OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Restoring, Customising and Modifying Victa Walk-Behind Rotary Mowers the rebuild

well its time to start the rebuild

parts from donor engine

reason for rebuild broken centre bolt in gear starter

donor barrell cleaned and painted tonight

the replacement gear start centre bolt mount



this is not going to be a full on immaculate rebuild, just a good tidy up and a coat of paint. as this is my favourite mower and it will be used constantly the powertorque i found the other day might get a full on rebuild just for something to do when this is finished.
or i could rebuild the tilt a cut i scored on ebay (search my previous posts for that one.
the powertorque find needs a new base, this one is stuffed anyone in sydney happen to have one they dont need going cheap or free if possible?

well got a bit more done today, had to cut the baseplate off though destroying the crankshaft i wanted to use, oh well ive got another just needs surface rust removed

will put up more pics soon

What required the cutting off of the baseplate, I have had some pretty nasty ones but hanve always got them off without damaging the crank.

1st way I do it: feed in a heap of fairly thick cotton rope through the spark plug hole to lock the rotating assembly, put correct size socket on the nut (1" or slightly bigger, cant remember I just pull the right one out of my set), slide a 5ft breaker bar over my ratchet handle and undo it.

If that fails (rarely) I cut a small amount of the nut (as close to the crankshaft as possible but not actually on the crank) on opposite sides and break the nut in half with a cold chisel.

The good ole full cranks are a dying breed, it will be good to see this one rebuilt.

hi joe,

i have no idea how but the exposed thread was totally destroyed, the nut would never have gone back on if i ever got it off, i tried everything including the rope trick, breaker bar, rattle gun and then just grabbed the grinder and cut the nut and shaft off.

i made that choice as i have another crank to use anyway just needs a light rub to tidy it up.

Joe, I'm sure you already know this, but it is not a good idea to use a handle extension on a ratchet handle, because it breaks the ratchet wheel and pawl inside the top of the handle. Best to use a rigid handle. I keep a 15 inch one and it is very rare to need to extend it. I only use the ratchet as a speed aid, when I am using less than 40 lb ft of torque at most - preferably less than 20.

emmo, I don't understand why you didn't split the nut by grinding grooves down both sides of it with an angle grinder, then hitting it with a chisel. Then you can chase out the damaged thread with a suitable file. Full crankshafts for Victas won't always be easy to get - best not to waste them.

As i mentioned in your other post asking for this, i have an alloy i could get to you next time i'm near sydney.

I'll have a look tonight for a prssed one, i may have something more accurate to the model, but i will need to see what shape it is in.

Eitherway, if your interested, Whichever you want, Free.

Keep an eye out for any steel base Victa.

Even the old full cranks like youve got there, some didnt have but some did have the dimple for the mounting bolt under the carb. If its got that dimple with some careful measuing using the steel base gasket thing as a template you can drill the base out to take a power torque and then cut the centre of the base out. With the power torque you probably dont even need to cut it out.


Only thing is that between the older and newer bases the height control rod is different, ive struck issues with the spring on the rod going under the power torque cylinder head.


The weight difference between a stripped old steel base and a newer one is surprising.

Bob.

well got some more done tonight stripped most of the base and gave it a quick wash
there are still 2 bolts holding the rest of the handle on, will have to hit them with the grinder to get them off, no problem as ill just buy new zinc plated ones [go the chrome look]

the heads of these screws are stuffed i cant get them off, cant get to em with grinder and im not going to buy a bloody dremmel tool just to cut em off anyone got any ideas??????????

Where am i sopposed to get another one of these this one in bent,deformed and split now im not sure what to do with it

I'll have a dig through the shed this weekend (I'm planning a clean out) and see if i can help, but dont hold your breath with this one mate, I dont recall having one spare.

Mr Davis,
yeah i wouldnt expect many people to have one of those laying around, ill be able to use this one but would be nice to have a better one.

almost brought a mower on ebay the other day that had one on it then realised it was in melbourne.......

when you get up this way ill have to put on a BBQ as a thanks for the trouble.

