Is anyone else being driven insane by mowers that don't cut ?
- Thread starter DoubleChevron
- Start date
That's timely and interesting Shane. My bog-ordinary Rover mower just got new blades as the old ones were worn out (often used as a mulcher for prunings as well as grass). Heavier blades are available so I fitted them. They don't cut!! They just look a bit thicker and wider and it isn't as if I haven't replaced blades before. Couldn't work it out so moved onto other things - pity I threw the old blades away as they DID cut.
Bet I've fitted the cutting disc upside down or something equally stupid. Will check when it is light!!!
Bet I've fitted the cutting disc upside down or something equally stupid. Will check when it is light!!!
Pull the spark plug lead off and and reach under for the disc/blade and slowly pull the string out ( so you know for sure which way it spins)..... then look at the blades and see how backwards they are fitted
(me do that before ...... never! 
).
Shane that is a super 600 professional commercial mower. Probably an excouncil mower ! It has the higher power motor. I forget the engine model. That site I gave has a lot of information and a forum. Parts too. But a comment ! You must use the correct high performance V belt on it and you must tension the belt correctly, very tight, as per the instructions. Otherwise you will break either your shoulder or the starter cord ??? Hmmm !
The actual filter is not so important, the filter body is, as it has a calibrated hole in the bottom to set the mixture correctly ! (like all Victa 2 strokes). It is possible the governor diaphram is not held in place, or the small hose and air pickup fitting(in the cowling) are not correctly fitted. Or the two governor springs are incorrectly fitted, or the fuel filter or main jet is partly blocked and reducing the fuel flow which causes reving. All usual problems. Note that fuel jet is a special size and marked on the end ! All Victa jets should have a gauze around it to keep the shit out of it, do not take that off like everybody else does!!
Jaahn
Good guess, it has some councils name down in melbourne melted into the top cover. I'll go over all the intake hoses. I'm assuming the springs should be right inside the carby (why would anyone ever change them ?). yes the gauze is still over jet (why would you remove that ?). I've never need to touch the belt under it (and never even looked at it would you believe.... Well I have only had it for about 20years). I bet the small hose you speak of is perished. I'll need to hose all the grass and muck out and check
Hi Artificer
"A story of greed, mismanagement and union busting. "
Thanks for posting that ! I did not hear of that but many other things interest the media currently. I wonder what will happen to the Aussie brands they bought up here. I would say the companies were bled dry so nothing left to save now.
The B&S story sounds a lot like the OMC Evinrude/Johnson outboards story from 20 years ago when they went bankrupt. The connections to B&S goes back to 1928 when the aluminium diecasting industry was new and the companies were being formed.
Capitalism taken to extremes is a dangerous beast with serious implications for the people around that bear the brunt of the fallout. Not finished yet currently by a long way IMHO
Jaahn
"1928 Ole Evinrude merged ELTO with Stephen Briggs the following year when he and Harold Stratton disagreed over diversifying Briggs & Stratton into the outboard engine market. Mr. Briggs became chairman of the brand-new Outboard Motors Corporation with Mr. Evinrude as the President. "
Who owned Briggs and Stratton? No-one to worry about.....https://stockzoa.com/ticker/bggsq/
Hi. I agree with many of your comments.
I picked up a Aldi Gardenline model 8846 self propelled mower about ten years ago for $50. Had hardly been used. It has a 135cc 4.5HP 4 stroke engine fitted, manual choke, a mesh style grass catcher and flat bar style single cutting blade, larger rear wheel diameter, 18" cut. It was made in 2009. This mower works very well. But I have made some adjustments:
I noticed that the cutting bar was slightly bent up (away from the grass) at the ends. So I bent it back so that the blade tips had some "reverse dihedral" when placed against a straight edge. Also sharpened the cutting edges to make me feel better, but I don't think it makes much difference to the cutting - its all about tip speed.
