When I put my Kirby in drive it hesitates and then lunges and make a grinding noise. The handle seems loose.

Sounds like something is caught in the drive head, a couple of screws & you should be able to access the head.

check for rubbish jamming the driven roller / brush underneath. The noise is probably the belt trying to turn the roller.

you will need mole grips to pull out handle pin.

It would be very unusual to have a transmission belt problem. To access the belt; the handle, and switch cover plate are first removed. Next remove the 4 screws that hold the upper motor cover in place. Next remove the switch button by prying up gently on it's attaching lugs and pull it free of the switch actuating rod. 3 screws hold the transmission to the base. DO NOT remove the screw in the rear beneath the on/off pedal. By dropping the power drive assemby slightly down, you should be easily able to remove the belt.
P S: I have repaired 100's of power drive Kirbys, and have never seen a bad power drive belt. If the self-propel seems to work poorly, it is usually because the rear wheels are worn out.

sounds like a loose wire, the wire is connected to the handle, you may be able to fix this yourself but be careful you can void the warranty by doing it your self. (most people make the problem worse) remember your kirby has a lifetime warranty (limited) the first 3 years anything and everything, after that for 175 dollars you can send it in and get it rebuilt to the newest model no matter how old it is as long as the person is still alive that signed the warranty card.

hope that helped.
rob

if you run your vac to long after the fan is broke it will cause excessive vibration and the bearings can go out. in almost all cases i replace the fan only. most of the time if you have a bad bearing the vac will make a grinding noise. you can also tell a bad bearing by grabbing the belt pulley on the end of the fan and pull up and down if it moves alot then your bearing is also bad. you can get the bearings separate witout ordering the armature assy. when talking of replacing any of these parts besides the fan i would advise you to take your vac to your local repairman. working on motor parts of a kirby can get pretty involved. to replace the fan first take the housing off where your belt and brushroll are. you should then see 5 screws on the front of your kirby. remove all 5 screws. then remove the handle. at the very bottom of your handle you will see a piece that allows you to move the handle, on the back side of this you need to push in with your thumb and the handle should pull off. then you should see a plastic piece directly below that snaps into the top housing. remove the 2 screws from this. one where the cord boot is and one above your power drive neutral/drive lever. then under this plastic piece is 2 more screws on your top housing. when these are out your housing should pull off. if not then remove the bottom plastic housing of your outer bag. then go back and look at the front again and you will find since removing the top housing you have exposed 2 more screws in the front fan cover housing that also need to come out. after this pry this housing off and you should be looking directly at the fan. grab fan with pliers in one hand and with the other hand apply pliers to the silver belt pulley and turn this piece clockwise. it should unscrew and then you can pull your bad fan off and attach the new one. i hope this helps and remember its not as hard as i probably made it sound. good luck!!!!

Gary...
You need to adjust your transmission. Here's a link that may help...

http://www.greatvacs.com/Kirby%20Transmission%20Adj.shtml

Marci

you need either a new nutreal cam bracket assembly, that is what engages and disengages the tech drive.OR to adjust the handle pivot assy- diffucult . this is not for the faint of heart. it is possible to fix them as i used to repair kirbys, however, I remember how frustrating it was to figure out how to disassemble and reassemble them. it is very complicated to a novice. I would recomend having it repaired professionaly. it is possible for a professional to repair it in a very short period of time.

another thing to consider. look on the UNDERSIDE of your Kirby, between the two drive wheels. just in fronnt of the tech drive/nutreal switch. there should be a screw there, tighten that screw up. actually tighten all of them. on My generation 3 the center screw came loose and it would not go in to drive and it would make an aweful clatter. hope this was helpful

Yes indeed the processes is very simple.

You're going to take the front end off like you normally would, but you also need to detach the bag so you will then grip on to the handle under the mini emptor, that's the plastic thing is connected to, there is a grip under that you will grip and turn it towards you.

Once it's loose you will then fill the shampoo tank. The solution calls for one shampoo tank cap full of Kirby suds to one part of water, and you can find the water parts labeled on the side of the tank. Use ONLY Kirby suds, I've tried other brands of suds and they didn't dry as fast as Kirby does and Kirby smells better anyway.

Second you want to put the tank on the exhaust port of the Kirby where you took the bag off. You will see there are little buds on the port mouth and there are grooves on where the shampooer tank attaches to the port mouth, line the bud up with the grooves on the tank and push towards the handle.

Next you're gonna hook up the shampoo tray like you would the beater bar. Next you're going to hook up the shampooer hose and you will put the smooth end on the small port on the tank and the other end on the hole in the middle of the tray.

Then you should be ready to go all you do then is turn the vacuum on without the suds on, and put it all the way down. Then you turn the suds on full blast and put the vac in drive and go. Not too fast but not too slow either just go a bit slower then when you vacuum on back and forth strokes. Well, hope full this solves your problem!

Some months ago I fell over my K-G6 at nite. Later the handle appeared looser than normal. Gradually, it started having the possessed yank-you-off-your-feet feel. This week I carefully disassembled the chrome plated cowling cover the handle goes thru to look inside. Two top machine screws when the front hood is lifted, two rear screws in the plastic, a single center screw near the drive-neutral toggle and a single screw for the power cord strain relief. I removed the handle by taking the two large screws off. This allowed the cowling to come free. From the rear, on the left side is a lever with a two pronged fork pointing up. The fork is supposed to stick into the receiver mechanism which is part of the handle slide. I get it: as the user pushes and pulls on the handle while vacuuming, the handle assembly slides back and forth and transmits commands thru the mechanical linkage to the drive mechanism. My fork was not engaged in the receiver. The reason was 3 screws on the left side of the brass block assembly were loose and the small black wedge was partially crushed. I dissassembled, cleaned, oiled and replaced the pieces and cinched down the 5 machine screws holding both brass blocks and the wedge. When I did this, I noticed the fork engaged with the receiver. Now reassembled, my Kirby runs pretty good and no longer feels possessed. And yes the roller height does make a difference on the drive assist reaction.