Unexpected Kirby Foot Switch Repair

[human]

After replacing the foot switch on my recently acquired Heritage 84, I was putting things away and came across one I'd saved from my Legend II. It moved freely but wouldn't 'click' and thus was stuck in the 'on' position so I replaced it with a NOS black one for a Heritage II. It had been sitting in a parts box and I hadn't done anything with it for a couple of years but I started playing with it and ended up flexing the red foot switch gently from side to side (perpendicular to the way it's designed to move) and I got a click! It was just one click but that was more than I'd ever gotten before so I kept alternately flexing it and then moving the switch in its intended direction. After a few minutes of doing this, I got another couple of clicks but then it would go back to not clicking. After repeating this process for about ten minutes, I've gotten it to click consistently with every push. I'm not exactly sure what I accomplished but apparently flexing the switch allowed something to slip back into place and move as intended.

Since it appears to be healed, a part of me is tempted to re-install it on the Legend II but my lazy side says just to leave well enough alone as the machine works just fine with its new black switch. Either way, I feel a sense of accomplishment for getting the somewhat rarer red switch working again. One day, I'll find myself really bored and decide to undertake the project. I'm also glad to be able to offer this narrative for those who may have a non-clicking Kirby foot switch. It may be possible to fix it without disassembling it.

 

[bnsd60m9200]

stuck switches are due to contacts being corroded/worn over the years with carbon buildup. spray the area where the movement occurs under that plastic footpedal with contact cleaner and cycle the switch on and off unpowered several times. that should fix the "sticky" issue.

 

[texaskirbyguy]

I do not remember exactly how these are assembled, but could you take the red plastics and swap them for the black plastics on the working switch?

I had 'fixed' a stuck start button on my 1995 Kenmore dryer a couple times last year but it always 'refailed'. I broke down and bought a new OEM one for about 15 bucks online. Works reliably again now. Sometimes replacement is best.

 

[human]

@bnsd60m9200: Excellent point about contact cleaner. I think I sprayed it liberally at the time I got the Legend II, to no avail. I'll definitely spray it again whenever I press it back into service.

@texaskirbyguy: These switches are held together with rivets and aren't really designed to be taken apart and serviced. I suppose it would be possible to drill out the rivets and put it back together with a screw and a nut. At the time I replaced the switch on my Legend II, I considered swapping the red foot pedal onto the new switch but decided not to since I would be running a significant risk of breaking a brand new switch in the process. Besides, the black switch doesn't look bad at all on that machine. The possibility of the red switch failing again is reason enough to leave the brand new black switch in place on that machine. That said, had I managed to get the red switch working at the time I was refurbishing the Legend II, I would probably have put off buying the replacement pending further failures.

 

[texaskirbyguy]

I have repaired many vintage switches, some lasted decades, some lasted days, and some are still working to this day.

You could always put back the red one you got working again. If it fails again, put in the black one again. They are not too difficult to change and you would only risk some time. Then chalk up that time to 'learning by trying'.

At that time you could open the red switch up to see how hard it is to change the plastics. It is already broke, so why not? )

That color mismatch would personally bug me to no end...

 

[human]

Black is the new black...

To me, the black switch on the Legend II doesn't look bad at all. While I know the switch was originally red from the factory, black is essentially a neutral color and doesn't clash with anything. In fact, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see a Legend II going in for a factory rebuild and needing a switch coming out with a black one installed. My Heritage 84 also came to me with a black Heritage II foot switch, which is likely the most common variant for the Heritage/Legend series. Its casing was broken and it was replaced with yet another black one. To be honest, I didn't even notice that mismatch against the graphite gray surround at first. What would be more jarring, IMO, would be the red Legend II switch on either my Heritage II Legend or either of my Heritage I machines. At this point, my sentiment is to leave well enough alone. That said, in the—hopefully unlikely—event that any of my machines of that era needs a switch in the future, I would definitely swap the red one back onto the Legend II from whence it came and use the black one presently installed on it for whichever of the Heritage machines needed it.

Since the red switch is physically intact and functional, I am not inclined to take it apart; however, I am considering dissecting the switch I removed from my Heritage 84, as its casing is already broken where a screw is supposed to attach it to the rear motor cover. Although it functions, I do not deem it to be usable. I also wonder if there could be something wrong internally with that broken switch, or maybe just an improperly connected wire, that prevented the headlight from working. The same seller from whom I acquired the replacement switch also threw a headlight assembly into the bargain and with both replacement parts installed, the headlight works fine. What's puzzling is that in testing the original one with a brand new bulb installed, I have continuity on an ohmmeter, which would indicate there's nothing really wrong with it.

 

[hoover300]

The issue with the old headlight assembly may have been with how the copper pins of the lens and socket insert into the light cap, one may have been bent and not touching or maybe corroded.

 

[human]

I had thought of that when I initially tried replacing the light bulb a couple of months ago. One pin seemed slightly out of alignment so I straightened them, cleaned them with contact cleaner and buffed them as best I could with sandpaper to optimize conductivity, but to no avail. I may swap the headlight assemblies one more time in an attempt to definitively isolate the problem to the (now replaced) foot switch.

 

[human]

Not that noticeable...

Below are photos of my Heritage 84 and Legend II, both fitted with black Heritage II foot switches. The H84 also has a black H2 cord. I'd had the machine in my possession for more than 24 hours before I noticed these 'mismatches'. It's now on its second H2 foot switch. The black switch on the Legend II is certainly more noticeable but it doesn't 'clash' in any way; it's certainly less jarring than, say, a blue Tradition foot switch on a brown Classic. Such a contrast is actually fairly common. I once had a Buick Skylark with a light blue interior that had black seat belts.

That said, I do understand the purist mindset. My dad was that way about cars. The grille on that same car with the black seat belts got some damage to the grille and he had connections to get parts at cost so I asked him to look into getting a new grille. It turned out the one for my '77 Skylark was $10 more expensive than the one for a '78 model. The only difference between the two was the pattern of the grille. Mine had vertical bars and the '78 model had an 'egg crate' pattern. Otherwise, it was a direct fit. But Dad refused to order it because it was the 'wrong' part. even though the average person would never notice the difference. In the end, he took things in the extreme opposite direction and fashioned a filler panel out of wood, painted it silver and made the repair look all the more obvious.