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Author Topic: GTech Air Ram Mark 1 - Stripdown and Refurbishment!  (Read 33749 times)

Offline beko1987

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GTech Air Ram Mark 1 - Stripdown and Refurbishment!
« on: October 17, 2017, 11:03:28 pm »
Whilst I had an air ram in for a cog change (as per this thread - Gtech Air Ram Mk1 - Brushroll Cog Replacement How to Guide), I jumped at the chance to get a nice rebuild thread out of it, since we all love them so much!  :whist11:

Although a slight warning, I took this perhaps a bit too much to bits, and struggled getting some parts back together. I'll point these out as we go along!

But, strap yourselves in, and here we go!



Looks innocent enough doesn't it. The lady has owned it for about 4 years (I refurbished her Dyson DC23 a while back, so she knew me well enough Dyson DC23 - Stripdown and Refurb (and turbo tool repair)

Lift out the bin lid/filter housing

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This was the filters after I vacuumed them off (before I decided to do a full refurb for no monetary gain at all, bar these pictures and this thread!)

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The top part of the handle pulls out by pushing the locking tab in



And then just pulls out

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2 more locking tabs separates the handle from the wand bit

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Had a quick think about safety at this point, and whipped the battery out!

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Then had a look at these 4 screws

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Which once removed allows the top switch cover to lift off and reveal the mega expensive and robust looking switch...

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Collector and restorer of vintage vacuums, Dyson Appreciator! Come and see my blog, where I am uploading all my mountains of brochures, manuals and other vacuum cleaner paperwork, and also my youtube channel @beko1987!


Offline beko1987

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Re: GTech Air Ram Mark 1 - Stripdown and Refurbishment!
« Reply #1 on: October 17, 2017, 11:08:59 pm »
The switch button itself pops out of the cover

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And to give the impression that you are pushing on a proper, actual switch, not a momentary contact pad on a tiny PCB there is a spring and standoff tab to remove from the switch cover

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The switch itself is screwed onto the main upper chassis

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However, the two tiny wires are soldered onto the board, so can't be removed from this end... (so if you need a new power switch, you're going to have to get the electrical pritt stick out)

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Oh well, maybe we can unplug it further down. Undo all the screws on the back around the battery hole



(It's been a while since I did this and I can't remember where the different length screws went, so take note as you remove them...)

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And we can pull the wires out of the bott... ah no, we can't

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So that's staying pretty much as it is... Onwards!

(Bit out of cannon, as I'd put the filters in the wash, and refitted the lid) so remove the filter-less lid and separate it for washing

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Collector and restorer of vintage vacuums, Dyson Appreciator! Come and see my blog, where I am uploading all my mountains of brochures, manuals and other vacuum cleaner paperwork, and also my youtube channel @beko1987!

Offline beko1987

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Re: GTech Air Ram Mark 1 - Stripdown and Refurbishment!
« Reply #2 on: October 17, 2017, 11:13:04 pm »
Turn it over. Those of you who have read the cog thread may notice some of the before pictures coming up... I was utterly shocked at how terrible the thing is at keeping the dirt where it should be... You may notice what I mean...

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Undo the brushroll end cap screws

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Short one at the front, long one at the back on both sides

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The end caps pop off. The brass insert may stay on the brushroll, just pull it off and push it into the end cap/pop it somewhere safe.

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De-hair the end cap too, and hope it's not melted beyond use

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All this was from ONE SIDE!!!

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Then the other...

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Then, pull the brushrolls out, and get busy with the knife again!

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Collector and restorer of vintage vacuums, Dyson Appreciator! Come and see my blog, where I am uploading all my mountains of brochures, manuals and other vacuum cleaner paperwork, and also my youtube channel @beko1987!

Offline beko1987

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Re: GTech Air Ram Mark 1 - Stripdown and Refurbishment!
« Reply #3 on: October 17, 2017, 11:18:11 pm »
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Done! Probably wont take 3 weeks for it to be covered in hair again though... seems a very silly design, with little thought for preventing this happening... Hoover had thread guards in the 1950's...

Back to the machine now, and the static brush strip to stop it flicking dirt backwards on hard floors is held in with 4 short screws

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Removing it reveals a few specs of dust beneath

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Then, remove these 4 screws

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Lift the bin itself out

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Remove this front screw underneath

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And the two end ones



And the front part comes away

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Collector and restorer of vintage vacuums, Dyson Appreciator! Come and see my blog, where I am uploading all my mountains of brochures, manuals and other vacuum cleaner paperwork, and also my youtube channel @beko1987!


Offline beko1987

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Re: GTech Air Ram Mark 1 - Stripdown and Refurbishment!
« Reply #4 on: October 17, 2017, 11:24:53 pm »
Undo the two screws at the back of behind the bin

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Lift the motor unit out of the machine

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Onto the wheels now. Pop the glamour caps off

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And remove the circlips, washers and more damn hair

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Under here you will find 2 big screws. These are what holds the two parts of the machine together

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Remove them, but don't try and seperate things yet

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This is the underneath of the motor. The wires you see running down from the top are clipped in by a plastic part either side, the small torx screws seen behind the wheel. Remove these

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Now the next part is probably going to be controversial... I wanted to strip things down, and because EVERYTHING is soldered together, I decided to cut the wires and solder them later, rather than de-solder the wires from the pcb's, and risk damaging the boards. If you don't have to have the pivot assembly apart, DO NOT DO THIS! Just unscrew the motor contact pad from the lower chassis and lift it all away!

