My Kirby 509

[captchar]

Now this is my latest kirby, ive recently ordered new armature bearings for this oldie, but im now at the next hurdle, do I replace the wheels with modern black ones? I think these green ones are off a D80, someone else with more knowledge of these older kirbys might wanna weigh in for what color wheels they originally had. another issue is the bag, I dont think this machine had a white bag like this, hard to tell as it fits, but there is no logo at all, what looks like a patch. part of me wants to polish this machine but another part of me also appreciates this aged look to it too, the fan it came with is intact, as is the commutator, so it has a long life after its rebuild. I plan to put LED headlights in the 519 and this 509

 

[lesinutah]

The

Bag might be original. It's tan kirby insigna signature with red stripes down tthe center. I'm not exactly sure what came on your being its the Canadian version.
The pic attached is what the bag looked like.

 

[vacmadman]

509 wheels

Adam,

The 509 came with black vulcanized rubber wheels. Picture 1 is my 509 with the original wheels. Also picture 2 is my 510 with the original bag which is the same bag as the 509. Picture 3 is my 509 with a Mike Balda bag on it. I have a set of these wheels if you give me your address I would be more then happy to send you a set for your 509.

Jim

 

[captchar]

I thought they would have been black, I've seen several images of the 500 series with black wheels but I wasn't sure if this was just part of factory rebuilt machines or the I was semi expecting the wheels to be like the D50 in color

 

[vacmadman]

on the way

Adam,

The 509 wheels are on their way to you. Please take a few pics of your 509 to share here. Good luck on your 509 project!

Jim

 

[captchar]

Thanks, as an update while im waiting for the bearings to come, ive started polishing, Im just using a dremel and some mothers mag and aluminum polish, only did the head light hood at the moment, its a huge difference from the rest of the machine

 

[kirbyclassiciii]

The 509 had many changes over the previous gray-trimmed model, the 508. Among them, it was the first Kirby to have plastic attachments, as well as the Handi-Butler even though that appeared later in the run.

~Ben

 

[captchar]

So, odd question, ive had mixed answers for this, but the bag, can they be washed at all? cause the bag on this machine is pretty discolored suggesting its been wet at least once in its life

 

[vacmadman]

washing

I have washed these bags with success, but it depends on the overall condition of the bag. If it's to fragile or rotting out, I would shy away from it. If it's still in good condition I gently hand wash the bags and hang to dry. I turn it inside out and use a garden hose outside to remove as much of the dirt as I can before putting it in the bathtub to hand wash. That way I can lay it flat under water.

Return the bag to right side out showing logo then I use laundry detergent in warm water and go up and down the bag squeezing the rest of the dirt out. Then drain the water and fill again with clean water and repeat the process for rinsing. You can also use the shower head for rinsing. By keeping the bag flat and gently squeezing it helps not to damage the logo. Thats why I do it in the tub and not a sink. Kirby bag logos can flake and easily be damaged.

Having said all that washing it may not help with the discoloring that may have been caused by sunlight exposure.

 

[human]

I've never washed a bag that old, but canvas type fabrics can become stiff and fragile with age. I've had good results with Heritage and newer bags in the washing machine. I just hang them to dry in the little shed on the side of my house, where the water heater is located. It's a warm, dry environment and the bag will generally dry overnight. The only issue I had was putting the original metal emptor back on a Heritage 1HD bag. I just couldn't stretch it enough to go, so I substituted a plastic Heritage II mini emptor, which is smaller and easier to maneuver into place. Although there is no reason a G-series bag wouldn't survive the washing machine, I chose to hand wash the bag for my G3 because removing the emptor and fill tube was too much trouble and I didn't want to destroy the retaining strap. That said, the hand washing did remove a fairly obvious stain from the front of the bag.

 

[captchar]

actually apon further inspection, I might just replace this bag with a black bag to go with the black wheels, the bag has some fraying at the emptor seal, and a small hold in a seam in the back, given if its the original bag its held up well minus the strange patch, but you can see the brownish discoloration on the bag

 

[lesinutah]

I

Wash my old bags that aren't in stock condition. The holes in the bag if you pinch them together and super glue them it fixes small holes. The bag trick is done by other collectors.
If you get a black bag ypu can screen print a logo onto it.
Change the cord to either a black or grey cord.

 

[captchar]

I also got a quote on a factory rebuild for this machine, its 500$ USD since its a second hand unit, Im not going to do the factory rebuild for it just wanted to see what the price was

 

[captchar]

Still waiting on bearings to arrive, already got the rear off, and noticed the front has slight wobble in it anyways, on a side project I did make a prototype wheel from one of the ones I was sent using CAD. im going to be ordering a black bag and black cord, I know its not stock, so we're going to be going with the factory rebuild looking stock

 

[captchar]

So im at the tear down where I have to get the front bearing off the amature shaft, but since the rear of this bearing seems to have a flange that spaces it from the coil itself, how would I go about removing this? all i can think of is getting a larger puller out and doing it that way, I took the rear being off with a small bearing puller, too smaller for the front end.

Also im in the process of designing and remaking some of the classic series wheels as seen above is one of the prototype replica

 

[lesinutah]

If

Your talking about the bearing in the bearing plate you can get a screw driver and with the middle of the screw driver slowly tap it up. It shouldn't take much once it's moving usually you can tug it off by hand.

 

[captchar]

the front bearing came off with the armature, so its not part of the plate in this case but stuck on the armature and with not alot of room between it and the fan makes this a bit more challenging

 

[lesinutah]

Pic

Can u take a pic.

 

[captchar]

actually, i used the 12ton press with two pieces of scrap and got the bearing to come off, new bearings are on, I need to clean up the brushroll adjustment screws but at the moment this is the results so far: