Dyson DC-39 Triggerhead Teardown

Introduction

For lack of a better place for me to post this instructional, I have taken to placing it on my blog.
This blog is more geared toward my passion of multimedia immersion. The type that takes you out of you surroundings and envelops you to a whole new experience. But, as a hand-on kind of guy, there are times that my adventures entail fixing 'stuff''.

Dyson DC-39 Triggerhead Teardown

The triggerhead of our DC-39 was no longer spinning. Upon inspection it appeared that the mechanisms that caused the brush to spin had seized. Curious about the possibility of tearing down the head to correct the problem, I couldn't find anything online. Instead, I embarked on my own unguided endevour to tear down the $75 unit and, as an after thought, I took pictures as I reassembled the unit.



For your convenience I have laid them out in order of disassembly. I do not know the proper terminology so I just made it up.

I spent almost three hours on this thing, but that combines looking for information online (none that I found), figuring out how to take it apart with minimal breakage, and taking pictures.

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1. With a screw driver or quarter, gently unlock the brush removal cover and remove the brush.

2. Lift the brush removal opening over the edge of the floor guard and remove. Both ends flex, so make each side work a bit so you don't snap anything.

3. Remove the six (6) T10 Torx screws from the Housing Cover.

3a. When putting the unit back together, ensure you slide the tab under the Brush Gearing Cover.

4. Remove the one Torx (smaller than T10, T7?) screw that holds the Brush Gearing Cover on. This screw is smaller in diameter than the six you removed from the Housing Cover.

4a. To remove the Brush Gearing Cover, gently lift the tab on the one side and pry the plastic away from the lip on the otherside. Be gentle!

5. Remove the two Torx (smaller than T10, T7?) screws to remove the Brush Gear

5a. I removed the spring to keep from losing it.

6. Remove the belt by orienting the exposed teeth to where the belt first meets the Brush Gear. Lift the belt off the teeth and then rotate the gear so the exposed teeth pass through the channel until the belt has been removed. In the case of my issue, I couldn't remove the belt because the shaft was not turning, so I dealt with the brush gear flapping in the wind.

7. Remove the clear plastic tube by pulling off each end. (complete removal not pictured)

8. Remove the screw holding the Valve into the base with a T10 torx wrench. You see my attempt at cutting away at the plastic to fit other tools before I found the wrench.

9. To remove the valve, first we need to lift it off its seat by pulling away and up from the outside edge. It isn't difficult, but be mindful that the valve has a tab that rests into the pictured groove.

10. Next, compress the Valve and work it off of the clear plastic Plunger Guide's arms.

11. From here we can remove the rest of the unit out of the base by tilting the entire assembly out of place. When putting back everything back together be mindful of the hose opening and rubber seals and how they should rest in the base.

12. Lift the rim of the Rubber Seal over the three tabs.

13. Then lift the plastic Plunger Guide over the assembly.

14. The rubber seal is easily removed by lifting the edge over the plastic lip.

15. Remove two torx screws (smaller the T10, all I know). Lift up on the tab to remove the two components. I unfortunately broke mine.

Be mindful of the foam. An adhesive is used to affix it in place.

16. (Post-Script - This step may not actually be necessary to remove the belt in the next step, but will remain for completeness of disassembly)
Remove the snap clip holding the 'turbine' on by grabbing it with a pair of pliers and lifting up hard. I broke my in the process, but it was still reusable. I'm sure more experienced individuals out there may have a better trick up their sleeves.

17. Lift the belt over the 'turbine' gear by working it up. Then using the same trick as in Step 6, work the belt off of the larger gear.

18. Remove the gear by inserting a small flat-head under the edge and lightly twisting back and forth to work it off. At no point does it make sense to pry because the plastic will crack. Instead, if the small screwdriver doesn't quite lift anymore, get a larger one.

Conclusion

Manually trying to spin the shaft was difficult, but I eventually got it to free up. There was still some roughness in the motion. My lack of experience tells me that a bearing might have went. I don't know for sure, but didn't feel like I could take the unit any further apart.

After reassembling the unit, I hooked it up to the vacuum, turned it on and away it went. The brush spins louder than I remember it, but over the course of a month seems to either have tapered off or I'm use to it.

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