Help - who knows Kirby motor repair intimately

[petek]

I've got my Kirby Legend II motor all apart now. The motor housing was getting nervously warm after only a minute or so of operation and sounded like it was maybe straining every few strokes as you vacuumed by the sound of the motor just dropping a bit..even with the roller brush assembly off.
Now its apart I see the fan is definitely toast and when I turn the spindle I can hear a bit of rubbing once every revolution..Question is..How do I get the fan off the spindle..just pull it off with pliers? I can't see anywhere inside or out, there's also that little fan on the inside of the casing that could be rubbing. If I wiggle the spindle there's the tiniest amount of play.

 

[frontaloadotmy]

Intimately, Not!!!

The last time I took one of my Kirby's in to the area shop(definitely one of those frozen in time places; "Capital Kirby" in Sacto Ca.) the young man had it apart in about 8 seconds. I'm thinking he may have somehow held the motor
still from the back side and screwed the fan off. Sounds
plausible, don't it?

 

[kenmore1978]

fan removal

The fan is probably just sdrewed on. Beware that it may be a left hand thread

 

[tolivac]

The fan can be removed from the motor shaft by turning the belt pulley in the direction of fan rotation-turn toward the fan discharge outlet. You will have to take the back housing from the motor and hold the end of the motor armature with a wrench.A good and cooperative Kirby dealer-or vac dealer can order a fan kit for you.You can order them online too.the fan kit has the fan,replacement fan pulley,and spacer washers.You should replace the fan pulley as well-can get pretty chewed up from using pliers on it to grip it and turn it off the motor shaft.also will get worn from belts.while you have the motor apart-you can check the motor communtator and brushes.this is a good time to replace the motor brushes while you have the motor rear cover off.also the fan kit has a bearing sheild-a washer like device placed behind the fan-be sure to use it or you will go thru a front motor bearing quickly.the sheild keeps the dust picked up by the fan from the front bearing.Don't be surprized if you will have to replace a front bearing on a machine that old.If it is very noisey-or feels "rough" when the motor is turned by hand.

 

[petek]

Thanks all.. I'm going to take it in to a local vac shop to look at before I screw it up..found them the other day,,a true filled to the rim with parts all over sort of place..when I asked about a floor nozzle for my constellation they gave me one free..can't beat that.. so I'm going to give them the biz.