Hi Damian,

Well that was pretty much my suspicion of the clutch being loose on the shaft and thus the knocking noise is the clutch banging against the key steel on the PTO shaft of the engine.
As far as doing them up tight, you don't have to be Superman and over stress them as they will have points on the tips of the screws that bite into the PTO shaft at 90 degrees to each other. One onto the key steel and the other at 90 degrees round the shaft. It's all about pinning it so it doesn't move rather than King Kong strength, so a bit of feel is required.

As far as the throttle cable is concerned that's still a bit of a mystery as either it's been deleted due to the controls being on the engine or it's simply failed at some point in time and been removed.
To answer these questions you'll need to speak to the person that dropped it off at the tip and that's hardly likely to happen isn't it ?

All in all I still think you've gotten the bargain as the previous person had no idea what was making that loud knocking noise and thought it was buggered. Maybe it also might've been a Deceased Estate shed clear out by someone that needed everything gone quickly and the tip is the obvious choice to some people.

BTW I notice that yours is what was called a "Select Model" which was a very short run using that sticker on the catcher.

Anyway glad that we got to the bottom of it, now the address to send the carton of beer to is .........................

Cheers,
BB.

I live a 24 Hour lifestyle, but every now and again I seem to fall asleep, well at least that's what my wife tells me.