Agitator brush wont spin once vacuum is placed on floor

Use only BISSELL Style 10 Replacement Belts (#32074) in your BISSELL PowerForce Bagless.

1. Unplug cleaner from electrical outlet.
2. With Rotating Floor Brush removed from vacuum cleaner, grasp old Drive Belt and remove from Motor Pulley. Discard old Drive Belt.
3. Place new Drive Belt over Motor Pulley and stretch other end over Rotating Floor Brush in the space between the bristles.
4. Place ends of Rotating Floor Brush down into slots on sides as shown.
5. Turn Rotating Floor Brush by hand several times in the direction of Motor Pulley. If properly installed, Drive Belt will center itself on Rotating Brush.
6. Reposition Brush Cover and snap back into place. Check to be sure all three latches are secured.
7. When you turn on the vacuum, do you see the motor that spins the belt spinning at the bottom? If not, it sounds like you may have a burned out motor.
   

If suggested solutions do not correct the problem, call:
BISSELL Consumer Services 1-800-237-7691
Monday - Friday 8 a.m. - 10 p.m. ET
Saturday 9 a.m. - 8 p.m. ET

I’m happy to help further over the phone at https://www.6ya.com/expert/jeremy_69f3cc28d95bf514

It's because the belt is stretched out and has lost elasticity. It can turn the brush in the air but is not tight enough to turn it in the carpet. Replace the belt at least once per year even if the vacuum is never used.

vacuum height is set too low, jamming the brush

HI There,

The part that raises and lowers the height adjustment goes underneath of the hood on the vacuum cleaner, and is held on by the carpet height adjustment know on the top of the hood.

I've done a repair below that explains how to get the hood off of the roller brush housing, and replace the knob next to it which is the rug/floor selector knob which is the one right next to the height adjustment part. The repair on your machine will be the exact same process however. Hope this helped you:

Hello,

If you've already changed the belts and the machine still won't run, it can really be only a few things.

The first thing you should check to make sure that the roller brush is good. You may do this by removing the bottom plate, and then taking the roller brush out of the vacuum. Hold the bar using just your fingertips on the very ends of the brush on the bearing caps. With just holding the bearing caps with your fingers, use your thumbs to try and spin the bar. Does it spin freely without any resistance? If no, then you'll need to replace the roller brush. Here's a direct link to the exact roller brush for your Hoover Windtunnel Self-Propelled:
Hoover Windtunnel Agitator Brush Part # 48414069

If the roller brush spins freely several times on each spin, then your machine may possibly have a bad Rug / Floor actuator arm. This part controls the internal pulley that stops the roller brush when you turn it from carpet to floor mode.

I'm guessing that this is probably a more likely cause of your brushes not spinning. Here's how you can check this part:

Step 1. Make sure that the vacuum is unplugged. Turn the machine upside down so that the brushes are facing upwards. I find the easiest way to do this is to put the brushes on top of a counter top or work bench with the handle of the vacuum resting on the floor. Remove the four screws that hold the bottom plate in place. Remove the bottom plate, both belts and then the roller brush from the machine:



Step 2. There are 3 screws that hold the top brush cover in place that need to be removed. On the right side the screw is down below the transmission to the right. There's also a screw in the agitator tray, in the middle that needs to be removed. NOTE: This small screw in the agitator tray is only present on some models, you's may or may not have this little screw, but all models will have all other screws circled. I have circled both screws that need to be removed:



The screws on the left side that need to be removed are also circled. One screw holds the upper brush cover on, and the other two screws secure the hose in place. Remove all three screws as well as the transparent hose cover:



Step 3. After all of these screws have been removed, there are two clips that are the last things holding the top brush cover onto the vacuum. Use a flat head screwdriver to push these clips off on both the left and right sides. The right side clip is near the pulley that the flat belt rides on, and the left side clip is next to the internal hose.



Step 4. Once both of these clips have been pushed so the unhook from the lower agitator housing, remove the top cover. On the top you'll see two selector knows, one for the height adjustment, the other that controls the rug / floor setting. Turn the cover over and look at the opposite side of the knob that controls the rug / floor selector. There should be an arm that extends out that looks like this:




Sometimes this arm will break off, which will prevent the actuator arm from activating the rug carpet setting. The machine basically will always be set to bare surface floor mode. Is this arm broken off on yours? If yes, then here's how you can remove it from the machine.

Take your flathead screw driver, and place it underneath of the of selector knob on the top of the cover. Simply lightly pry upwards to separate the knob from the arm underneath:



Replace the actuator arm with a new one and see if this fixed your problem. If this was not the problem, there's really only one other possible thing it could be, but I rarely see this go bad. Please let me know if this fixed your problem, or if it is something else wrong. I'll be happy to then walk you through the last remaining possible problem.

