New toy! Thanks to Will Hemb!!

[ericaustin]

1978 Sears Best Kenmore! It has all of the tools. I just need the "tool garden" to make it complete!!

 

[DesertTortoise]

Wow, nice find! What does it say on the lid? 209? 3.5? 3.9? Is it two speed?

Take extra good care of the hose. Always hang it up and never leave it like you show in the photo. They crack unless you take good care of them (newer hose stock is much better but it is dark gray) and replacing the originals is very very hard to do now. I blinked on eBay a couple of weeks ago and missed one.

Those are great vacs even by modern standards. Maybe especially by modern standards.

 

[ericaustin]

It is 2 speed.

 

[Gr8DaneDad]

That is the vacuum of my teen years growing up. Fond memories....

 

[thermokid]

I have that Kenmore

canister. Mine has a permanent cloth bag in it instead of the paper bags, I have never seen a permanent cloth bag for the canisters before. My hose is starting to crack though. I wonder if there is some kind of lubricant of some kind to rub on the hose to soften the vinyl up..

 

[DesertTortoise]

I have two from that vintage, a somewhate newer 4.1 with infinitely variable motor speed and the on/off switch on the hose end, and a 3.9 that looks just like yours with the wood grain on the lid, pedal operated on/off switch and a two-speed motor, but the body is ivory color. The 3.9 doesn't have a Powermate......yet.

You can put a piece of Electrolux bulk filter material under the cheapie black open cell foam Sears uses as a secondary filter. That is what I do. For an exhaust filter I cut down a piece of Kenmore secondary filter material that comes in a 5X5 inch square for new Progressive and Elite Intuition canister vacs. Because of the way the body of these things are made, exhaust air only comes out of one place and you can put modern filter material in that place.

Finding hoses will be a problem. Central vac suppliers still sell ivory colored two wire hose stock, but finding one that will make you a seven foot long hose on your original Kenmore ends is challenging. That is one of my chores right now. Most only know central vacs and don't want to do anything today that is even slightly different than what they did yesterday. Sears stopped selling blank two wire hose and even SweetSweep cannot get it. I guess eBay will be your friend.

Ametek Lamb still manufactures a five wire, two speed 5.7 inch motor that will swap for the original if you ever wear it out and it cannot for some reason be rebuilt. My parents bought the 4.1 in 1982 and it has been used regularly since. It has never given us even the slightest problem in all those years. Only hoses and a Powermate motor ever failed. Take that Kirby!

 

[super-sweeper]

The sister model,

To my (And VacuumLand's favorite) Imperial Avocado Bomber! Nice find!


I'd give you a beat-up tool garden if Texas wasn't such a trip from Florida! 

 

[DesertTortoise]

No need to drive. USPS flat packs are your friend.

 

[super-sweeper]

Lol again, tortoise guy!

But I rarely ship a thing! (Except that Oreck for OreckFan!)