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Ryko R7B

C

carwash00

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Does anybody know of a working Ryko R7B/R7B Ultraclean? I have been looking for a while without any luck :confused: Those "Pinwheel" brushes are just so fascinating, but clean almost nothing. It makes make me want to say "WTF were you thinking, Ryko?" Thanks in advanced! ;)
 
There are actually quite a few of the older R7B family of machines still in operation today around the country (sorry, but can't provide locations). Regular maintenance on them, and they would easily go over 2,000,000 washes.

Although the pinwheel brushes seem strange today, keep in mind that the vehicles being washed today are quite different than those back 30 years ago when those machines were new. There were no sport utility vehicles or mini vans. Most were larger more square shaped vehicles. All of the wash medium on these machines was filament (later machines had cloth options). The side brushes were all short (by today's standards) and would wash just to the top of the fenders or lower parts of the side windows. The filament top brush would overhang the tops of the side windows, and the pinwheels would fill that gap. In the late 80's when the mini vans first came out, we moved to the variants with the taller rear arms.

It's always strange when you look back on product origins when coming from today's perspective. Remember when the "bag phone" first came out?
 
Seriously?! I Only ones I know of are in Minnesota. But I asked a ryko maintenance guy if he knew of any in Florida and he said to email Ryko or message them on Facebook (I Did, but never got a response :( ) Do you know if any are still working in Florida? PLEASE! I Have been looking for one since I was 8! It would mean a TON If you gave me an address to a working one in Florida! Seriously, I have been obsessed with Ryko's all of my life and I haven't seen an R7B/R7B Ultraclean since 2004! I Understand about the pinwheels, and oh yeah, "bag phones" were and still are hilarious! By the way, that reminds me of the R5B! I wouldn't be suprised if this is the last one in existence! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r-hnvGxVRc
 
Just an idle observation, but if you really are obsessed with an old automatic car wash machine, you may have other issues that you should attend to. I do know that the gearboxes for those pinwheels were from a small garden tractor. The top seal would dry/rot out and water would get in and ruin the box.
 
We have a Ryko R7B Ultraclean that is less than 10 years old. It came retrofited with Foambrite. It has tall rear arms, and no pinwheels. I hope nothing major breaks, because parts are a pain to find.
 
escarwash, most of the parts can be found through industrial suppliers. I used to have an after market parts business for Ryko machines and was able to source out most everything on them. The electronics might be the hard parts to get.
 
Is there anyway I can get a couple of pictures? or if possible, a video of it in action? Thank you so much!! any idea what year it is?! i thought they stopped making them in the 80's!!!!!
 
carwash00 said:
Is there anyway I can get a couple of pictures? or if possible, a video of it in action? Thank you so much!! any idea what year it is?! i thought they stopped making them in the 80's!!!!!
Click to expand...

Here is a video of it from a time the top brush was not working correctly and wouldn't raise on certain cars. I'm not certain on the year, I can get back to you on that, but it is definitely in the 2000's.

http://youtu.be/1RtwXyOVqH8
 
Ryko CS said:
There are actually quite a few of the older R7B family of machines still in operation today around the country (sorry, but can't provide locations). Regular maintenance on them, and they would easily go over 2,000,000 washes.

Although the pinwheel brushes seem strange today, keep in mind that the vehicles being washed today are quite different than those back 30 years ago when those machines were new. There were no sport utility vehicles or mini vans. Most were larger more square shaped vehicles. All of the wash medium on these machines was filament (later machines had cloth options). The side brushes were all short (by today's standards) and would wash just to the top of the fenders or lower parts of the side windows. The filament top brush would overhang the tops of the side windows, and the pinwheels would fill that gap. In the late 80's when the mini vans first came out, we moved to the variants with the taller rear arms.

It's always strange when you look back on product origins when coming from today's perspective. Remember when the "bag phone" first came out?
Click to expand...

Did you you try cloth in the pinwheel application? I'm planning on building a set for my tunnel, but I'm probably going to be using foam material.
 
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