The belt is broken of my dirt devil

Belt or bearing may be going bad .

hi krueger, sorry for the problems but hers an idea how about turning on the vacuum and put your hand under the part where it sucks uo the dirt off the floor and i guessing you would have a little suction, since the brushes are not moving its going to not pick up as well as it should my guess is that the belts need to be replaced even if one is moving, i would change both belt to be sure and also are you smelling a burning smell if so then that would prove fact to needing new belts, hope this helps, Jamie

Hi There,

When a belt breaks immediately after installing it, this can ONLY mean one of two things. The first is that the belt was put back on incorrectly, and it may be pinched underneath of the beater bar. This would cause it to break immediately, but I seriously doubt after 4 belts that you put the belt on wrong all 4 times.

The second, and more probable cause is that your roller brush has gone bad. This could be why the belt broke in the first place. In order to test to make sure the brush is bad, unscrew the bottom plate, and remove the brush like you were changing the belt.

Hold the brush at the very end on both sides, using only your finger tips. While holding just the bearing caps, try spinning the bar with your thumbs. Does the brush spin freely in your hands? It should spin completely around 4-5 times on each spin. If the brush will not spin, or if you feel any resistance to it spinning, this is the reason why your belt continues to break.

If the brush can not spin, the motor shaft will continue to try and spin the belt, but since the brush doesn't spin, and the belt doesn't move, the motor shaft will just burn right through the back end of the belt.

If your machine is actually the model that's listed on this Fixya repair page, the Dirt Devil Featherlite model M085845, then your machine uses the following roller brush:
Dirt Devil Plastic Brush Roll for Model 085845 Part # 2-881020-000

The next time that change the belt, install the brush back into the machine, but this time pull up on the belt towards the brush to make sure that the belt spins freely, and spins the brush as well. If the belt doesn't spin the brush, there's some issue, and the belt will break as soon as you turn the machine on.

I hope this helped you. If you find out that you don't need a new brush, feel free to use the comment section here on the repair page and let me know, I'd be happy to walk you through some more advanced diagnosing. If you found this helpful, please be so kind and rate my repair and / or leave feedback for me.

Thanks so much,

Chris Jones
GoVacuum.com

When your first belt burnt, the burnt plastics goes into the roller ends and then it dries off causing your roller to not turn or put more pressure on your belt. Until you clean that you will continue burning your belts soon after you put them in. You need to add a little bit of WD40 or any other type of lubricant after you remove the tar from the roller.

i would change the belt and filter.( belts need to be changed on average every 6 months). now if you smell a burn like an electrical smell the motor is gone.

drive belt. take housing apart (draw a diagram so you can put it back together) take the broken belt to a vacuum repair shop to get the same one. mine cost 7$.
15 minutes work.

call all-type vacuum &janitorial supply.lisa can help you.314-275-8006

take the belt off again you will see burnt rubber from the old belt stuck to the motor shaft.you can take a fine piece of emery cloth and clean the shaft down to its polished finish.always good to do this after each belt.check the brush roller and see if there are any signsd of plastic melted.make sure it turns freely if not the brush roller might be siezing uo on youhave you cleaned the hepa filter?does it smell like wires burning or rubber.with it unlugged take it apart to the motor and take a fine iece of emery cloth and go over the motor armature .then try it again.you can take all the filters out and run it without the filters.that will help you narrow it down.please leave feedback

look on the underside where the brush roller is and unplug it first then try to turn the brush roller by hand,if it turns real freely the belt is broke.you might have a clog at your intake hose at the bottom its the clear looking hose that goes from the bottom and comes up the back.if the belt is broke before you put a new one on clean the motor shaft there might be some old belt rubber on it ,otherwise the new belt won't last

The belt is probably stretched and won't drive the brush roll. Also check the brush roll, the ends should turn freely, if no, then replace it also.