Thanks, Ty.
I also sent the questions to Victa, out of interest to see if they would respond and what their response might be. Here is what they (eventually) wrote back this morning:
Good morning, to answer some of your questions:
a. The blade disc should never be removed from the mower unless by an authorised service centre.
b. The disc should not have to be removed to clean the under side of the mower.
c. Yes if that is the torque on the specification by Victa that is what is required.
d. Please take your mower to a service centre and have them torque up the disc for you as it is not safe to use if not tighten to the correct specifications.
e. The blades should be torqued to 14-19 Nm. The blades will move if fitted correctly not by hand but when there is am impact to them so the blades do not fail or the shaft damaged.
Their response seems to have a bit of CYA ring to it. I suppose that if they said anything else they might fear exposing themselves legally.
I decided to have another search for the hole in the boss. I took the disk off again and did a thorough inspection. I thought the hole might have filled with debris and become 'disguised' under the film of grime that has built up on the boss. Despite cleaning the boss thoroughly and inspecting it very carefully, I was not able to locate a hole. The mower is a Corvette 400 series, that I guess is about 10 years old, maybe older.
Judicious application of a large pipe wrench through the catcher opening allowed me to stabilise the shaft while torquing the nut. Worked beautifully!
Given the absence of a hole in the boss, I wonder how the 'authorised service centre' would have stabilised the shaft to achieve the specified torque. Perhaps they would have relied on the 'rope in the cylinder' method.
Ken
Last edited by kenlip; 27/11/13 06:41 AM.
