My small project to restore a Kirby Sentria

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brycerivers

Active member
Joined
Sep 5, 2016
Messages
31
Location
Atlanta,GA,30273,United States
Hello everyone,
3 weeks ago I was at Value village and I hit the Jackpot! I found A Hoover Dial-a-matic A Kirby Legend, and A 2009 Sentria which is F style. I bought it for 30$ with the hose (it came with no power nozzle). Thing is the previous owner must've had dogs because the Mini emptor was caked, Motor shaft and the inner bag was unchanged. Now I’m attempting to restore it myself with Mothers Mag, Windex, and some turtle wax.

below are the pictures ( I already buffed most of the outer casing and the last picture is the comparison with the Ultimate G that also needs a rebuild.)

however The Sentria has problems that I Discovered when i First brought it home.
1. Tech Drive takes me to the right slightly
2. Techdrive clicks in neutral
3.Techdrive Vibrates violently when the motor is running
4. Pushing the Sentria in Neutral while on bare floors makes winding up sounds in the transmission.

Help would be appreciated
-Bryce

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I can help you with the drive clicking in neutral. This is because the transmission is not fully disengaging. There is a piece in your transmission behind the neutral/drive pedal called the cam bracket assembly. It disengages a gear to put the transmission in neutral. When the end of the cam lever wears down, it no longer fully disengages the gear, causing the gears to click against each other.

Let me know if you need pictures or disassembly instructions. I'll do my best to help.
 
Yes, this is a common issue on Kirby machines from the G3 to the present. The part isn't expensive and it's not a big deal to fix if you're reasonably handy with a screwdriver.
 
Don't know if you want to spend the money or not but from the sound of things you might be just as well off to replace the entire transmission. There are several on eBay.
 
Just Got a new fan and installed it

Got a new fan assembly and installed it last night. I also gave the internal parts a wash.

Right now im waiting for the New powernozzle and a bench buffer to get a clean shine.

The link below is a comparison test between cloth and paper bags. This Video was made before I changed the fan out in the Sentria.

http://https//www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOVfV3EKvmA
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Question about my Sentria

I’m Not exactly done yet with this Post as I am going to try to get this Kirby to Shine Like chrome and I Plan to do some work on the Motor. To ask two questions what object will I need to work on The Motor’s Commutator? Also when and where was This Particular Model made? The Serial Number is 1090602025.
-Bryce
 
I found a Sentria G10...

last month on my way to breakfast. It was sitting on the curb in front of a French Immersion School.

The cord had a knot in it and it was missing a hubcap. When I got around to checking it out, I noticed the transmission was not engaging.

Thanks to Youtube, I have taken these apart before so I got it up on the bench. All I found was that the transmission's forked lever had been bumped out of it's corresponding loop. (Excuse the made up part descriptions). I managed to get it back together and now it works perfectly.

Cleaned up and ready to use. I wonder what they did with the attachments. Someone may have gotten frustrated trying to maneuver it and got rid of it.
 
You've made a good start in the right direction

Keep going to finer and finer grit (e.g., 400 then 600, then 800, then 1,000, etc.) and the scratches will get less and less noticeable. You might then want to switch to automotive rubbing compound (the red stuff) on a soft cloth and then to something like Mother's chrome polish to give it that mirror-like shine. Also, keep your sandpaper wet and don't sand in circles. Sand in straight lines and each time you graduate to a finer grade of paper, sand perpendicular to the previous grade. Patience and persistence really are key.
 
Did some more work on the handle Today

With 225 Grit sandpaper, I went vertically all across the handle and then horizontally with the same grit. I plan to move up to 400->600->800->1000 grit next time I stop by Wal-Mart.

Question, Would it be a good idea to buy Auto Sol polish for Harley Davidson to use on a Kirby?

-Bryce

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more info

fists make sure the 1500 is going length wise
you should always finish with the finest paper in the longest direction.

then use some 0000 steel wool
the steel wool is the link between the paper and the chemical.
and steel wool the living daylights out of it!
then go with a heavy duty buffing compound.

then LOTS of armstrong power!
i mean LOTS AND LOTS!
i use a buffer and a part like that might take 10 minutes at a few thousand rpm.
if your doing it by hand a hundred rpm it will be like 100x time longer!

good luck!
 
Does it look like im done?

Just used Mother's Yesterday and I got a cross between a mirror and a dull finish.
Do I need to completely restart or can I Start back at 1500 with Mothers?
Also how do I remove the liver spots on the sides?
Thank you for all the support you’ve given me on this site!

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Try using some Mother's with a high speed buffing wheel for the liver spots.


If that doesn't work then you will need to sand them out.


 
 
Looks like I got the evil twin to yours, mine was free and in perfect mechanical condition aside from needing a new belt (even clean inside and the brush roll is like new!) But must have been stored where some type of cleaning chemicals were stored (came from a daycare/preschool with 4 other machines) and had been spilled on it. I washed the parts from all the machines with no cleaners, whatever had been spilled on them was soapy and smelled nice. The soap/chemical (I'm assuming either hand soap or floor cleaner) pitted the aluminum pretty badly in a few places and took the shine off completely. I spent hours trying to polish it up and finally just gave up. It works great, and I really can't complain for free (even had some attachments and the shampooer). It looks OK, but I doubt it'll ever look new again. I need to order some bags (it had a new one installed but that had been saturated in whatever as well, I filled it and don't have any extras) and wash the outer bag.
 

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