Kirby Vacuum Transmission Repair

Here at Great Vacs we sometimes get asked how you adjust a kirby transmission. Sometimes if the transmission is not adjusted properly the transmission will work better one direction over the other. This just means that the transmission needs to be adjusted. It is fairly easy to do and does not mean that anything is wrong with your vacuum. This link is dedicated to help you adjust the transmission by yourself.

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Thanks, Dustin

Disclaimer - All information that we have provided is third party information. The information contained is just what we have learned over the years from repairing and rebuilding Kirby vacuums. All information and statements are merely our opinions. This document does not conatin any official or technical information on Kirby vacuums. For that you need to contact the Kirby company or your local distributors. We are not a Kirby distributor nor are we associated in any way with the Kirby Vacuum company. We don't claim to include all information in this document but if there is something that you would like us to add, please let us know.

The main steps to adjusting the transmission is taking the vacuum apart to be able to get to the transmision. The following steps are how to take it apart.

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	WARNING: NEVER ATTEMPT TO PERFORM ANY TYPE OF MAINTENANCE OR WORK ON THE VACUUM IN ANY WAY WHILE VACUUM IS CONNECTED TO A POWER SOURCE. DOING SO MAY RESULT IN ELECTRIC SHOCK. Remove the Powerhead To do this you will select your carpet height adjuster to its highest settings. Then spin the belt lifter so the two red arrows are pointed at each other. Then disconnect the head and take it off. Side note - when you are done and put your head back on, dont forget to realign the arrows to green on green.
	Remove the bag and handle Right where the handle goes into the actual vacuum it snaps out. To unsnap the handle there is a button on the back of the handle right at the base where it goes into the vacuum. To remove the bag put your hand under the boot mini emptor (plastic part at bottom of bag) and pull away from the vacuum and it snaps off. That is how you take off the handle and bag.
	Remove the trim around the Pivot handle The next step is to remove the trim around the pivot handle (where the handle snaps in). The first thing you want to do is to undo the screw at the bottom of the trim. The screw is located right above the transmission switch. Then you want to remove the screw that holds the cord under the trim. When that is off, you want to unsnap the trim by grabbing the bottom of it and lifting up, and at the same time pushing toward the front of the vacuum. The trim then comes off.
	Remove the Metal Body With the powerhead and rear trim removed the 4 screws that remove the Metal body are now visible. First we remove the 2 on the rear of the metal that were covered up by the trim. Once those are removed we move to the front of the vacuum and remove the two remaining screws that are holding on the front of the trim. With the 4 screws removed now you simply lift the Metal body off of the vacuum.
With the completion of this step the vacuum is taken apart as far as we need it to be. Now the motor, transmission and other main parts of the Kirby vacuum are exposed. Now all that is left to do is adjust the transmission and then put everything back together.
	Before Adjusting the transmission If your transmission is not working in either direction then do this step first. If your transmission is working in one direction but not the other then you can skip this step. What we want to do in this step is to make sure all the linkage is connected. Really the only link that I ever check is the one pictured. Sometimes the linkage pops out and that is the reason that the transmission is not working. If that is the problem put it where it should go and go below to testing the transmission.
	Adjusting the Transmission We are now ready to adjust the transmission. First we want to locate the two large adjusting screws (see picture). You will need to get a large phillips head screw driver and loosen them. Then you will want to move the bracket up or down in the direction it needs adjusting and then tighten the screws again. A point to be made here is that you just need to experiment one direction or another until you get it correct. For example I dont know which direction yours needs adjusting in so you will have to do it one way or another until you get it right. So lets say that your transmission only works going forward and just barely going back. So you adjust the screws and retighten them and you test the vacuum and now it works even faster going forward and none at all going back then you know that you moved it in the wrong direction. So then you simply loosen the screws again and move it in the opposite direction until you get the desired adjustment.
	Testing your adjustments Now you are ready to test your adjustment to make sure it is correct. To do that you are going to resnap the handle and bag back on. Then you will put the powerhead back on. We put this on because Kirbys have saftey switches so that the vacuum will not turn on until the powerhead and the bag are on correctly. Remember to test it you dont have to put all the metal and trim back together. Once you have achieved your desired results you just simply have to put everything back together and then you are finished. We hope this has been a help to you. Thanks Great Vacs!