A little while ago I noticed my vacuum was making a high-pitched squealing noise when the carpet brush was rolling.
The vacuum is a Bissell Lift-Off Multicyclonic Pet Vacuum with model number 89Q9-4 (https://www.bissell.com/lift-off-multi-cyclonic-pet-vacuum-89q9).
After I removed the six screws on the bottom of the vacuum and took out the brush roll I saw that one side of the roller (part number 2032085) was melted and degraded. Now the vacuum is well out-of-warranty so the standard options would be to either buy a new vacuum or purchase a replacement brush roll (about $27 plus shipping and tax at SearsPartsDirect: http://www.searspartsdirect.com/bissell-vacuum-parts/2032085/0020/214/model-89Q9/0116/0645000.html). I instead took a third option and decided to fix the brush roll (fortunately the damage was easily fixable).
The melted and degraded end of the roller was the black end which has a rectangular protrusion to hold it in place.
The damage was more easily visible when the black cap was removed by prying it out with a flat-head screwdriver.
This was in contrast to the non-damaged end of the brush roll, which has a white cap and a circular protrusion (again the white cap can be pried out with a flat head).
There was some damage to the metal axle as the metal bearing case cut slightly into the rod (you can see it in the picture below on the left where the red arrow points to the cut - it is a bit faint in the photo).
The real damage was to the plastic bearing holder. There was a noticeable bulge and distortion caused by the heat from friction (the red arrow points to the bulge - note the distorted non circular shape of the plastic).
This was in sharp contrast to the damaged plastic bearing holder from the white end of the brush roll, which remained perfectly circular (the distorted holder is on the left and the undamaged one is on the right).
Both bearings were considerably dusty, but the bearing on the damaged side was absolutely filthy in comparison to its counterpart. I cleaned both bearing holders with water and then lubricated the metal bearings (model ID 608Z) with silicone spray lubricant. In particular the bearing on the damaged side was stuck badly and required a significant amount of lubricant to wash out the dirt that must have caused the bearings to seize. Fortunately I was able to get the bearing in working order, but even if I had been unable to it would have been a simple matter to order a new one (they seem fairly cheap on eBay http://www.ebay.com/bhp/608z-bearing).
As you can see there is a large gap in the damaged bearing holder where the plastic had melted. I was able to realign the bearing in the correct position and then used JB Weld to hold the bearing in place by filling the void. If you look at the picture above on the right you can see a thin metal washer - this was taken from the damaged bearing holder. I ended up not putting it back in as it was too heavily warped to fit correctly.
It was just a relatively simple matter of mixing up and applying some JB Weld, then reinserting the bearing, and applying additional JB Weld to fill the remaining gap. After letting the epoxy set in overnight I removed a little bit of the epoxy so that the bearing could spin freely. Then it was a simple matter of putting the whole brush roll back together and now I have a much quieter vacuum (although now I will be more attentive in cleaning the brush roll and making sure that the bearings still work).
Well that sums up this repair and post. I hope that someone finds this moderately useful.
The vacuum is a Bissell Lift-Off Multicyclonic Pet Vacuum with model number 89Q9-4 (https://www.bissell.com/lift-off-multi-cyclonic-pet-vacuum-89q9).
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| The vacuum |
After I removed the six screws on the bottom of the vacuum and took out the brush roll I saw that one side of the roller (part number 2032085) was melted and degraded. Now the vacuum is well out-of-warranty so the standard options would be to either buy a new vacuum or purchase a replacement brush roll (about $27 plus shipping and tax at SearsPartsDirect: http://www.searspartsdirect.com/bissell-vacuum-parts/2032085/0020/214/model-89Q9/0116/0645000.html). I instead took a third option and decided to fix the brush roll (fortunately the damage was easily fixable).
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| Just remove the six screws marked in red. After removing the plastic cover the brush roll is easily removed by pulling it from the slotted ends and slipping off its belt. |
The melted and degraded end of the roller was the black end which has a rectangular protrusion to hold it in place.
The damage was more easily visible when the black cap was removed by prying it out with a flat-head screwdriver.
The damage to the blue cylinder portion of the roller was limited to just the outer edge (the metal axle can just slide out with a bit of force and the plastic bearing holders can be popped out from the blue cylinder).
This was in contrast to the non-damaged end of the brush roll, which has a white cap and a circular protrusion (again the white cap can be pried out with a flat head).
There was some damage to the metal axle as the metal bearing case cut slightly into the rod (you can see it in the picture below on the left where the red arrow points to the cut - it is a bit faint in the photo).
The real damage was to the plastic bearing holder. There was a noticeable bulge and distortion caused by the heat from friction (the red arrow points to the bulge - note the distorted non circular shape of the plastic).
This was in sharp contrast to the damaged plastic bearing holder from the white end of the brush roll, which remained perfectly circular (the distorted holder is on the left and the undamaged one is on the right).
Both bearings were considerably dusty, but the bearing on the damaged side was absolutely filthy in comparison to its counterpart. I cleaned both bearing holders with water and then lubricated the metal bearings (model ID 608Z) with silicone spray lubricant. In particular the bearing on the damaged side was stuck badly and required a significant amount of lubricant to wash out the dirt that must have caused the bearings to seize. Fortunately I was able to get the bearing in working order, but even if I had been unable to it would have been a simple matter to order a new one (they seem fairly cheap on eBay http://www.ebay.com/bhp/608z-bearing).
As you can see there is a large gap in the damaged bearing holder where the plastic had melted. I was able to realign the bearing in the correct position and then used JB Weld to hold the bearing in place by filling the void. If you look at the picture above on the right you can see a thin metal washer - this was taken from the damaged bearing holder. I ended up not putting it back in as it was too heavily warped to fit correctly.
It was just a relatively simple matter of mixing up and applying some JB Weld, then reinserting the bearing, and applying additional JB Weld to fill the remaining gap. After letting the epoxy set in overnight I removed a little bit of the epoxy so that the bearing could spin freely. Then it was a simple matter of putting the whole brush roll back together and now I have a much quieter vacuum (although now I will be more attentive in cleaning the brush roll and making sure that the bearings still work).
Well that sums up this repair and post. I hope that someone finds this moderately useful.
