Hi Jethro, Nice find.
I am restoring one of these as I write. Exactly the same model of Rider. I am guessing yours would also be same vintage as mine, 1975, possibly earlier, as it doesn't have the additional extensions on the side flaps.
Yours is missing the front of the frame. I have one here in poorly repaired condition, which looked a bit too ugly to put back on, so I ended up getting a new one made at a local engineering works.
Motor is not original. If you need a replacement the only one that will fit the bolt holes today is the B&S Vanguard 10HP. Honda will fit but you have to drill new holes in the base. I found the Chinese Honda clones a poor fit as everything like the throttle and choke mechanisms are reversed, making it impossible to install remote manual hand controls. I gave up on them and went with the B&S, which fit like a glove and everything is set up the same as the old ones.
By the way, I could be wrong, in which case my machine has always been wrong, but hasn't somebody put the engine pulley on backwards??? I've never seen the pulley that way around before. Maybe they had to do it because the shaft was out using that engine. I came across the same problems with the Chinese Honda clones which is why I was forced to ditch them for the more compatible B&S.
I have a jockey seat "tow behind" for mine. Although a dangerous thing in reality, I thought I would do it up for sake of completing the project. I can send you specs for the jockey seat if you like. I have done a lot of searching for an original spec sheet for the jockey seat, but so far have not found one. If you are good at welding you could easily make your own. Mine was badly bent up after someone apparently ran it into a gully and abandoned it to rust away in a paddock. A bloke who was slashing years later spotted it and narrowly avoided running over it. It took a lot of bashing and a trip to a local smash repairer to get it back in its original shape.
Tyres and tubes in 2.50-6 are still readily available. Wheel hubs are not, so be careful not to break the hubs when replacing old bearings. I broke one recently and took the second one to an engineer who (would you believe it) managed to break that one as well. The bearings can sometimes be very difficult to dislodge even with heat and proper technique, especially if some knob before you has decided to glue them in place. Goes without saying, never use epoxy glue on a wheel bearing!
Replacement wheels? Basically secondhand only. There are no modern wheels to my knowledge that are available that will fit the slasher, as they had an extremely short axle, so you need a wheel with a hub width of only about 50 mm. Shortest I can find on the market today has a hub width of 55 mm and stands about 2 cm too high to suit the dog drive. However the tow behind jockey seat was made with slightly longer axles and you can get a few different wheels that will fit, including one with 2.50-6 puncture-free gel tyres. I guess if you ever want to build your own "chariot" you could make the axles longer to suit any wheel you like. Bearing diameter on these (and the slasher axles) are 5/8".
Paint? I sourced a closely matching paint in WA, or you can get it colour matched in many paint stores.
Decals? I got some printed for mine and still have the design templates. They are not perfectly original but are a very close match. I use Stickeroo for all my sticker printing these days.
Blades? You can still get the blades for these! Readily available but watch the price.
Best of luck!
