Scored a smokin deal on Vortex 777

[Carpet Cleaning Fool]

Hey,

It's been busy!

Flew to denver last week on 12 hour notice for a smoking deal on this 1999 Vortex 777. It has 105k miles and 5k hours. Everything works including A/C. The seller was asking 11k but dropped his price to 8k cash. So, i hopped the first jet to denver and drove her home with title in hand.

The trip back to albuquerque took much longer than expected because the two passanger rear tires were completely bald. Got about 200 miles out of Denver before the inside rear finaly blew. Had to nurse her all the way back to Pueblo at 30 mph hazards flashing. To make a long story short i was up for two days before finally got home.

I figure a deal like this is worth losing a couple nights sleep over so no biggie.

 

[Chris A]

sounds great, have you used the machine yet? How's it perform compared to your Thermal Wave?

 

[Carpet Cleaning Fool]

It out performs the thermalwave in all categories.

The increased temps and CFM's make it much faster to use. Also, no wasted time cleaning out, electric hose reels, plenty on board fresh water, less chemical consumption, and better fuel economy. I swear this thing saves a minumum of an hour off my route each day (on a slow day).

It's the whole enchilada!!!

 

[Desk Jockey]

For what you paid that sounds like an amazing deal.

Truck looks to be in great shape!

Congrats!!!

 

[royalkid]

wow...that's a great deal...it seems like i've seen that unit for sale before...but for like 16K(if the same)...so you got a awesome deal. congrats!!!

 

[Johnny]

Congrats!

Should be easy to buff out the "Extreme Clean" lettering, or are you going to paint it?

Royal Commercial vacs are the best. What's the mop ringer for?

 

[Guest]

unbolt your vac hose reel and slide it bacl as far as possible and you can utilize an extra 4 x 4 space .

 

[Chris A]

my only bitch would be that there's really no dedicated chem storage on the 777. Especially with the roll up doors.

 

[Carpet Cleaning Fool]

One problem that materialized the first day was the RPM fluctuated about 1000 rpm. It kept bouncing between 1500 and 1600 rpm. My mobile truckmount mechanic followed me to the first job site with this truck, it was raining cats and dogs. he said the belts were wet from splashing through puddles (makes sense). he held the vac relief open until the belts dried and everything worked perfect again. The mechanic noticed that half the teeth are missing off one of the 3 main belts so he ordered all new.

Everything works properly but Saturday on my 3rd job the rpm's started fluctuating again and it was dry as a bone outside. The only way i could get the rpm's to stablize was to power off/on the system and everything worked great the rest of the day. The belt with the missing teeth looks a little sloppy and flapping around a bit.

Keeping my fingers crossed its just belts. (probably the reason why the guy sold it so cheap). It sounds terrible when the RPMs drop. Almost like it goes into a stall then rev's back up again every couple seconds.

Anyone seen this problem before? (Thought there was a thread "Vortex RPM's up and down" but can't find it now using search).

Thanks for the suggestions. Storage is a hassle cuz you have to walk aroung the machine to get to the wastes space behind the hose reel. Moving the reels back is a great idea!

the mop ringer was for a laminant floor job i did last night. Forgot to pull them out this morning before snapping pics.

 

[steve g]

ahhh and old venturi truck, are you sure it is gonna be that great of a deal??? do you have any idea how poorly those truck were maintained?? I wish you the best of luck and I guess for 8k it would be tuff to go wrong, better hope aerotech stays in business because they are the only ones that sell parts for the machine

 

[Bob Foster]

Congratulations George. You will be able to pimp that truck up real nice.

 

[Jim Martin]

Nice.....wait about a month when you get yourself broke in to what it can do and the time you can save....

Looks good...

 

[BradFenstermaker]

George the first chance you get do a full service on the truck.Every filter you can find on the engine. Have someone that knows tranny's check yours out. I have a unit just like yours.

My tranny went just a few weeks ago. Propably has the original though with 174,000 miles on it.

You will love the truck once you get all the bugs ironed out.

Shoot me your address in a PM, I have something to mail to you. UD Manual on disc.

These trucks where beat to death, so be sure you have the vital organs on this rig checked out.

Wouldn't hurt to change all fluids on the blower and pump.

I have torn into mine all the way so if you have any questions I will help if I can.