I also noticed that when the blade was back on mower (with spark plug removed) that measuring from a flat concrete floor surface to the underside of the blade tip at the front was 9mm higher that the same blade tip 180 degrees at the back. So the angle of attack was positive, it needs to be negative. So to correct this, I needed to bend and slightly lengthen height adjustment transfer bar from the rear to the front axle. I achieved a negative angle of attach so that the cutting bar was approximately 4mm lower at the front relative to the back. I also needed to bend one end of the cutting bar to ensure that the each end was the same distance above the floor at the same point.
Why, do you ask, spend so much time and attention to what many will consider trivial details. Well I want all of my engine horsepower directed to the cutting tip of the blades. Not wasted trying to cut the grass twice, once at the front and again at the rear, (why you need negative angle of attack). I also want to maintain the cutting edge velocity, as well so don't want the engine being loaded up with unnecessary friction with reduced RPM.
I had never used a mower with a single cutting bar previously, but its cutting action is excellent. This mower cuts anything, light, heavy, wet, dry, long, short it doesn't matter, the pick up of grass and packing of the mesh catcher very effective.
I eventually removed the self-propelled mechanism, mainly so I could push the mower faster, as its cutting action was so effective and could easily handle the faster speed.
The only thing I would change is I would prefer to have a manual operable throttle, instead of the build in governed engine RPM.
How do you use a bar blade .... without bending the bloody thing .... or smashing a deck spindle within about 5minutes
Doesn't everyones yard have random bricks, tiles, rocks ... bits of metal .... whatever the kids feel like leaving around burried in it Pity about Briggs, they were ok and are very common. Our unleaded used to do nasty things to their carbies. Lots of small Chinese 4 strokes about, most Honda knock offs. When a well known brand goes bankrupt it can leave a hole in the market.
Hi Russell. Your post brought back something forgotten from my past. I recall I was at an industry conference years ago and a person from Honda told me that some of the Chinese copies used a strategy that they did not need a dealer network or spare parts. They used a cuckoo approach, their parts were totally interchangeable with Honda parts, so if you needed a part for your Chinese small engine you would purchase it from a Honda dealer. If I was the dealer I wouldn't be very happy keeping my competitors product going.
Hi Shane
Here is a parts list for the Victa Power torque engines with diagrams for the several engine models made including the high power engine on your mower.
https://www.outdoorking.com/images/files/Engine_Parts_List_1999-2006.pdf
It is unlikely that the B&S company will disappear as it will be sold for a song to a private equity company to be rebirthed, I would think. But WTF do I know !! The Chinese might buy it That would make the Americans livid !!
As far as I can see, not being in the business for years now, the Chinese engines have leapt forward in quality in the last few years and may be even good now !! If so they will take over as their costs are lower just like a lot of other things.
Jaahn
Here is a parts list for the Victa Power torque engines with diagrams for the several engine models made including the high power engine on your mower.
https://www.outdoorking.com/images/files/Engine_Parts_List_1999-2006.pdf
It is unlikely that the B&S company will disappear as it will be sold for a song to a private equity company to be rebirthed, I would think. But WTF do I know !! The Chinese might buy it
That would make the Americans livid !!As far as I can see, not being in the business for years now, the Chinese engines have leapt forward in quality in the last few years and may be even good now !! If so they will take over as their costs are lower
just like a lot of other things.Jaahn
Hi Shane
Here is a parts list for the Victa Power torque engines with diagrams for the several engine models made including the high power engine on your mower.
https://www.outdoorking.com/images/files/Engine_Parts_List_1999-2006.pdf
It is unlikely that the B&S company will disappear as it will be sold for a song to a private equity company to be rebirthed, I would think. But WTF do I know !! The Chinese might buy it
As far as I can see, not being in the business for years now, the Chinese engines have leapt forward in quality in the last few years and may be even good now !! If so they will take over as their costs are lower
Jaahn
The Chinese are doing what the Japanese did 50-60 years ago
That's handy to show the differences. Tilta-cut is there too. My father has one of those things in his shed. Those things must be the most overpowered edgers ever made.Hi Shane
Here is a parts list for the Victa Power torque engines with diagrams for the several engine models made including the high power engine on your mower.
