OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums General Discussion Forum Power Equipment...Mishaps and Funny Stuff Close call today

apart from the wheels the quality of the deck seems great albeit a little thinner than the old ones, the axles also seem a little soft, I have replaced these with old fashioned ones with succsess before.

Hello, this website really good.

1 x problem from Victa (blade carrier bolt)

1 x problem from B&S (flywheel)

I tend to agree with Grumpy - that doesn't look like your typical "threw itself apart" type of result.
Just a thought (probably drawing a long bow, here) - Picture this ... mower on its' side, hefty young lad (or lass) doing up blade carrier by holding the flywheel nut. Beefy enough (but without knowledge of torque limits for certain size bolts) to stretch the carrier bolt, whilst at the same time applying enough pressure to crack the flywheel (or maybe worsen an existing weakness).
Like I said, just a thought. I have seen young people doing up motherboard screws that think they're not tight unless you hear the fibreglass board crackle under them! Lots of warranty returns there!!

Igor, I'd be critical of the Victa production engineer if he has people tightening the bladeplate retaining bolt by restraining the crankshaft by the flywheel retention nut, and not even using a torque wrench on the bladeplate end. I tighten the blade plate nut on my Victa by clamping the blade plate. It's easier than taking the top cover off and more importantly, it avoids wrecking the engine. Putting about 30 lb ft of torque through a crankshaft that only develops 4 lb ft when the engine is running? That is just irresponsible.

I agree that your explanation is possible of course, and would mean that the entire mess-up happened here in Australia at the Victa assembly plant, but I'd rather think better of Victa than that. Two serious quality control procedural errors are required for your solution to apply: using a completely unsuitable way to restrain the blade plate when fitting it, and failing to use a torque wrench for a safety-critical process where assembly torque is critical. In this case it looks as if the bolt-head was rotated at least two full turns after it came up tight, so Victa may have some problems with its training and production line supervision as well.

Having said all that Igor, I have to say your explanation is not just plausible, it's elegant as a solution to what we've seen. I still don't understand how a soft bolt was used, though.

I wasn't thinking of the plant - (one would imagine they'd have pre-set air guns, etc to do that sort of thing) - more the offspring of an owner

By the way the bolt stretched, it would nearly have to be a production fault in the bolt factory - there could even be a whole batch of them out there!

Hi Igor, now that is scary!

I saw the original owner in at work today I quizzed them about the blades adnd they informed me it has never had a blade change (I didnt meantion about the faults that have occurred) and the old owner had only used it a handfull of times.

It still sounds as if the blade plate bolt went wrong in the Victa assembly plant in Sydney (both using the wrong bolt, and stretching it to the breaking point), and if igor's explanation is correct, they did the flywheel damage as well. igor, whether they use a manual torque wrench or a power-operated one, it is easy to get the wrong outcome if it is maladjusted. How often have we all seen the guys in tyre shops screw the rattle gun torque up to maximum, and let it rattle away while it destroyed some poor customer's wheels?

Grumpy, I've seen those tyre guys snap the wheel studs clean off with a rattle gun, and also who hasn't been caught out trying to get the nuts off after a flat with pissy brace supplied with the vehicle?

Right, Darryl. Long ago I used to re-torque the wheelnuts on my wife's car after every visit to the tyre shop, so she'd be able to get them off if she had to. Then modern technology arrived and I bought her a mobile phone, so she can call the RACV if she needs a wheel changed. The new system is better.

I have seen bunnings refuce any kind of refund on them they keep telling the poor owner to take it to an authorised repair place for warranty, pretty sure if you want your money back on it you have to take it back within 2 weeks.

On the other hand here though I have a mate that works at mitire 10 selling thesame thing, he has had afew angry people come back when they have not filled the oil and getten even angrier when they get refused a refund since they ignored the labels everywhere that says fill the sump before use.

It's not just these Victas - check out this post;
https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=23217#Post23217

I think the situation would only be equivalent, Igor, if Honda had not recalled those mowers and had allowed the blade disks to come off and chase Joe around the yard.

Of course at Honda prices, nothing should go wrong in the first place, but they do seem to have taken steps to minimise the damage.

On the other hand, i have seen these mowers stay and others get returned to bunnings, a little while ago when i was there somone returned a victa they had bought 4 days early that apparently refused to go. i noticed the fella hover out the front for a little while, pretending to take for ever to get a drink at the bubbler. he reterned the mower to a girl who looke about 14, and did it during an extreamly busy period, when he could already see she was struggling, he went up, put the mower on the counter, yelled about the problems, showed her the receipt, and took his refund and left.

A few minutes later another fella took a look inside after looking at the recept... he closed it, and went away, then returned with a maneger who helped him get the mower out of the box, it was a 2-stroke victa, i'd say about 94, rusted through in many places with no carby or handle bolts. looks like the fella decided to return his old mower and get a refund on his new one!

Well it could have been worse. He could just have put a couple of bricks in the box instead of an old mower, or just jumped the counter and taken all the cash. Most likely the criminal penalty would be much the same in all three cases.

Well, it certainly could be worse for them, theres a good ending i thought i might save for last.

I asked them if the would like to make some money back, and gave them $20 for the old mower (they took my name down in case they needed it back) but before they gave it to me, they noted the name and adress engraved on the side of the cowl!!!

On my way home i detoured past this adress, and sure enough, the very same fella was sitting outside! i assume they found him there too, but i moved shortly after, and i have not been back to that bunnings to ask.

Unless he offered restitution when they contacted him, he'd have been prosecuted. You'd have been contacted, since they'd want both the mower, and your evidence.

Well that was some time ago now, and i never heard a thing, so he must have just given the Money back.

Hi Ty, a good result all round, I'd say. I hope he got what he deserved.
By the way Ty, I see that you joined the forum whilst I was away, and I would like to wish you a warm welcome. It's great to see new members posting...I look forward to reading yours in future.
Once again,

Thankyou Deejay