Author Topic: American Dyson DC17 - Stripdown & Refurbishment! (Read 5604 times)

beko1987 · « **on:** January 23, 2022, 06:53:11 pm »

Many many years ago, our own Mr Parwaz purchased a DC17 from who knows where, but local to him in Birmingham. Some years after that he had a clearout and gave it to me, and I made it sit in a cold dark wet shed for another few months... Sometimes with company

American Dyson DC17 - Stripdown & Refurbishment!

But most often not. Until one day I finally bought it in to be looked at

As discovered here

the belt was no good

The brushroll was knackered

And the motor rusty

But, it was all there, so the stripdown can commence

beko1987 · « **Reply #1 on:** January 23, 2022, 07:18:00 pm »

First thing is to drop the cable and remove the wand

Unpick the 3 locking tabs at the end of the wand

Then tap it out

Next, looking up inside the wand as it enters the plastic housing are 2 screws. Remove that, and pull the wand up and out. Then all the innards will fall out (If you careful as you do it you'll see how they all sit before it's too late)

The wand casing strips down even more

With the wand done, we can move to the bottom of the machine

Remove the suction elbow

Then this random bit of trim on the suction elbow...

beko1987 · « **Reply #2 on:** January 23, 2022, 07:21:29 pm »

To release the hose is fun on this model... First, remove the lower cord hook...

This then gives you access to the rubber tabs you need to push up and out

But it wont come out yet

Nope, unclip the very end tool holder part of the other end of the hose

Then undo the middle rubber part

AND THEN you can remove the hose from the machine! And we can move on up the chassis and undo the screws for the switches

Pretty standard fare here

Unwire everything

beko1987 · « **Reply #3 on:** January 23, 2022, 07:23:42 pm »

And the mains cable can be removed

And the chassis loom pulled down

The cyclone rubber seals can come off as we go

Time to lift the lid on the pre motor filter

There's a seal that lives in the end of the housing

Le filter

I removed the tool holder clips as I went

beko1987 · « **Reply #4 on:** January 23, 2022, 07:26:26 pm »

Next we need access to the post motor filter, which is apparently in here

This cover comes off

and a mouldy, dry rotted disgusting post motor filter can be peeled off!

Moving down to the brushroll, we can remove the base plate

Then peel the rubber seal out

Then remove the rubber blade and seized rusty front wheels

Next up to remove are 2 springs

beko1987 · « **Reply #5 on:** January 23, 2022, 07:30:41 pm »

The clear brushroll housing can now be unclipped from the outer one

But is still attached as the brushroll motor sits in here, and is hardwired in

Aha, no fear, we can just unplug the motor quickly... nope

At least the hose comes off nice and easily

The front bumper unclips from the clear housing

And the startings of the whole recline lock assembly can start to be removed with this cover

The rear wheels also need to be removed as they block things otherwise...

beko1987 · « **Reply #6 on:** January 23, 2022, 07:35:43 pm »

There is 1 C-Clip on these machines

Then this is where the fun starts. The bottom of the machine comes off now. This drops the motor and everything else down too. What you end up with is

I'm very glad we unplugged it before we started yes...

It all sort of just hangs there too, it's awful, I presume there is some official way that makes it alot easier...

This is the recline switch for the brushroll

Motor out of the motor housing

Peel the crispy seal off

Then finally we can extract the spine loom

And disconnect the sodding brushroll motor

beko1987 · « **Reply #7 on:** January 23, 2022, 07:39:22 pm »

I removed and checked the carbon brushes in the brushroll motor and they were good, whole motor looked fine bar the rusty case

I stripped the motor down to get the fans washed

Found yet more parts in the plastics

The changeover valve is held on with a hidden plastic clip, once unclipped it breaks down fairly nicely

There's a rubber seal under there

Finally the release valve can come out

That part done, it's time to move on to the cyclone

beko1987 · « **Reply #8 on:** January 23, 2022, 07:43:51 pm »

The shroud pops off the upper housing

And to myself, who has only ever seen UK market dysons, looked immediately odd!

The utterly bloody disgusting nature of it all felt very familiar though...

The shroud unclips from the inner frame

The two lower cones unclip from the bottom end, uncovering 8 more

Then a white spacer piece

It seems it had turned into a 3 cone cyclone, must be a design feature, like modern cars turn off half the engine when idle etc

Inside here we can see all the screws that hold the top case on

The carry handle and the start of the bin emptying stuff unclips too

beko1987 · « **Reply #9 on:** January 23, 2022, 07:47:51 pm »

The cyclone top seal comes out now

It unclogged itself then, BAGLESS IS BETTER!

Onto the bin now, the release catch for removing it completely comes off with its spring

Bin rod comes off

The bin flap seal can be removed and it's seals peeled off

And that was everything stripped down! Big pile of washing

24th April 2020 - looked like a decent day

This just went in the bin

Everything else got washed, polished and ready for re-assembly!

beko1987 · « **Reply #10 on:** January 23, 2022, 08:31:15 pm »

I took the motor apart a bit more to clean it up and check the bearings were fine, which amazingly they were! De-grotted the carbons

and put it right back together

Bin seals now

Bin release rod

And through the magic of fresh polish and the camera it looks quite good

Latch and spring need to go on too

beko1987 · « **Reply #11 on:** January 23, 2022, 08:34:31 pm »

We can take our full compliment of unclogged cyclones

Our fresh top sealing housing

With it's nice sturdy moulded rubber seal, none of this foam ballcocks

And sit it on top. Cyclone top cover next

Refit the top handle and red levers and spring

Then wonkily hold it together and do up the screws

Plastic firewall in

The 2 nipples can be screwed on nice and tight

Shroud time now

beko1987 · « **Reply #12 on:** January 23, 2022, 08:38:28 pm »

The shroud snaps back on to the lower cone, then it can be clipped onto the top section

With the bin top seal fitted, the assembly is done and nice and clean!

Ugh, the next bit starts so simple, refit the release valve

Then take our non biohazard chassis

And refit the seal

Inside the changeover valve sits this plastic part. Refit the rubber seal to the top of it (it only goes one way IIRC)

This then clips inside the outer frame

The plastic retaining clip sits on the part first

beko1987 · « **Reply #13 on:** January 23, 2022, 08:42:19 pm »

The changeover valve can be snapped in place now

The bushings for the cleanerhead pivot can go in now

I fed the chassis wiring loom in next

And got the motor housing out. Using hot glue, I stuck a normal DC14 size post motor filter pad to the housing

Which worked pretty well. The OEM part costs a fortune here in the UK and I'd rather not impede the airflow and kill the even harder to find motor

I tried to work out the more logical way of reassembling it now so the motor got wired up first

All the wires routed and the housing placed in the bottom chassis cover

beko1987 · « **Reply #14 on:** January 23, 2022, 08:47:05 pm »

Sorry, fitted in the bottom of the top chassis! Because now, you can place the chassis into the cleanerhead housing and hang it off the back of your sofa so it all stays together...