I was wondering why my Oreck was SO hard to push. I discovered it could be the belt. I took the bottom off, and sure enough, the belt had come off the drive mechanism. It had to be the original belt, since the spare was still in its compartment. This was my mother's vacuum, and from the date on the Oreck label, was manufactured in the middle of March of 2003. I figured after 21 years, it was a good time to break out that spare belt. The original belt looked a little less pliable after all this time. The spare belt was STILL tough to get back on. I had to use my number 2 screwdriver to apply some leverage to get the belt over that drive mechanism. Then I turned it like you suggested. I turned the vacuum on, and I could tell the difference right away. The vacuum moved forward the tiniest fraction of an inch while the handle was still in the upright position. When I went to push it forward, it was like night and day! No resistance! It moved like a normal vacuum! Now I won't dread vacuuming any more, knowing I won't have to fight to get it to move forward. Thanks for your help!
Thanks so much for this video. We have had ours since 1999 and its now 2019 and the original belt has only just broken. I cannot believe it has lasted 20 years. Oreck is the best ever. I hope they still make them the same as they did back then. I am getting another one for some ones Birthday.
Thanks for the helpful video! I wasn't even sure if this vacuum had a belt cuz I couldn't see it when I turned it over. It's a pain in the ass unscrewing 5 screws just to get to the belt, but honestly I probably wouldn't even have done that if I didn't watch this video, so thank you again for saving me the trouble of figuring out what to do to be able to replace the belt. And the crazy thing is the belt wasn't even broken, it just slid off the spindle. And as I was vacuuming something got caught up under the vacuum and the belt slipped off the spindle again, poor design in my opinion. But great video and thanks again! I really appreciate how u said to just place it on the spindle and turn the roller and let the roller put the belt on instead of busting knuckles trying to get that thing on! Great method and worked perfectly!
I thought I was going to have a stroke trying to get the new belt on! It was so hard to stretch. I really appreciate this video though, it really helped!
I used the easy-access single screw side panel. Took all of 2 minutes for the repair ....... original belt was broken and still near the drive spindle behind the panel.
Lots of hair and scatter rugs in our house -- the belt has been changed way too many times. As much as I've loved my Oreck (it's predecessor was an irritatingly cumbersome Kirby), it's time for it to find a new home.
Sure? It doesn't really stand out, but you'll see a single screw on the left side. I have the blue commercial XL. These panels should be in all the models. Allows for much easier access.
