OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Restoring, Customising and Modifying Other Walk-Behind Rotary Mowers The Rover Pro-Cut Chronicles

I'm not going to beat around the bush here, but the Rover Pro-Cut 560 was THE BEST commercial lawn mower to have ever been made. Bar none! I'll explain why as we go along, but as always, there is a back story.

Back in 2014, after a decade on the tools, my body was starting to protest. Long story short, I've been struggling with chronic pain since early 2014, its onset unexplainable and something no doctor has been able to find out why. I've been poked and probed, even had major surgery, but nothing has worked. It got to the point where I've just learnt to live with it. Stress and depression seem to flair it up. By mid 2014 I decided I needed to get something to help make mowing a little kinder on my body. Up until this point, I had been pushing mowers around..............no rider, no self-propel assistance.

Most guys would be heading straight to the Honda dealer and dumping the better part of $2000 on the latest 21-inch model. Thing is, I had a bad run with a Honda, easily one of the worst mowers I have ever had. Yes, the engine was super smooth, fuel efficient and powerful. But it was too heavy with too narrow wheels, so it would sink into spongey Kikuyu, in turn making it hard to push. I also struggled with the strange angle of the handlebars, which were just too low. The catcher would always fall off, and the supplied blades were completely useless for catching. Throw in the fact I had to clean the carburetor within the first 20-minutes of owning it, then the dealer blaming my fuel when it was them who filled the tank...................yeah, I didn't want another Honda.

I also didn't want a Honda because of how the gearbox location covers off most of the rear discharge chute. Anyone who has used a partial chute mower will know why this is important, unlocking the chute over and over again is a complete waste of time and a productivity killer. The thing is, everything I was looking at with a self-propel gearbox was the same, including the Victa and Masport offerings, as well as the American Toro's and John Deere's. There was one exception........................the Rover Pro-Cut series.



At the time, this was before MTD came in and gutted the range. As such, Rover was still offering these aluminum chassis mowers in 20 and 22-inch models, with or without self propel. The biggest drawcard of these self-propelled units was where Rover placed the gearbox. Instead of taking up space in the discharge chute, Rover placed the gearbox on top of the chassis and used a chain to drive the rear axle. As such, this meant they had a full-width discharge chute! The only drawback to was the it only offered one speed instead of three offered by other companies. Thing is, I'd much rather settle to one speed than having to unclog the chute in heavy growth or if the grass was even just a touch wet.



By 2014, the Briggs & Stratton and Honda engines offered in earlier examples were gone, replaced by Kohler and "Rover" branded engines. After doing some reading, many contractors were going for the 196cc Rover engine, simply because of the extra cc count. From experience, any of those Honda-clone engines look good on paper, but take note how they rarely have a power or torque rating. So, while the capacity might suggest more power, it often isn't the case. And despite this engine having a cast-iron bore, I wasn't convinced with the longevity of an unknown engine. The fixed rate throttle was also a turnoff.



So that left the 173cc Kohler XT8, which also had a cast iron bore. At the time, I wasn't totally on board with these Kohler engines, something about them looked cheap. But, it was the lesser of two evils. And ultimately, I went on to buy one, a Pro-Cut 560 22-inch with self-propel.





Over time, this mower proved to be as good as I was led to believe. The full width chute never clogged, the large capacity catcher was highly appreciated. The adjustable con-bar meant you could tailor your cut towards catching or mulching. Speaking of mulching, I found this to the best mulch mower for me up until this point, it leaving a very nice finish. While certainly not a featherweight, the Pro-Cut's weren't overly heavy, so they didn't sink into Kikuyu or require excessive manhandling. The drive system speed was fine for me, the engagement super smooth. I also loved the small increments between height settings, making it possible to fine tune for each lawn. The full chute and large catcher were great come autumn.



No mower is perfect, the Pro-Cut is no different. The engine brake was an annoyance early on, it meant having to restart the engine every time the catcher was emptied. I got around this by using a small clamp to hold the bale down.



The main drawback with the Pro-Cut was the Kohler engine. I mentioned earlier not being totally on board with the engine, perhaps that reservation set me up to dislike it from the beginning. From new, despite carrying a price premium over the Rover engine, the overall impression I got was of cheapness, both look and feel. They used cheap plastic for cowling, air box and dip stick. That dipstick is hard to read and has a nasty feel to it when clicked open and closed. The muffler is too small, so they are very noisy engines. With mine, I always felt it used oil between changes, even though you didn't necessarily see it via blue smoke. I also found the engine really hard to pull over, as if there is no compression release or like something was dragging..............perhaps it's just the belt, but my other self-propel mowers don't feel like this. Also, it would often need two to three pulls to fire, a Briggs or Honda would start on the first. This engine also uses an obscure spark plug that I had trouble finding.



But the main issue I have with this engine is the lack of grunt. With 173cc, it just doesn't have the torque you would hope for. Having used this engine back-to-back with a 163cc Honda GXV160, the smaller Honda comfortably outperformed the Kohler. Even with the governor given a healthy tweak, it just didn't deal with thicker growth. Now, the engine does have a pretty big job to do, powering a 22-inch blade setup and providing drive to a big, heavy mower. But after using a variety of different 2- and 4-stroke engines on other self-propel mowers, the Kohler is just too lean. If there has been one positive, the large fuel tank opening is brilliant, as is the fuel economy.

The thing is, I've hammered that engine for more than a decade now..................the longest of any "main" mower I've had. I'll cover why I've kept it so long in a following post. I've had it revving far harder than Kohler intended, and I've hurled it through thick Kikuyu more times than I care to remember. So, despite my best efforts, it doesn't smoke, it just keeps running. No doubt the cast iron bore helps, as would fastidious maintenance.



To be continued..............................