I really hope that this repair was helpful to you. If you did find it to be helpful, help other Fixya users with the same problem find this repair by rating it helpful. You can do this by clicking on the thumbs up icons in the top of the repair.

Thank you very much,

Chris J.

Hello,

If you've already changed the belts and the machine still won't run, it can really be only a few things.

The first thing you should check to make sure that the roller brush is good. You may do this by removing the bottom plate, and then taking the roller brush out of the vacuum. Hold the bar using just your fingertips on the very ends of the brush on the bearing caps. With just holding the bearing caps with your fingers, use your thumbs to try and spin the bar. Does it spin freely without any resistance? If no, then you'll need to replace the roller brush. Here's a direct link to the exact roller brush for your Hoover Windtunnel Self-Propelled:
Hoover Windtunnel Agitator Brush Part # 48414069

If the roller brush spins freely several times on each spin, then your machine may possibly have a bad Rug / Floor actuator arm. This part controls the internal pulley that stops the roller brush when you turn it from carpet to floor mode.

I'm guessing that this is probably a more likely cause of your brushes not spinning. Here's how you can check this part:

Step 1. Make sure that the vacuum is unplugged. Turn the machine upside down so that the brushes are facing upwards. I find the easiest way to do this is to put the brushes on top of a counter top or work bench with the handle of the vacuum resting on the floor. Remove the four screws that hold the bottom plate in place. Remove the bottom plate, both belts and then the roller brush from the machine:



Step 2. There are 3 screws that hold the top brush cover in place that need to be removed. On the right side the screw is down below the transmission to the right. There's also a screw in the agitator tray, in the middle that needs to be removed. NOTE: This small screw in the agitator tray is only present on some models, you's may or may not have this little screw, but all models will have all other screws circled. I have circled both screws that need to be removed:



The screws on the left side that need to be removed are also circled. One screw holds the upper brush cover on, and the other two screws secure the hose in place. Remove all three screws as well as the transparent hose cover:



Step 3. After all of these screws have been removed, there are two clips that are the last things holding the top brush cover onto the vacuum. Use a flat head screwdriver to push these clips off on both the left and right sides. The right side clip is near the pulley that the flat belt rides on, and the left side clip is next to the internal hose.



Step 4. Once both of these clips have been pushed so the unhook from the lower agitator housing, remove the top cover. On the top you'll see two selector knows, one for the height adjustment, the other that controls the rug / floor setting. Turn the cover over and look at the opposite side of the knob that controls the rug / floor selector. There should be an arm that extends out that looks like this:




Sometimes this arm will break off, which will prevent the actuator arm from activating the rug carpet setting. The machine basically will always be set to bare surface floor mode. Is this arm broken off on yours? If yes, then here's how you can remove it from the machine.

Take your flathead screw driver, and place it underneath of the of selector knob on the top of the cover. Simply lightly pry upwards to separate the knob from the arm underneath:



Replace the actuator arm with a new one and see if this fixed your problem. If this was not the problem, there's really only one other possible thing it could be, but I rarely see this go bad. Please let me know if this fixed your problem, or if it is something else wrong. I'll be happy to then walk you through the last remaining possible problem.

I really hope that this repair was helpful to you. If you did find it to be helpful, help other Fixya users with the same problem find this repair by rating it helpful. You can do this by clicking on the thumbs up icons in the top of the repair.

Thank you very much,

Chris J.
GoVacuum

Greetings from GoVacuum,

It sounds like you have a bad part called the Clutch Rubber Pad Holder Assembly on the inside of your roller brush. I believe that the problem you are having is that the roller brush does not spin, but the belt is properly installed and engaged, correct? This can only be something inside the clutch mechanism in the roller brush itself has gone bad. The easiest way to fix this is to purchase a new roller brush assembly, which can be purchased here; Riccar 8000 Series Roller Brush With Rug/Floor Switch. I realize that this is a rather expensive part at $43.00, but it may be worth it for you to avoid the aggravation of having to take apart the roller brush piece by piece. To test out this part, and verify that it has gone bad what you need to do is turn the vacuum upside down and remove the bottom plate. Then make sure the vacuum is in the Carpet setting on the Rug / Floor switch on the top of the vacuum. Now while the bottom plate is off, turn the vacuum cleaner on. Can you see the belt spinning on the brush? Is the brush roll itself not spinning? If the belt is spinning on the pulley, but the brush itself is not spinning, this indicates that it's bad.