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Collector and restorer of vintage vacuums, Dyson Appreciator! Come and see my blog, where I am uploading all my mountains of brochures, manuals and other vacuum cleaner paperwork, and also my youtube channel @beko1987!

Offline beko1987

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Re: GTech Air Ram Mark 1 - Stripdown and Refurbishment!
« Reply #5 on: October 17, 2017, 11:29:12 pm »
You can now look at this from this angle!

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These brackets either side route the wires out of the way and are where the big pivot screws screw into. They can be removed

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Then the wires can be pulled out of their gluey channel

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Next, undo the BIG screw that holds the bottom part of the upper assembly on and withdraw it, noting the washer locations

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3 screws (one was missing when I got here, this wasn't me!) can be seen now

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Removing this shows the under side of the PCB

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But not much else can happen, so the whole upper part cannot be washed.

Under the metal part, we see the locking mechanism to lock the thing upright

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And the top part

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Collector and restorer of vintage vacuums, Dyson Appreciator! Come and see my blog, where I am uploading all my mountains of brochures, manuals and other vacuum cleaner paperwork, and also my youtube channel @beko1987!

Offline beko1987

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Re: GTech Air Ram Mark 1 - Stripdown and Refurbishment!
« Reply #6 on: October 17, 2017, 11:34:33 pm »
Undoing the two screws and the whole lot drops out

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And splits apart

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Back to the lower chassis now. The motor, when screwed down sits on some contacts, which allows the motor unit to just be lifted out after removing a few screws, making it easier to replace if it burns out. These contact points are held on with 2 small screws under a massive layer of filth

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Around the rear wheels sit some vanity vents

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And 2 rubber cover plates to tidy up the gaps around the rear wheels

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This part here is what the contact bits attach to (and it all screws down together)

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It has spring loaded rollers which hold the motor down until it's screwed up. Pushing the pins out of the rollers splits it all

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2 wheels sit underneath

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Which just pop out

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Collector and restorer of vintage vacuums, Dyson Appreciator! Come and see my blog, where I am uploading all my mountains of brochures, manuals and other vacuum cleaner paperwork, and also my youtube channel @beko1987!

Offline beko1987

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Re: GTech Air Ram Mark 1 - Stripdown and Refurbishment!
« Reply #7 on: October 17, 2017, 11:39:35 pm »
Motor now!

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Yet more melted hair everywhere

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There's a screw either side of the rear part. Remove both

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And lift the suction duct off the unit

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The black cover pops off now, lift from the back as it locates into the front cog housing

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Somewhere, you may need to dig, you will see some screws holding the gearbox together. Remove them

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And marvel at all the packed hair. This is probably what stripped the cog, or at least did not help AT ALL

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The motor drive goes to a metal adapter piece via a tiny toothed belt. This METAL adapter part then goes to the SOFT PLASTIC cog. You'd think someone at Gtech would have looked at that and realized a tiny flaw in their logic...

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The motor wires are screwed into the other side of the casing, onto the 2 prongs that locate into the contacts of the main machine

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Collector and restorer of vintage vacuums, Dyson Appreciator! Come and see my blog, where I am uploading all my mountains of brochures, manuals and other vacuum cleaner paperwork, and also my youtube channel @beko1987!

Offline beko1987

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Re: GTech Air Ram Mark 1 - Stripdown and Refurbishment!
« Reply #8 on: October 17, 2017, 11:44:16 pm »
Once removed I think there was another screw or two, then the other side of the housing came off

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I then could not find a way of seperating the powerhouse motor from the air ducting

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There were no visible fixings or signs of adhesive

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Apart from the ones that split the casing

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I'd imagine the fan would have to come off or something, but it's a push fit fan, and because I did not want to break it, I left it alone and just wiped that part down and picked the bits off the fan. It did work fine tbh.

All the screws! All of them ruddy tiny



The stripped cog once I unearthed it from it's hairy embalming. For the re-assembly, I'm using this, as the new one kindly sent by Manchestervacs for the cog change guide had not arrived (and this was a trial run for said guide), so just use your imagination wherever you see the stripped cog!

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And first off, we put the wings back together!

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Collector and restorer of vintage vacuums, Dyson Appreciator! Come and see my blog, where I am uploading all my mountains of brochures, manuals and other vacuum cleaner paperwork, and also my youtube channel @beko1987!