Hi,
Reply to your post 26/5 the screw heads:-
You can drill the heads off which will enable you to remove the tank.
You can then either use Penetrating oil, heat, an ezi-out, or drill and re-tap. The original bolts were 1/4 WW. with a star washer underneath. I've replaced these with 1/4 WW roofing bolts which are easily sourced.
Hope this helps,
LS

Thank you Lawn Slave i had thought about drilling them out going to try that this arvo, just going to replace them with whatever is laying around.



I was wondering does anyone know if the wheel bushes are available new, will i have to find some secondhand ones. [only really need one as it wasnt there when i took the wheel off] otherwise i have some bearing wheels i can put on [the ones from the other mower in pics] just dont like the look of em, they dont suit this mower

Hi Emmo, for the wheel bushes, try the Online Store. I am not sure of the age of your machine....Click HERE and you may find the one you need.

For the cover bolts, like was said above, drill the heads off.

Have you tried this??
Use small screw drivers, awl etc and try picking out the screw heads so the screw driver can get down in them you may need a torch to see in there. Get a thru shaft screwdriver the right size, with it in the screw head propperly, smack it in with a hammer. Youd need it over an anvil of some sort, vice or something mounted in the vice. Clean the screw head out again. Then with a pin punch (bigger diamter than the head of the screw) give it a good hit or two. Clean again. Then again with the screw driver, hit it, the idea is to have the head cleaned out and give the screw driver something to seat in solidly. Also shock can help loosen the bolt. Then try and screw it out.

A couple of tips on drilling the heads off.
Get all nasty down in there with a centre punch and phillips head screwdriver etc to get rid of as much rust as you can. That rust dust is like grinding paste on the end of the drill bit and will make it blunt.
Drill gently as soon as the drill has the head removed off the bolt it will go all phsyco and rip half the plastic out of the cover down in the bottom of the hole.
You need a sharp drill bit, if its blunt you make heat and melt the plastic.


Like was said with ezi out and drilling etc. Ive only got a 1/4 unc tap so i use that. Ive used 1/4unc bolts too, its close enough. Bunnings have small blister packs with stainless 1/4 bolts in them. Got some here, if im keeping it i use them.
The other type cover, the one that slopes up from the front, you can just use the same bolts as what holds that tin cover to the engine. They are not down in holes so they tend not to rust as bad.



You can also flip the cover over and grind down flat then centre punch and drill whats left of the bolt out.

thanks for the tips guys i got them out with a combination of grinding drilling and belting with a cold chisel

i was thinking of using stainless bolts to put it back together as it will be very easy to remove at a later date

for all the other bolts i just went and got zinc plated ones will look good for a while

progress pic just need time to rub the bars back and paint them engine is now on will post more pics later

Well here it is its going into use so im not going to bother cleaning the wheels, maybe when i put it into retirement ill restore it properly.
its been fun doing this build

it wont start at the moment need to replace the primer cap and give the carb a very good clean

only finished putting it together to take the pic

Before



After


Its not perfect but its much better now

Good job, but I see you are missing something.

Ive had a few that were missing the side chute. If for no other reason than saftey, i made a couple of chutes up using an original as a guide.
They are a good Utility and have a nice sized discharge hole, would be easy to get a foot in there. Chutes are a pain, make the mower wider, cant tip it over on its side without trying to get it to do some sort of ballancing trick (yours would be OK with the fuel cap on that side, tip it the other way) but a nessacary evil.

It looked like a 'C' perlin so i got some. I think it was 5 inch. I started out looking for some left overs at constructions sites, i went to the local steel supplier, scrap yards and ended up finding a factory a block away that actually rolls the stuff up out of flat galv so i bought an off cut. Think it cost me $5 and was enoguh to make up 3 chutes. Need to go back and get some more.

Was at the market and a guy had a heap of hardware stuff, so i bought a few stainless hinges off him for a good price.



Wont upload the other two pictures, will try again later.

One i made.
Good one i got that i copied.
One that came off a Utility i got the other day.




Also on the bench there is the hight control bracket. They split where the square hole is for the bolt head. I cut them off and weld them to the bracket that goes on top of the handle where it bolts on a steel base.


Not sure whats up with the pictures, had to put them on Imageshack and then upload them.