Roller brush does not spin - Bissell 3920 Bagless Upright Vacuum

Lubricate each end of the roller brush with motor oil. Bearings inside the roller brush need lubrication for the brush to turn easily. Remove any pieces of thread that have wrapped around the roller brush. If it does not spin after doing the above steps, then either the belt is slipping or the bearings are severely damaged in the roller brush. Then you need either a smaller belt or a new roller brush.

It sounds like your roller brush itself might be bad. Try holding the roller brush holding just the end caps with your finger tips, and spinning the roller. Does the roller spin freely? If no, this indicates that your roller brush's bearings have melted together. This is a common problem for Bissell vacuums, as they use cheaper plastic bearing caps. The roller brush is not covered under the warranty either.

When this part goes bad, this causes the belt to break almost immediately. If you tried replacing the belt, and it broke immediately, your roller brush has gone bad.

Here's a link to the Bissell LiftOff Revolution rollerbrush on our site;

Bissell Roller Brush for Lift Off Bagless

Please leave me some feedback, or rate my solution helpful if this helped you fix your problem. Thanks so much,

Chris Jones
GoVacuum.com

HI There,

Usually when the belt breaks immediately, this indicates that your roller brush has gone bad and needs to be replaced. I have never seen the motor shaft being damaged and causing belts to break before. When the roller brush can't spin because it's bearings have worn out, the motor shaft continues to try and turn the belt, but since the belt can't spin the motor shaft at that point burns right through the belt.

To make sure that it's your roller brush, remove the brush from the vacuum cleaner, and hold it using just your two pointer finger tips, holding just the bearings caps at the end of the bar, and not the bar itself.

Try to spin the brush using your thumbs. Does the brush spin freely without resistance? It should spin completely around 3-4 times on each spin. If it doesn't spin, then your bar is bad.

If the brush doesn spin, and it continues to break belts, this means that the belt is being installed incorrectly, and is being pinched by the roller brush. Pull the belt forwards after installing to make sure the brush spins freely.

Hope this helped you,

Chris Jones
GoVacuum.com

Hello,

When a Dyson DC07 makes this horrible grinding noise, it can only mean one of three things.

The Dyson DC07 uprights use a clutch mechanism to control the brush spinning when you change the floor / carpet switch. When you hear this grinding noise, it's actually the clutch slipping because it can not spin the roller brush. Most other uprights use a belt to spin the roller brush, and if something is stuck in the roller brush it will cause the belt to break. Dyson's however will make that awful grinding noise rather then breaking the belt, and will only make that noise if the roller brush can not spin.

When you hear this noise on a Dyson, it can only be 1 of 3 things. Either your clutch mechanism itself has gone bad, or the roller brush itself was not properly put back into the vacuum, or the brush itself has gone bad.

I'll be happy to walk you through step by step on how to diagnosis this problem and find out which one of these two parts is bad on your vacuum.

Step 1. Make sure the vacuum is unplugged. Then turn the vacuum upside down so that the brushes are facing up. It's easiest if you put the head of the vacuum on top of a bench, or counter top. This is how the vacuum should look:


Step 2. You see on the bottom of the vacuum 3 plastic screws that are usually the same color as the vacuum cleaner. If you're vacuum is purple, the screws will also be purple. Use a flat head screwdriver, and turn each of the 3 screws a half of a turn, counter clockwise to loosen then. After each screw has been turned (you don't need to remove the completely, just a half of a turn is all), simply pull upwards on the bottom plate to remove it.



Step 3. You should now be able to see the roller brush exposed. You'll now need to remove the roller brush. This will take some patience, and some work in order to get this brush out of the vacuum. There is a special tool that has been designed to help you get the brush out easier. I would try getting the brush out first before buying this special tool. The easiest way is to use a flat head screw driver and pry the belt up while pulling up and out on the brush. With some patience and some maneuvering, you'll be able to get the brush out of the vacuum. Here's where you should put the flat head screw driver on the brush:


Step 4. Once you get the belt out of the vacuum cleaner, it's time to test it. Use your finger tips to hold just the end caps on the very end of the roller brush. While holding just the end caps, use your thumbs to try and spin the roller brush. Does the brush spin freely? It should rotate completely several times on each spin. If the brush doesn't spin, or you feel some kind of resistance to the brush spinning, then this indicates that your roller brush has gone bad. Here's a picture of how to test the brush:


If the roller brush went bad, then you'll need to purchase a new one. Here's a direct link to the roller brush your machine uses on our website GoVacuum:
http://www.govacuum.com/dysondc07.html


If the brush however was able to spin freely, and it spun multiple times, this indicates that most likely the brush was not put back in properly, or it could be a little more serious of problem in the clutch itself has gone bad. The clutch replacement repair is a much longer, more challenging repair to do. There is a very helpful video on how to replace the clutch below so that you may follow step by step instructions on how to change it. It was really helpful for me the first time I did this repair.

