The "little gasket thing" might be clumped hair tightened together. I've had that a few times. Hair shouldn't be able to get in there but somehow hair gets everywhere. Regards from a Tom :)

Brilliant! :) This video was a huge help. I'd gotten stuck but unclipping the top panel gave access to the couple of screws that were blocking me. Different model, heck different make but similar enough to make sense. Thanks and regards from a Tom :)

The official Vax repair video failed to realise that real-world gets dirty, grimly and worn. Also that there's usual more than 1 problem before 'normal' people, like my aspie self, get around to bothering to fix side-issues in our lives. Regards from a Tom :)

Ahh, I lifted the front lights off the plastic cover. Luckily it wasn't glued in. I hadn't thought of unplugging from the mbord. other than that my Vax repair was identical(ish). Thanks and regards from a Tom :)

I’m having a similar issue with mine, however we stopped using it before the belt tore the gear up. We only used ours for around 3 months before this happened. It seems to be missing some sort of belt tensioner that I can only guess goes in that small rectangle under where the belt rides. And like you found Hoover doesn’t sell any parts for this. Really wanting to find a solution, but will definitely not be buying another Hoover after this

Ssme things happened to mine.

My brush roller is still working but there is that same noise coming from mine. There seems to be hair caught around the main centerfuge drive which I cannot get the screw out to clean (that thingy you had to use pliers on. I can't get the backing plate off either. UGH! My model is similar but is red, not blue.

MIne's doing the same thing. The belt seems looser than yours. But that drive gear has lost its teeth. Will try your shrink tubing idea. What size did you use? very nice jury rig solution.

Not a good design. The bearing constant clogs with hair as others have mentioned. The screw that you could not remove is backwards (right hand thread - turn it backwards from normal to loosen). It does not have to be tight - if you over tighten it that will lock up the brush (just like the wrapped up hair - the brush rotation keeps the screw from coming loose). We like the vacuum but every other use the bearing needs to be cleaned - terrible design for a “pet vaccuum” - if you can avoid long hair that wraps up the brush bearing it works well.