https://www.outdoorking.com/images/files/Engine_Parts_List_1999-2006.pdf
It is unlikely that the B&S company will disappear as it will be sold for a song to a private equity company to be rebirthed, I would think. But WTF do I know !! The Chinese might buy it
As far as I can see, not being in the business for years now, the Chinese engines have leapt forward in quality in the last few years and may be even good now !! If so they will take over as their costs are lower
Jaahn
Chinese products are like the nursery rhyme, when they are good they are very good but when they are bad they're horrid. I need a small auger engine and so I will buy a Chinese knock off 7 hp Honda for under $200 delivered. A number of factories will be producing to the same design but quality between them will be different. I am using a submersible Chinese bore pump which cost under $200 and is performing better and longer than the crappy $1000 Grundfos it replaced. Their pumps aren't made to be repaired but perform well and have a reasonable life. There are a lot of sellers of Chinese stuff on ebay and from experience if the item is faulty they are hard to get refunds from. I bought a small Chinese two stroke, badly made, and the internet seller wouldn't refund. Because they were a large scale seller (Edsuns) ebay told me to clear off. A large Chinese chainsaw cost $200 instead of the $1500 for a Stihl. Reasonable but the chain was rubbish, the carby leaked and it wasn't nice to use so I bought a Stihl. Small Chinese stuff is just so cheap and can be good value but quality can still bite you. Nobody goes near their big machinery for good reason.
Those tilta-cut engines run with quite a bit of timing retard to prevent them pulling your shoulder(or cord) out when starting, due of the lack of the flywheel effect having no blade plate. I think the flywheel is differently moulded to achieve this on those ? I have previously increased the retard to help older people start them easier.
Still 'sufficient' power !Jaahn
Further to my comments on larger Chinese stuff - a two page spread in the Weekly Times on the Agrison tractors leaving a 'trail of owner anger and despair".
Bugger. Blades were the right way around for the disc mounted upside down..... Sway blades around and invert disc. Problem solved.Pull the spark plug lead off and and reach under for the disc/blade and slowly pull the string out ( so you know for sure which way it spins)..... then look at the blades and see how backwards they are fitted
Back to the original issue, the front edge of the Rover ride on deck...
Your surgery looks great, Shane.
I have a Greenfield ride on, only about 60 hrs old on the hour meter. One of the very last of the good ones before Greenfield went bust.
It has the same cut out at the front of the deck.
My previous ride on was an AMC, made in Horsham Vic. (They went bust shortly after, too.) It was built like an army tank but very crudely engineered, like something grandpa knocked up in his shed. It also had the cut out at the front of the deck.
Why Rover missed something so obvious is beyond me.
Your surgery looks great, Shane.
I have a Greenfield ride on, only about 60 hrs old on the hour meter. One of the very last of the good ones before Greenfield went bust.
It has the same cut out at the front of the deck.
My previous ride on was an AMC, made in Horsham Vic. (They went bust shortly after, too.) It was built like an army tank but very crudely engineered, like something grandpa knocked up in his shed. It also had the cut out at the front of the deck.
Why Rover missed something so obvious is beyond me.
After going into US Ch 11 insolvency ($900 million) , B & S were purchased by KPS Capital Partners.
They do that sort of thing - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KPS_Capital_Partners. It will be sold again eventually.
They do that sort of thing - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KPS_Capital_Partners. It will be sold again eventually.
Its that time of year again .... I thought I'd whip the old victa super 600 out to edge around all the trees with. Its starts on the 2nd pull and roars to life ...................... for 3seconds.... That's all I can get from it .... 3seconds. It looks like the "new" carby face plate and primer ... and probably all the "O"rings I fitted last year ... have all shit themselves from 12months sitting. Seriously, you should be more than "one use" from replacement parts. Not being able to buy quality would drive you absolutely insane.