Well, I gave it a run and keep encountering niggles. The engine seemed to vibrate as though the flywheel was unbalanced. I cut some lawn with it but it felt too vibratory. I thought out might new my sharpening the blades had upset the balance, but I was careful to give each blade a pretty equal go on the bench grinder without taking too much metal off. Then I thought out might be that one of the blades wasn't moving and was stuck in a slightly angled position (very slightly), so worked on eventually making it move like the other. Will see if that makes a difference tomorrow. The motor was hard to start at one stage and would run for a second or two then stall. It eventually stays on after about five or six more times of this behaviour. Spark plug looked ok, so I will try cleaning the points and magnets to see if that helps next.
Max Western, thanks for those pics. Mine hang about 6mm lower, but that may be because my blades are mounted under the carrier instead of over like yours. I'm pretty happy with it as is.
One more thing. The lever keeps hopping out of the worn height adjuster holes, so I have locked it into the highest position. I'm pretty happy with the height for general use at the moment on this banger. Better than unwanted crop circles appearing on the lawn lol!
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
