A Shark Rocket vacuum might have a bunch of gunk wrapped around its brush roller, making for some messy-looking hair and dust. If you don’t clean it out in time, that gunk can get so tight that it’ll prevent the brush roller from turning correctly. Suction power will be reduced, and your vacuum will sound more noisy then usual. Time to clean up! The risk in tearing down the whole head housing is that you might break something so if possible, I’d suggest trying easy way first. The easy way means just enough exposure on the bottom side where you can see the roller but no more.
Much easier than a total tear down and there’s really no tools required at all here. Just use your sewing kit for a seam ripper or pair of scissors. Lots of lint and hair clog the bristles.
Deep Cleaning The Vacuum
To cut apart the knotted pieces you have to work from the end of the roller inward. It’s very frustrating trying to pull all of this stuff out by hand because it just sort of goes on stretching out even more. If you cut first, then it comes off way easier than when you try to pull it all off.
There is caution text that has been molded onto the plastic housing so be careful not to miss that. It will take less than ten minutes to get rid of most of the big messes. And that gets the thing spinning again a bit.
For a deeper clean, you have to take down entire unit. The tricky part is that you must remove the multiple screws holding the assembly together.
Make sure to locate all the screws that hold the brush roller section. Missing even one screw can cause problems during reassembly later on. Take your time laying out each fastener and don’t lose any in the carpet. The cover has a seam that you can pry apart with some sort of flat tool. The housing is held together by those plastic clips, so it’s pretty snug initially.
I began at the right edge because that’s where there was a little gap for me to work from. Just slowly run your tool down the seam and don’t crack the plastic case. If you rush things, you’ll probably break off the tabs or scratch up the case. Right above where you’re prying open are word “ROCKET”. Remove the cover and you can see all of the innards at once. You’ll notice a clear plastic brush chamber with a black and gray electric motor next to it.
The power from the motor goes directly into the gears which in turn power the roller mechanism. As you can see, the drive system is pretty simple too. No need for fancy pulleys and belts here. It’s also easy to inspect because the housing is clear, so you don’t have to guess what’s inside. This is what it looks like after pulling the motor apart. The white wires attached to the motor is connected to the circuit board. You’ll want to check them for damage or wear here. In this particular one, there was nothing loose or anything burned out.
You can also see how the electrical components are isolated from the mechanical part where the brushes sits. It’s good to know when you’re cleaning that you should of avoid getting dust on the circuit board as well. No moisture or water whatsoever should come near the electrics. That’s it
To summarize, the engineering prioritizes a sealed unit over user-serviceable rollers and it was not intended to be used as a removable roller design. Pulling the roller off entirely tends to tear up the housing. If you do that, stick to one of the early options above.
If you need to take it apart fully, like to check your motor or thoroughly clean inside, go ahead. But most people should just use the cut-and-pull option above.
Both methods are shown in the video, depending on your level of need. For me, simple process was all that was needed for regular upkeep. It was faster. It didn’t require taking any chances with the body of the vacuum.
Save that for deeper cleanings if you’re experiencing performance problems after a general cleaning. Not everything has to get torn down. If it’s working fine, don’t take the chance of damaging something during teardown. That said, this worked as intended to bring back some suction. Always give simple option a shot first.