I think more likely however it's probably that the brush was not put back in properly, and this caused the brushes not to be able to spin, which would cause the clutch to make that horrible noise. Make sure that the roller brush is pictured like the brush above, you may also want to make sure that the bottom plate is put on correctly, this could also prevent the brush from spinning:

Here's a picture of the WRONG way to install the bottom plate. Notice the gap in between the two housings:



Here's another picture, that is the RIGHT way to install the soleplate:






If you need to replace the clutch, here's a direct link to the clutch your Dyson DC07 uses on our website:
http://www.govacuum.com/dydcclasfore.html

Here's the video on how to replace the clutch:


When you hear that grinding noise, it can only be one of these three problems. This clutch mechanism was so problematic that Dyson removed it on the second series of the DC07 models. I hope that this repair was helpful in diagnosing your problem. If you have any questions about the diagnosing, or the clutch change, please feel free to use the Clarification Request form here on the Fixya repair page. If this was helpful you, please be sure to rate my repair as helpful by clicking the thumbs up icons.

Thank you,

Chris J.
GoVacuum

Hello,

When a Dyson DC07 roller brush does not spin, it can only be caused by one of two problems.

The Dyson DC07 uprights use a clutch mechanism to control the brush spinning when you change the floor / carpet switch. When the brush doesn't spin, it's caused either by the clutch or roller brush gone bad. Most other uprights use a belt to spin the roller brush, and if something is stuck in the roller brush it will cause the belt to break. Dyson vacuums however will make that awful grinding noise rather then breaking the belt.

I'll be happy to walk you through step by step on how to diagnosis this problem and find out which one of these two parts is bad on your vacuum.

Step 1. Make sure the vacuum is unplugged. Then turn the vacuum upside down so that the brushes are facing up. It's easiest if you put the head of the vacuum on top of a bench, or counter top. This is how the vacuum should look:


Step 2. You see on the bottom of the vacuum 3 plastic screws that are usually the same color as the vacuum cleaner. If you're vacuum is purple, the screws will also be purple. Use a flat head screwdriver, and turn each of the 3 screws a half of a turn, counter clockwise to loosen then. After each screw has been turned (you don't need to remove the completely, just a half of a turn is all), simply pull upwards on the bottom plate to remove it.



Step 3. You should now be able to see the roller brush exposed. You'll now need to remove the roller brush. This will take some patience, and some work in order to get this brush out of the vacuum. There is a special tool that has been designed to help you get the brush out easier. I would try getting the brush out first before buying this special tool. The easiest way is to use a flat head screw driver and pry the belt up while pulling up and out on the brush. With some patience and some maneuvering, you'll be able to get the brush out of the vacuum. Here's where you should put the flat head screw driver on the brush:


Step 4. Once you get the brush out of the vacuum cleaner, it's time to test it. Use your finger tips to hold just the end caps on the very end of the roller brush. While holding just the end caps, use your thumbs to try and spin the roller brush. Does the brush spin freely? It should rotate completely several times on each spin. If the brush doesn't spin, or you feel some kind of resistance to the brush spinning, then this indicates that your roller brush has gone bad. Here's a picture of how to test the brush:


If the roller brush went bad, then you'll need to purchase a new one. Here's a direct link to the roller brush your machine uses on our website GoVacuum.com:
http://www.govacuum.com/dysondc07.html


If the brush however was able to spin freely, and it spun multiple times on each spin, this indicates a little more serious problem of the clutch itself has gone bad. The clutch replacement repair is a much longer, more challenging repair to do. There is a very helpful video on how to replace the clutch below so that you may follow step by step instructions on how to change it. It was really helpful for me the first time I did this repair.

If you need to replace the clutch, here's a direct link to the clutch your Dyson DC07 uses on our website:
http://www.govacuum.com/dydcclasfore.html

Here's the video on how to replace the clutch:



When the brush stops spinning it can only be one of these two problems. This clutch mechanism was so problematic that Dyson removed it on the second series of the DC07 models. I hope that this repair was helpful in diagnosing your problem. If you have any questions about the diagnosing, or the clutch change, please feel free to use the Clarification Request form here on the Fixya repair page. If this was helpful you, please be sure to rate my repair as helpful by clicking the thumbs up icons.

Thank you,

Chris J.
GoVacuum

Hi There,

Here's how you can replace the belt on your Eureka SmartVac 4870. I have taken pictures of the repair to help you better with this.

Here's what you'll need in order to complete this repair:

- Eureka Style R Extended Life Replacement Belt, Part 61110
- Eureka SmartVac Model 4870 Roller Brush Assembly, Part 61520 (Only if the brush no longer spins, or the brushes are worn out)
- Phillips head screw driver

Step 1. Turn the vacuum upside down so that the brush roller is facing upwards. Unscrew the three screws that I've highlighted in red.




Step 2. Remove the bottom plate after unscrew the three red highlighted screws. Once you remove the bottom plate, you'll have full access to the roller brush and belt area. Remove the roller brush by pulling straight up on the roller brush itself. Discard old belt, and test roller brush to ensure that it spins freely by holding the very end of each side, also called the bearing caps with just your finger tips. Try spinning the brush with your thumbs. The brush should spin several times around with each spin. If you notice the brush doesn't spin at all, or if you feel some resistance when you spin the brush, this means that your bearings are either gone, or will be soon. It may be time to consider a new roller brush at this time.



