New roomba purchase and perhaps service of old one?

[swedish_petcleaner]

Hi all roombaexperts!
My roomba 563 pet edition seems to be limping a bit after a couple of years. I have been extremely happy with his work with just the cons that I need to clean it after almost every cleaning cycle and that I after a year or so have been forced to open the gearbox/CHM and clean the gearwheels alot.
Recently Ive noticed that the gears whole in the middle has expanded so the gears fully doesnt contact eachother:

Gearwheels

Also the 4 screws for removing the CHM is worn out and is getting harder and harder to use each time.
The battery is also worn out I think, after full charging it only goes for about half an hour or so and the short time it works it "ticks" and gives sounds, probably because the gearbox and gears isnt connected fully so the brushes "hack".
This is just my own amateur conclusion...

This leads to a couple of questions:

- Do you experts think a new CHM and a new battery will make this roomba like new again or is there also other parts I need to change?

- Is it possible to buy the four screws for CHM alone?

- Im also thinking about buying a new Roomba since my house has two levels and havent really got a clue on wich roomba to choose today and what has been improved since my purchase of the 563 pet edition. Wich Roomba is best suitable today if you have pets and lots of pet hair in the house?
Perhaps I can fix the 563 and use it in the rooms with not so much hair and have a new improved roomba for the heavier parts of the house?

Big thanks in advance, would really appriciate your comments!

[mfortuna]

You could buy some brass tubing, a bushing, or a bearing to fix the gear which looks to be in good shape otherwise. You may have to further enlarge the hole to get the repair to work. They key is to get something with an inner diameter that matches the shaft and an outer diameter as close as possible to the enlarged gear hole size.

A new battery and a repaired gearbox should keep you going.

[swedish_petcleaner]

Big thanks mrfortuna!
Do you have example of where I can buy such a brass tubing or bearing fix to get the gears fixed?
Do you think the below holes need to be fixed aswell? They are somewhat damaged also I think.
Just want to make sure I dont spend lots of $ and time on repairing and another and another issue comes up

Gearbox

You could buy some brass tubing, a bushing, or a bearing to fix the gear which looks to be in good shape otherwise. You may have to further enlarge the hole to get the repair to work. They key is to get something with an inner diameter that matches the shaft and an outer diameter as close as possible to the enlarged gear hole size.

A new battery and a repaired gearbox should keep you going.

[vic7767]

You can read some info about how to mod your CHM here: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=11591

You might consider upgrading the dust bin to the newer Aerovac bin for better cleaning performance,

[mfortuna]

A hobby or hardware store is a good source for material. As I recall my local hardware store has hollow nylon standoffs that could alos be used instead of a bushing or bearing. Vic7767's procedures are great for fixing the two large holes. Since your gears appear to be in good shape except for the elongation I think a repair is worth the effort.

[swedish_petcleaner]

Thanks for all the help but I think modifying the CHM is a bit to time consuming for me.
If I understand you experts correctly the easiest solution then is to buy a new 700-series CHM? (modded if possible)

[TechGuy]

Thanks for all the help but I think modifying the CHM is a bit to time consuming for me.
If I understand you experts correctly the easiest solution then is to buy a new 700-series CHM? (modded if possible)

If you put in a 700 series CHM and an aerovac dust bin, you will have a 600 series Roomba.

[swedish_petcleaner]

Thanks for all the help and suggestions. I decided to order a new Roomba 780 and when I receive it I will try the CHM on my Roomba 563 and see if that solves the problem I have right now. If it solves the problem I will order a new CHM for my old one so I have two working friends at home

[swedish_petcleaner]

Just tried my new Roomba 780 and it cleaned one of my rooms in about 20 minutes compared to my 563 that takes about an hour to clean the same room.
May it be my old 500:s gearbox and dustbin that makes the 500 so slow to clean or may there be something else that is wrong? Just so I dont order new CHM and new Aerovac and get the same slow performance.
(I cant try the Aerovac on my old roomba since I have Aerovac 2 on my 780).

(I have read the threads about slow roombas I have found and its not dirt on the sensors so it goes slow like when approaching a wall, it changes speed when approaching walls).

Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

[vic7767]

Try running the 500 without the CHM installed and see if it runs faster. If so then check that the deck height control wire is in place within the CHM.

[swedish_petcleaner]

Thanks Vic, no noticable differens when I look at the visual speed. Its hard to tell going speed by looking at the 500/700. Its more like the 500 drives three times the length, not a third of the topspeed.
I tried to run it withouth the CHM but it raises up since there is no weight in the back (the vacuum bin isnt possible to attach withouth the CHM).
Is warranty voided on my new 780 if I remove the new CHM from there and place it on the 500 to see if thats the problem?

[vic7767]

You can remove the 700 CHM and install it into the 500. That should not have any impact on the warranty.

[boomer729]

I just updated my 560 with a new battery from allbatteries.com and put a bearing modified chm in it. It made a huge difference. The robot moves faster, cleans better, and is slighty quieter. If forgot to mention I put an aerovac bin on it as well.