Shows how low Victa had gone in down grading the cutting disc to this glorified bar blade. What's worse is you can't fit a more substantial version as the crank end is unique to this particular disc. The metal is likely to have gone into the catcher or hit the base without shooting out from the mower I would say.
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
I saw another v40 at the tip in mid February - same problem but not as bad. Looked great body wise, but I didn't know if a regular disc would fit so didn't pick it up - now i know thanks.
I see that the US is not only one that manufactures making product to be expendable instead of being durable goods. Here we do use bar blades on most walk behinds and riders. If install replacement OEM blades they last less than half time that the heat treated after market ones I install when they are available.
As metal going flying many of the blades I replace already had the air lifts broken off. But that is still better than one push mower I repair back 2015 where the operator had duct tape the blade on.
Bar blades never go too well down here as no one sharpens them. The council had their ride on out to slash some of the side verges last month, all it did was push the lawn down - they were that blunt.
Took a 2 swing blade masport out with a 450 b&s engine and cut it fine
Had the opportunity to buy one of your USA mowers at bunnings hardware today - a Toro personal pace recycler with readystart briggs - had been used once as demo or something (but filter was pristine) - $300 as opposed to $799 retail. Passed on it as I probably didn't need it
I haven't had any the Toro walk behinds in the shop so I don't know anything about these.
All I know is the consumer grade Time Cutter ZTR are fairly low end equipment. The ones with electric brakes seems to be troublemakers with the brake module failing a lot. The commercial units are much better mowers. At least the ZTRs have Kawasaki engines.
As for bar blades I don't think any of them do very well if dull.. By the time I get the mowers in they are way past sharpening too.
As for the Toro you looked at I would be leary of it too. Too much of a chance that it has a bent crankshaft as by a careless operator hitting things that should have been pickup or removed from the lawn.
I saw another v40 at the tip in mid February - same problem but not as bad. Looked great body wise, but I didn't know if a regular disc would fit so didn't pick it up - now i know thanks.
You could always fit a PT to it.
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
I have plenty of Victa blade carriers that fit that blade boss, it just has the 2 ears on the boss and the corresponding depression in the blade carrier. Good thing is that you can still use this blade carrier on a PT but as I have mountains of blade carriers here I just use the standard one. I will probably fit one of the eared bosses to an MTD and Victa blade carrier today because it is fitted with the useless bar and they have not enough spinning weight, the design is just a plain DUMB idiot idea. Tyler, If I was to buy a new mower the first thing I would as is what type of blade carrier it had and if it had a straight bar there is no way in hell I would buy it regardless of what motor was fitted to it. I would almost guarantee that every mower with a bent crank is fitted with this STUPID design, I guess you can see they get on my goat so much
Strangely enough Norm I concur with your hatred of bar blades, however, I have one exception to the rule.
I curb picked a Husqvarna 4 stroke with a bar blade also an almost new catcher to go with it,
A new spark plug, fresh fuel and 3 pulls and away it went and is still going strong. I use it ONLY for manicuring the granny flat lawn which is like a bowling green almost and it does a superb job.
Edge sharpen and balance the blade myself to ensure a beautiful cut each time. Never running over anything that will cause a bent crankshaft either.
" Don't worry, if it ain't broke, I'll fix it for ya"
Hi OF, in a perfect world the idea is fine and if you use it carefully all is good, but as we know mowers get abused and we all know that if the round blade carrier hits an object it bounces off. If a straight bar hits something it can stop a motor dead in its tracks, idiot design, in particular on a motor with a longish shaft hanging out the bottom of the motor, unlike the Victa which is very short and with the boss/fan hard up against the underside of the motor
MF, ever since Victa used the current style of blade carrier, be it oval,round or the bar type shown here they have fitted those to any 4 stroke they have built because they needed a straight shaft boss and this is what they came up with and they have stuck to it. The bar idea is dumb because of the potential wear pattern as Tyler has found, you will not get this wear pattern with a round carrier, but it is the cost of the extra steel to make a disc that is the driving force and to hell with the consumer
On rideons they don't worry me as much as you have belt slip if you hit something solid, but I still think the thinner swing back blades (although they require more regular replacement) give a nicer cut.
I agree Norm, having that spinning mass makes such a difference. A good example is the little gxv120 on my slasher - 120cc doesn't sound like much but the big jetfast round carrier means it will slash really well.
Put a straight bar under it and it would probably die on the first thick patch of weeds
That being said I am keen to get my hands on a FC ute and give that a crack - probably go twice as well
yep bar blades suck been playing around trying to convery my murray ride on from bar to disc setup, i tried a pair of victa discs with 4 blades trimmed carefully to get the right assembled size but the way the disc is formed resulted in the blades being about 1" closer to the ground and just below the edge of the deck scalping anything that even resembled a bump.
am just waiting to get a chance to suss out the masport quad cut discs. basically need something that is basically flat and a working dia with blade of 512mm, the masport with 20" blade assy is 515mm which should be workable aslond as it doesnt lower the blade height below the decks edge
