Thrift find

[lesinutah]

I thought I'd post my good fortune I came across today. Earlier in the week, my wife mentioned an old crappy red vacuum like her work had. They had a simplicity and before that a sanitaire. I showed her pics of both vacuums and it was a sanitaire. I told her to go to the thrift store and buy it if it's still there.
Fast Forward to today. She sent me 2 pics and I called and the first vacuum sounded good. The second vacuum sounded off. Given the second vacuum is a beast I had her buy them both. The first was $6 and the second was $25.

 

[lesinutah]

Pics and info

Vacuum #1 is a sanitaire 888k 7.0 amp motor with ST bag setup.
Vacuum #2 is royal Everlast 8100.
The sanitaire I cleaned the bag and put a brand new sanitaire ST bag. It didn't have a brush roll or belt. I have few extra vg2 brush rolls and belts.
The royal has a new brush roll, good top fill bag. It didn't have a bag I. It I have royal brand top fill bags. It had hair deep into impellor. I took out 4 housing bolts and got off the hair. I put a new bag in installed a new belt.
The sanitaire is silky smooth with my my favorite eureka HEPA bag setup. It was a steal for $6.
The royal height adjustment threw me off. I figured it out just in time it was pulling up a 10'x4' rug easily. It's loud but I'd doesn't miss a thing. It had good scratches on the nozzle. I used steel wool for 10 minutes and I got almost all the scratches out. I'll do a couple passes with sand paper and buff it to mirror like shine.
I love the sanitaire it's really easy to use. I've been using my blue line for a couple months as well as my eureka power nozzle on my compact.
The royal has alot of nice features I just have to acquaint myself with it again.

 

[madman]

Nice.

 

[kirbyklekter]

Very nice Les!

I have an 888 Sanitaire also. Love it, can't wait until I get it converted to top fill. Is ST the best way? The 7 amp motors in these are something else!

 

[bvac6]

Cool score!

Awesome finds! I have a beast of a Royal sold under the private label Panther. It really claws ups the carpet!

I have an older Sanitaire 'Blue Line' I converted to the ST setup and it really feels like it greatly increased airflow.

 

[kirbyclassiciii]

bvac6

I remember the Panther too, Robert. I know the one I saw at my grade school, and another at high school, was likely a model 680NS (18" wide track, 6 amp motor) manufactured circa 1988.

~Ben

 

[human]

Nice Pair...

Decent vintage vacuums are hard enough to come by, much less two in the same visit. The only time I've experienced that, I didn't have the money I wanted to spend on both of them and couldn't decide which one to take, so I ended up leaving both of them. I still get a pang or two of regret over that decision but oh well, that's the way the proverbial cookie crumbles. And kudos to your wife for being an understanding enabler.

I have an older Eureka-Williams-made Sanitaire SC686 that came to me with a dump bag, which I've replaced with an F&G bag set up. The kit, which I found eBay was just too cheap to pass up with a new outer bag, a dozen generic F&G bags and a couple of extra belts for about $26. The replacement outer bag was a direct replacement for the dump bag, using the same latch lever setup--no drilling holes or screwing screws required. And although I cannot for the life of me conceive of a reason why I would want to do it, I can revert back to the original dump bag in under a minute. It's a cool machine, very basic and very powerful, but it's not really my favorite to use. I think the bearings may be shot in the brush roll or I didn't get things torqued to spec when I replaced the brush strips, which is a very likely scenario, considering I have no idea what those specs should be and I don't own a torque wrench. But after it runs for a minute or two, I can smell the belt overheating. Not pleasant.

 

[lesinutah]

Nice

having a burning belt I know all too well. I have a sanitaire blue line 667 type AB. It has the power switch on the handle. It came with the f&G bag I upgraded it to the red ST setup.
I'm use to using eureka/sanitaire. I use my blue line or my compact with eureka power nozzle. The royal threw me off.
Les

 

[thevacomaticiec]

How many vacuum u have in all Les.?

 

[lesinutah]

Lol

I really don't know. I'm guessing 60+
Les

 

[lesinutah]

Yes Kirby kelter

The ST setup is the best way. The sanitaire ST bags along with Riccar HEPA bags are the best bags I've used. They are easy to change and filter very very good.
Les

 

[cam2s]

That red sanitaire looks sharp. I have a blue residential line Two speed sanitaire that is a dream to use. I need to convert it to the ST bags, I’m sure that would really open up the power in it. I believe it uses a VG I. I haven’t used it in a while I should grab it next time I’m at the storage unit.