Later

 

[daniel@procarpet]

Congrats. You should have never mentioned how much you paid for the truck. You got such a good deal you could use the truck for a year and then sell it for 15k or a guaranteed 10k. Then buy you a new truck. What year is that truck?

 

[Ron Lippold]

welcome to the club george great move. now you just have to start charging more. :shock:

 

[Carpet Cleaning Fool]

I'm already on it! Quoted $125 for a living room and bedroom in an apartment and closed the sale.

Thanks Ron! I owe it to you and all the bro's here on MB. If not for you i'd probably still be using non-glided wands and a porty.

Mikeysboard members rock!

Thanks guys

 

[CarpetKING]

Great deal George - will give you 10k cash for it?

 

[Larry Cobb]

Congrats George;

It will take a little while to get the kinks out, but then you will enjoy the power.

What type of heat are you cleaning at ?

Larry

 

[John LaBarbera]

Nice Battery Sprayer! Great deal on the truck, too. Very nice.

 

[Mikey P]

Man, did you ever score.



I'll trade you my Resoil and a busted OP for it.

 

[Bob Foster]

George can you tell us the story on how you got such a good deal?

 

[dealtimeman]

very nice truck. you need to get some wheel simulators on it and asthetically it will be great.

are all your heat exchangers working properly?

 

[hogjowl]

My belts are loose and can not be tightened any more on my rig. It's been no big deal, I just oil them when they squeel. However, I have had an unexplained lost of power on a momentary basis just every now and then. Only lasts a couple of seconds. You now have me wondering if it's the belts?

 

[Lee Stockwell]

you goof...

 

[hogjowl]

you goof...

Clearly, you have not evolved into a millennial state of mind ... yet.

 

[Captain Morgan]

Thought I recognized the machine you picked up but was mistaken, although I think they are the same year and model? Saying you got one hell of a deal is an understatement!!
http://www.truckmountdeals.com/consignm ... number=846
I've been kicking around the idea of upgrading to something larger for the ability to dual wand but I've heard so many horror stories about abused, worn out, problematic older Vortex systems that I can't justify the price of this unit even if it does have a new paint job. Looks like this one has been parked in a pasture to die. It also looks like its missing a piece of flashing on the box underneath the side roll up door.

What's this system really worth, assuming everything works as it should (which it probably doesn't)? $14500!! Looks like it hasn't been well cared for, IMHO. I do like the idea of a bigger blower, more room for equipment, supplies etc and I'm warming to the idea of a PTO system even though I think there is more maintenance issues and expense associated but I'm not a PTO/Vortex know it all and that probably says volumes about why I should shoot for something like a bigger slide in model than something like this..

I get plenty of heat with my Steam Way and have considered upgrading to 2.5 in vac hose and ports but I'm getting to the point where I would like to cut my cleaning time by picking up a part timer and dual wand among other things extra help will afford me.

Thanks

 

[BLewis]

Hey Marty,
I have experienced that twice in the past year. I do not seem to notice anything at the wand. But, it's like the truck is going through a momentary power surge or something. Just like you the two times that I have heard it, it lasted 2-3 seconds. Hum?

Jim any ideas here?

 

[Jim Martin]

Hey Marty,
I have experienced that twice in the past year. I do not seem to notice anything at the wand. But, it's like the truck is going through a momentary power surge or something. Just like you the two times that I have heard it, it lasted 2-3 seconds. Hum?

Jim any ideas here?

If your belts are loose and you can't adjust the tension any further then they are either the wrong belts or they have stretched out and need replaced.......how bad are they vibrating....

Power surge could be because belts are slipping....the screen at the solenoid for the PTO is plugging up....relief valve spring may be getting weak... Or it could be in the UD itself...gas filter needs changing...may be time for a good service...air filter on these things gets to dirty and it is having trouble breathing...could have a dirty injector.....just a few things off the top of my head....you can listen to it and determine if it is the truck or the machine....

 

[dealtimeman]

or it might be the a/c was left on. :shock:

 

[Mikey P]

Listen to me Marty.

Once your belts have slipped (most likely, because you'll notice that the grease from the blower falls right on the lower pulley when it purges) you're fooked. The glaze that gets created while slipping never goes away.

Thread some hoses into your oil purge valves and have them drip into a cup or zip lock bag and replace those belts.

DO NOT over tighten the adjustment pulley unless you want to put new bearing in the 6008