If you decide that you'd rather just replace the rubber gasket inside of the roller brush, here's a detailed repair solution for you on how to replace this part;

Step 1: Remove the roller brush from the vacuum cleaner completely. If you need help with this step, please see my repair solution for the belt change on your model here; http://www.fixya.com/support/t4184186-replace_belt_riccar

Step 2: Once the roller brush has been removed, turn the brush on it's side, so the metal end that has 2 teeth protruding out is on top, and the end that has the rubber cap is downwards. Use a flat head screw driver to remove the clip on that outside of the brush;



Step 3: Remove the clip on the outside of the brush with a screw driver, then remove the metal end cap from the brush. The entire roller brush is spring loaded, so you'll need to apply some downward force to these parts so they don't just shoot off. It's really the easiest if you lay out the pieces to the roller brush in the order that they were taken off, to make it easier when you are reinstalling these pieces. After removing the metal cap at the end, this is what you should see:


Step 4: There is a small plastic washer underneath of the metal cap. Remove the washer, and the plastic part underneath of the washer that has two teeth protruding outwards. This is how the brush should look after this step;




Step 5: After removing the plastic part with the teeth, the next part of the brush is the metal part which is called the Inside Metal Cam. The Inside metal cam is the part that the actuator arm for the rug / floor switch connects into. Remove the Inside Metal Cam from the brush. This is how it should look after this step;



Step 6: The next part underneath of the Inside Metal Cam is called the Agitator Pulley Clutch. This is the part that the belt rides on. Remove the Agitator Pulley Clutch from the roller brush. This is how it should look after the Agitator Pulley Clutch has been removed;



Step 7: The next part that needs to be removed is called the Agitator Compression Spring which is used to spring load the entire roller brush. Simply slide this spring off the Agitator Shaft, and this is how it should look;




Step 8: After the Agitator Compression Spring has been removed, turn the roller brush on the side, and remove the Agitator Shaft from the roller brush. This is done by simply pulling the other side of the brush end which is covered by a rubber boot. This will remove the long metal shaft which is sticking up. This is how it pulls out;



After the shaft has been removed, the other end of the brush should look like this;



Step 9: The next part that needs to be removed is probably the part that's worn out on your vacuum. The part is called the Clutch Rubber Pad Holder Assembly, Riccar Part Number C012-0400. The way the roller brush works is, when you move the Rug / Floor switch to Floors, the clutch (the parts that you just took apart) loosens up so that the belt is still turning, but the pulley that it spins on is not tight against the brush. When you select the switch to carpets, the clutch then tightens the pulley against the Clutch Rubber Pad Holder Assembly so the when the belt spins on the pulley, it's also now going to spin the brush. Over time this part gets heated up, and the rubber wears down to a point where the pulley will no longer stick to it, which causes the exact problem that you have, where the belt is installed correctly, but will not spin the brush. Simply use a flat head screw driver and pry directly on top of the brush strip, and remove the Clutch Rubber Pad Holder Assembly;

This is how the part looks by itself; If you're interested in purchasing this part, you may contact your local Riccar dealer, or we can also supply you this part. Once again this part is called the Clutch Rubber Pad Holder Assembly, Riccar part number C012-0400. Please just email me at [email protected] for pricing on this part if you need it. I hope that this repair solution was helpful for you. If this didn't fix it, please contact me, I'd be more then happy to try and help you diagnosis this problem further. If this repair solution was helpful to you, please be sure to rate the solution as helpful by clicking the 4 Thumbs Up Icons in the top right hand corner of this repair. Thank you very much, Chris Jones GoVacuum.com

I will attempt to walk you through the belt change on your Riccar 8955 upright vacuum cleaner. I have taken pictures for you for each step to ensure that it's done properly. What you'll need to have handy for this repair;

- Phillips Head Screw Driver
- Riccar 4000 / 8000 Series Belt
- Riccar 8000 Series Roller Brush With Clutch Assembly (only if the brushes have worn down, not necessary if brushes are still long)

Step 1: Make sure the vacuum cleaner is unpluged, and turn the vacuum cleaner upside down so the bottom plate is upwards. It's easiest to do on a work bench or counter top.



Step 2: Unsrew the two metal screws on the metal bottom plate with your Phillips head screw driver, and remove the bottom plate from the vacuum cleaner so the belt is completely exposed with the roller brush.

