Needing some help on replacing the needle bearing in my Hoover concept one

[bransvacuums]

I am restoring a Hoover concept one I got off of Facebook marketplace. When I saw how good the length of the brush roll was, I thought they didn’t use it all that much. It turns out they used it quite a bit. The bearings don’t sound extremely dry, but there is a lot of play in the motor, and the carbon brushes were pretty worn out. I did find a new set of carbon brushes that I got off of eBay.

I read from another person here on vacuumland that said he pressed the old bearing out. When someone says that they pressed a bearing, it means they used an arbor press to install the bearing. Since the bearing is in the black housing, how would you even press it out? I would like to know how you both remove and install the needle bearing since I don’t want to risk damaging the housing or the new bearing.

Once I get the new bearings installed, clean up all of the parts, and use novus to make it shine this machine will be like a brand new machine again.

The concepts were literally made to last forever. The fan’s last way longer than the fan blades in the Hoover elites. You can still find plenty of new concept fans online, which goes to show the quality of the fans. The whole machine was made to be serviced over and over again.

If you’re wondering the model number of my concept, it is U3101.

 

[beevac]

Needle bearings on U3101

I have fixed more U3101's etcetera than I care to admit. That bearing is part of the commutator end plastic motor housing & must be replaced as an assembly. All i have that will fit your vacuum cleaner is the armature as I have a U 3301 Concept 2 in my collection. That bearing is theoretically doomed to failure due to the fact that it takes on the burden of 2 extremely tight belts & the brush roll. There is a member on this site called repairman & he is known to have or know the whereabouts of the part you need. The Concept 1 that you have is from 1980 so it is not an antique yet. I have te parts list/ schematic for the series that the U3101 is from. It was the 1st Concept 1 made by the Hoover Company. Contact me or questions if you have any.

 

[beevac]

Needle bearings on U3101

I have fixed more U3101's etcetera than I care to admit. That bearing is part of the commutator end plastic motor housing & must be replaced as an assembly. All i have that will fit your vacuum cleaner is the armature as I have a U 3301 Concept 2 in my collection. That bearing is theoretically doomed to failure due to the fact that it takes on the burden of 2 extremely tight belts & the brush roll. There is a member on this site called repairman & he is known to have or know the whereabouts of the part you need. The Concept 1 that you have is from 1980 so it is not an antique yet. I have te parts list/ schematic for the series that the U3101 is from. It was the 1st Concept 1 made by the Hoover Company. Contact me or questions if you have any.

 

[repairman]

This thread will help you replace the needle bearing. I used this method to fix a noisy Concept Two and it worked wonders.

The real hero here is broomvac for finding the correct needle bearing. Just make sure you grease it prior to installation and keep note of where the old bearing sat so you don't press it in too far or too low.

https://www.vacuumland.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?35181_4

 

[broomvac]

I am glad that my findings helped you, repairman. I hope others found it helpful, too.

Bransvacuums: to press out the bearing, you should use a wooden dowel or some other round tool (such as a socket) which is the same diameter as the outer race of the J-65. If you have a press, then you can use this tool to press the old bearing out of the housing and press the new one in. However, you can also do this without a press. Gently tap on the end of the dowel with a hammer to remove and reinstall the bearing.

Repairman is correct that it is important to get the new bearing to approx. the same position axially in the housing. Also, definitely pack the new bearing with grease. I have had good luck with Mobil Polyrex EM, which is a high-speed, high-temperature grease designed for electric motors (hence, “EM”). Other greases may not be able to withstand the harsh conditions in that J-65.

Note that even after the repair, the machine won’t sound silent/silky on wind down. You will notice an improvement, but the needle bearing inherently sounds somewhat scratchy even brand new. I agree with you that Hoover did an otherwise excellent job designing the Concept series of vacuums, so I am surprised they went with a nasty belt-side bearing.

Here’s a video I made showing what you can expect after the repair. Let me know if you have any other questions.