Offline beko1987

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Re: GTech Air Ram Mark 1 - Stripdown and Refurbishment!
« Reply #9 on: October 17, 2017, 11:48:42 pm »
Then, fit the first half of the motor housing/cog holder

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And pop the motor wires back on

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All looks a bit cleaner

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Fit the brushroll cog

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Then manipulate the belt onto the motor shaft, then onto the adapter pulley, then push the adapter bit home, ensuring it sits ontop of the brushroll cog as shown, not underneath (if it's underneath, your brushroll cog is the wrong way round)

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Fit the other side of the casing

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Then fit the top cover

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Then the air ducts

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Screw them all down

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Collector and restorer of vintage vacuums, Dyson Appreciator! Come and see my blog, where I am uploading all my mountains of brochures, manuals and other vacuum cleaner paperwork, and also my youtube channel @beko1987!

Offline beko1987

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Re: GTech Air Ram Mark 1 - Stripdown and Refurbishment!
« Reply #10 on: October 17, 2017, 11:53:39 pm »
Onto the lower chassis now, and pop the front wheels back in

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Re-assemble the motor clamp

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Fit the rubber covers

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Then, drop the either complete wiring loom in, or the cut part. I lied earlier too regarding the motor clip, it screws in itself, it holds 2 what I presume are little coils on the wires

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Reassemble the locking tab, then fit it to the machine

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Screw it down

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But be careful that it is tightened fully/square. This was not, and once it was together I had to fettle it a bit until it went *click* and the tab popped right out!

Fit the washer to the main screw hole, and fit the bottom cover, threading the wires through the correct hole, and replacing the 3 or maybe even 4 screws

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Collector and restorer of vintage vacuums, Dyson Appreciator! Come and see my blog, where I am uploading all my mountains of brochures, manuals and other vacuum cleaner paperwork, and also my youtube channel @beko1987!

Offline beko1987

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Re: GTech Air Ram Mark 1 - Stripdown and Refurbishment!
« Reply #11 on: October 17, 2017, 11:58:59 pm »
Fit the last washer and the massive pivot screw. This also took some fettling and some new threadlock compound, which luckily I had from a cambelt change years ago on Amys old car, as too loose and it flopped about, too tight and it locked solid, but just right caused the screw to loosen itself...

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Fit the pivot points and route the wires to the metal cover

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Then drop the 2 halves together, fit the wire guides, then fit the 2 pivot bolts, ensuring the wires run correctly. You will need a drop of glue to hold the wires to the already glued channels, as the already glued glue won't be sticky enough to hold the wires and they will drop out of the back

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Once your happy everything is moving fine, and nothing is binding up, drop the motor unit in

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At this point, pop the battery in quickly and check it all runs and spins fine!

Then, screw up the motor

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Grab the two halves that make up the front bumper

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And fit them, screwing them into the centre through the motor housing tip

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And the 2 smaller screws that just hold the 2 parts together

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Pop the brushrolls back in

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Collector and restorer of vintage vacuums, Dyson Appreciator! Come and see my blog, where I am uploading all my mountains of brochures, manuals and other vacuum cleaner paperwork, and also my youtube channel @beko1987!

Offline beko1987

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Re: GTech Air Ram Mark 1 - Stripdown and Refurbishment!
« Reply #12 on: October 18, 2017, 12:02:26 am »
And fit the end caps

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Pop the rear wheels on

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And the unit should stand up nicely



Put the cover back on the battery housing part



And reassemble the power switch, screw the PCB down if not already and fit the cover

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Clip the 2 handle parts together and fit to the machine



Drop the bin in

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Fit the now dry spotless filters (normal cottons wash, with bedsheets/towels etc, not your best sunday whites just in case...)

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And drop the lid on

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Collector and restorer of vintage vacuums, Dyson Appreciator! Come and see my blog, where I am uploading all my mountains of brochures, manuals and other vacuum cleaner paperwork, and also my youtube channel @beko1987!

Offline beko1987

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Re: GTech Air Ram Mark 1 - Stripdown and Refurbishment!
« Reply #13 on: October 18, 2017, 12:06:22 am »
And job done!


Once the cog came and got changed, I have it a go, as I haven't actually used one of these before


It's not bad actually! Shame the company themselves are a bit ropey, won't honour warranties on new machines etc (https://manchestervacs.co.uk/DysonForum/index.php/topic,3068.0.html) and the build quality and design is questionable, but TBH if I ever get the chance to pick one up for £20/£30 with a stripped cog and needing a wash, I'd jump at the chance, it would be really handy in our house. Only as a cordless dustbuster, to pick up the detritus from the kids constantly to save me getting whatever full size machine out for a proper vacuum all the time, but the DC16 is getting a bit boring long in the tooth now...

Either way, thanks for reading, and I hope this helps someone troubleshoot their Gtech Air Ram Mark 1!

Bye!
Collector and restorer of vintage vacuums, Dyson Appreciator! Come and see my blog, where I am uploading all my mountains of brochures, manuals and other vacuum cleaner paperwork, and also my youtube channel @beko1987!

Offline Madrat

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Re: GTech Air Ram Mark 1 - Stripdown and Refurbishment!
« Reply #14 on: October 18, 2017, 05:04:46 pm »
Good thread, still love my dc16, cant stick a crevice tool on a Gtech

 

 

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