Step 3: Remove the belt guard that sits to the left of the roller brush, and is a metal part that protects any dirt & debris from going over to the belt. Here's a picture of that part being removed;



Step 4: Remove the Rug / Floor actuator arm from the clutch on the right hand side of the roller brush. Simply pull the metal actuator arm to the left of the brush and out of the circle that it sits in. Here's a picture of that;



Step 5: Once you have removed the actuator arm for the clutch, as well as the belt guard, lift staight up on the roller brush and remove the roller brush from the vacuum cleaner:



Step 6: Once you have removed the roller brush, and the old belt from the vacuum cleaner, take one new belt and wrap it around the metal pin in the back of vacuum cleaners agitator housing. Here's a picture of where that pin is located with the belt wrapped around it;



Step 7: Once you have the belt wrapped around the metal pin (this is the shaft to the motor that actually spins the belt), but the other end of the belt through your new roller brush;



Step 8: There is a specific way that the roller brush has to be inserted. If the roller brush is not put in properly, this can cause all sorts of problems including the brush not spinning, and continously having to replace belts. You can see on the end cap of the roller brush (the right side where the belt rides) that there is two little teeth that protrude out of the end cap as well as an indentation on the opposite side;



Step 9: With the roller brush inserted through the belt, posistion the two teeth facing downwards. You can see in the vacuum cleaner where the roller brush sits, a little groove down inside of the housing. These two teeth need to straddle that groove. Also make sure that the little ring, or circle that the clutch actuator arm sits into, is facing upwards completely. It should be directly on top of the two teeth. Stretch the belt using the roller brush as leverage down into the agitator housing of the vacuum cleaner, making sure that the two teeth are facing downwards straddling the little groove. After the brush is back into the vacuum cleaner, take the metal actuator arm from the rug / floor switch, and insert it back into the metal ring (or hole) on the roller brush;


Step 10: Replace the metal belt guard that rests to the left of the belt. You'll notice on the belt guard that there are two little 90 degree notches on both sides. These notches need to face towards the belt or to the right. Here's a picture of the belt guard being put back into place;





Step 11: After inserting the belt guard back into the vacuum, turn the vacuum cleaner over so the top of the agitator housing is facing you. Change the the rug / floor switch from bare floors to the carpet setting, and the turn the vacuum upside again so the brush and belt are exposed:



Step 12: With the vacuum set to the carpet setting, pull the belt forwards to ensure that the brush is spinning freely. If the belts do not spin freely, repeat steps 2-10.








Thank you

Chris Jones
GoVacuum

Have your clutch checked out by a local vacuum repair shop. That's a common problem with dyson brush rollers

hello, have you checked to make sure you have nothing wraped around the brushes ? also it sounds like your belt needs to be replaced.

Greetings from GoVacuum.com,

Replacing a Belt on an Upright vacuum can vary from model to model, but it is basically going to be the same for most upright models.

First you will need to access the belt. Most upright vacuums this is done by turning the machine upside down, and most you'll need to remove the bottom plate by unscrewing (usually 4) screws that hold the plate on. You should see screws that are closest to the actual roller brush, simply remove these screws, and take the bottom plate off. If the machine is a Eureka, or Kenmore, the top agitator housing will be removed from the top of the vacuum, not the bottom.

Once you have removed the bottom plate, or top agitator housing, you should be able to see the belt (or broken belt) along with the roller brush. Remove the broken belt. Make sure that you purchase the correct belt by taking the make, and the model number (located on the back or bottom of the machine). Please note that a broken belt may be 4-5 inches longer then a new belt, as they stretch a lot before they finally break.

Once you have the new belt, you will need to remove the roller brush. Pay attention to how the roller brush fits into the agitator housing, usually there will be fittings on the end of the roller that have to be put in a specific place, or in a certain way to work right. After the roller brush is taken out of the machine, you will need to wrap one end of the belt around a metal pulley on the opposite side of the roller brush. Most pulleys are located where the main housing (handle part) of the vacuum meet the the agitator (floor part) part of the machine. Anyways, wrap one end of the belt around the pulley, and then put the roller brush through the other end of the belt. This is where you'll need to put some elbow grease into it. You'll need to stretch the roller brush and belt so that the brush and belt are stretched back to the place where you took the roller brush out of the vacuum.

Once you have replaced the roller brush with a new belt around it, pull the belt a few times to make sure that the brush spins while you are pulling it, to ensure that the belt is not pinched, and is spinning freely.

I hope this helps. Here's a video showing how to replace the belt on a Hoover Windtunnel Self Propelled model; Feel free to email me if you'd like to send me the model number of your vacuum, this way I can be a little more specific, and give you part numbers. I have all belts for all vacuums in stock. Email; [email protected]. 1-866-468-2288. You may also chat with me by going to our website, www.govacuum.com, and clicking in the top right part of the page. Thanks!