 or more years of use, that might be better to do myself than to fuss with shipping it to Ohio?

Thanks!

 

[caligula]

Hi sopranojam85

I'm not certain about this, but being a former Kirby training manager, I think the rebuild policy is for the family of that owner.  Son, daughter getting the Kirby should be okay. Call the Kirby rebuild department at 1-800-437-7170. You'll need the serial #, and approximate year of purchase.  


 


Good luck, and let me know what happens.


 


Alex Taber.

 

[sopranojam85]

Well I won't be rebuilding it for a quite long time, so it was more a hypothetical question. Also, wondering about which things are practical to self-fix.