Step 3. Remove the new Eureka Style R belt from the packaging, and wrap one end around the the metal pin, on the opposite side of the roller brush. This pin is actually the motor shaft that spins the belt, which spins the brush.



Step 4. Wrap the other end of the belt through the side of the roller brush that has the pulley, and use the roller brush to stretch the brush roll back into the agitator housing. Make sure the end caps fit in the housing correctly by making sure there are no gaps between the roller brush housing and the end caps of the roller brush.



Step 5. After reinstalling the roller brush back into the housing with the belt attached, pull the belt forwards towards the brush. The brush should spin when you do this. Make sure that the belt is not pinched underneath of the roller brush or this will cause the belt to break immediately when you turn the vacuum back on.

Step 6. Reinstall the bottom plate, making sure that the little notches on the front end of the bottom plate tucked underneath of the reverse notches on the bottom housing of the vacuum cleaner. Tighten all 3 screws back into the bottom plate. Make sure the vacuum is set to carpet mode, and turn the vacuum on.

If you have any questions about this repair, or if you notice that the roller brush stops when the brushes hit the carpeting, please just use the clarification request form here on the Fixya repair page. I will then be happy to walk you through a little more advanced repair of replacing the clutch in the Eureka SmartVac that controls the rug/floor switch. Most of the time though the belt will be all the vacuum needs.

I hope that this was helpful information to you. If this helped you, please be so kind and rate the repair as helpful by clicking on the thumbs up icons in the top corner of this repair.

Thank you very much,

Chris J.
GoVacuum

Greetings,

When a brand new belt breaks in 5 seconds, this can only mean 1 of 2 things.

1. The roller brush itself may be bad and need replacing. If the roller brush's bearings lock up, and the brush can no longer spin freely, this will cause the belt to burn up immediately after you turn the vacuum on. You may test your roller brush by taking it out of the vacuum, and hold it on the very ends of the brush with your fingertips. Make sure you are only holding the bearing caps and not the brush itself. While holding the two bearing caps with your pointer fingers, try to spin the brush with your thumbs. Does the brush spin freely? If no, then you'll need to buy a new roller bush for your vacuum, unfortunately the bearings are not sold separately on Hoover vacuums. If the brush did spin freely (you should get at least 7 rotations out of one spin) then see reason number 2 below.

Your model uses Hoover Agitator Brush Part 48414132.

2. The belt was installed incorrectly. When a belt breaks immediately like this it can also be a result of it not being installed properly. When installing the next belt, after you have put the roller brush back into place, pull forward on the belt to make sure that the brush spins when you're pulling forward. Sometimes I pinch the belt underneath of the brush roller, and it will not spin freely, and will burn immediately if the belt is pinched.

It really can only be one of these two problems. I hope that this repair solution was helpful to you. If you need me to clarify something, please just request clarification here. If it did help, please be sure to rate my repair Helpful. Thank you so much!

Chris J.

Even though your belt is intact it still could be worn. if you tilt the vac up (roller off the floor and the roller spins, replace the belt. on most vacuums the life of the belt for optimum performance should be 9- 12 months. If your vac has a carpet / bare floor selection, check to make sure it is in carpet mode.

I’m happy to assist further over the phone at https://www.6ya.com/expert/robert_b96ba3f038cf317c

I have had problems with the belts on my Mach 5 overheating (smell of burning rubber) and also with the motor overheating and shutting down.
I learned the hard way that one of the issues might be that the roller/brush on the bottom of the unit has a metal bearing inside the roller/brush that can become clogged with hair (both human and pet hair) which effects performance of the unit.
It’s fairly easy to fix.
Lay the vacuum on the floor so that you can see the roller/brush. Then remove the phillip head screws that hold the protective plastic plate over the roller/brush. (There are about 6 screws that hold this plastic protective plate in place) Also, you will be removing the (1) screw that also holds the plastic plate over the belts. There are (2) belts that you can remove and when in doubt replace these (2) belts for around $9.00.
Once you have the protective plastic plate off that covers the roller/brush disconnect the belt is around the roller. Take the roller and cut off any hair that is wrapped around the roller. Next, grab the roller by each end and twist the ends caps and (1) of the ends will unscrew. Once you have unscrewed one of the ends remove any hair or dust that is trapped under this cap. (Be careful not to lose the small metal washer that sit on top of the bearing)You will notice under this cap is a metal bearing that can become clogged and jammed with hair. The hair should come out fairly easy and allow the brush to spin fairly easy once you have screwed the end caps back in place test that it spins freely. If it doesn’t spin freely replace the roller/brush with a new one for about $23.00.
When you put the belts back on the thick rubber one (Belt # 40201-271) has probably become stretched and should be replaced for about $3.00. The small diameter belt that goes over the roller/brush probably does not usually need to be replaced and does not usually fit very tight. I have heard that people will take the small roller/brush belt and turn it upside down to get a better fit.
I just did this on my Mach 5 and it runs like a new machine. I did end up replacing the roller/brush head.
Hopefully you will find this useful.

It sounds like you need to replace the actuator arm or the cable to it. Look for Hoover part 43143046 for a start. I've got a similar problem.