If the part on your Hoover is one that you could replace yourself (if you had it), I'd write (email) or call the company and ask them for one. They probably wouldn't even charge you for it if you tell them how you 'love your machine' and 'can't live without it' (but don't want to spend $150-400 to get a new one just because a 5-cent piece broke). I've heard that when anyone writes to a political rep. or a company, they consider your correspondence as representative of 200 people who felt the same but DIDN'T take time to write! Sounds like this little 'cheap' part is an 'achilles heel' on their machine, and I'm sure they've had numerous complaints about it. It's worth a shot, anyway!