The Trouble with the Hoover

[oldskoolguy]

Some of you may know that I own a wonderful, and perhaps rare, 80's Hoover Convertible from Kmart model U4395. I've noticed that she has a problem with her balance. On the carpet, she's fine! she grooms the carpet well, and holds it up with no problems! But when i have her on a hard floor, I notice that she is not balanced, and seems to stand mostly on her right side. her large right wheel will touch the floor as will her rear wheels, but her large left wheel won't touch the floor. if i press on her left side, she'll balance out, but without doing so, her left big wheel won't touch the ground. The rear axle doesn't look bent then again looks are deceiving, so I'm clueless. Is this common among convertibles and decades? Am I missing a part? Does this or will this affect performance? I can post pictures if anybody wants.

 

[ultralux88]

I’d first look at that plate that holds the rear axle in place, I’ve seen it get bent a little and cause this problem.

 

[kirbyvertibles]

Come to think of it I've seen that before. I think I may have a couple that do that too.

 

[electrolux137]

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"She" ??! Do vacuum cleaners have genders?!


 


 

 

[kirbysthebest]

Do vacuum. Cleaners have genders?

Why yes, silly. Herby, my Kirby is a boy. The lady Kenmore is, of course, a lady.

 

[oldskoolguy]

Here you go, folks, pictures as requested. I even took pictures of the front wheels just for good measure.

 

[durango159]

Sounds like your axles have an issue. You may also have wheels out of round.

I would very much recommend that you stop using the Convertible on hard floors and put either a hose on the Convertible with bare floor brush or use a canister vac with bare floor brush.

A spinning brush roll of an upright on hard flooring will do a few things:

--- mark your flooring with brush roll marks. Potentially damaging some floors
--- disintegrate your brush roll bristles rapidly
--- only suck up certain dirt, fine dust won't get cleaned up well and some particles may get thrown behind rear of machine
--- wheels may get damaged over time, especially non- rubber coated ones like on your Convertible

 

[oldskoolguy]

I never use the convertible on hard floors, the issue just seems more noticeable on hard floors. I will take the advice into consideration though!

 

[hooveru4089]

From the picture, it actually looks to me that the right wheel is pushed a little more to towards the brushroll than the left wheel, very slightly, but I do notice it. This would confirm previous speculations of a bent axle.