OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums General Discussion Forum OutdoorKing Showcase scott bonnar rebuild

hi Dejay i believe my model 45 is pre-rover i think rover bought Scott Bonnar in 1970/71 not to sure on that tho as u can see in the photos its a 3 piece chassis with single piece engine deck as opposed to later chassis that is 1 piece with 2 rails welded in 1 of the photos is a rover 45/17 chassis that was a throw away, could have been fixed $$$ not my handy work by the way! i payed $ 20 for both mowers from 2 different people about 4 months back the rover Scott Bonnar had a Tecumseh h30 iron bore on it and the other 1 had a Briggs 3hp Ic i used the Tecumseh engine for the Scott Bonnar rebuild .From what i have seen i think the Scott bonnar 45 chain cover bolt holes are horizontal and the rover Scott Bonnar are vertical other diference is the cylinder drive chain tensioner which are not available so i made 1 there is more noted diferences in the manufactering that rover did to save $$$$ by for now ....

Hi deviosi,I have just spoken to a mate who knows a little of the Scott Bonnar story,and he confirms that Rover Ltd. took over SB in late 1977 or early '78. That would fit with my own recollection as I was rebuilding a Model 17 (petrol) Supercut at that time (1977) and I had to get parts for it from the SB head office in Adelaide.Rover were located in Brisbane.
Your particular model could be considered the "Mark 1" Model 45, with the solid engine deck and my 45 as the "Mark 2" with the split rail deck and provision for the "optional edger attachment"
Hoping this info is of interest to you,

thx deejay for your info! relating to the scott bonnar history would like to know what year mine was manufactered regards steve...

Hi Steve, I spoke to a gentleman this morning at Rover Ltd. that has been there since the Rover take-over and he states that the Model 45 was manufactured prior to 1980 which was the year of the merger, and that Scott Bonnar was still manufacturing the Model 45 (in it's own right) till at least 1983 and were made by Rover-Scott Bonnar (badged as Scott Bonnar only) until the very late '80s, when thay were at last badged as Rover only.

I stated to him my model number which is 450520 (an earlier model number) and he feels that mine is also Scott Bonnar manufactured and would have been held engineless in stock until the order was placed by the dealer (early chassis, later model B&S engine)
So it appears that my machine is older than I thought, and your machine would be definately be manufactured prior to 1980.

He also stated that SB did not include in the machine serial number, any digits referring to the year of manufacture.
I have another chap to talk to who worked for Scott Bonnar in Adelaide, who does know a lot of the history, I will keep you updated.

mate thats some good info i wonder what year they started manufacture the s/b 45 series i thought my s/b 45 would have been made in the 60's considering that the adjuster knob is solid brass and the front roller tube have blind rivets holding the cast alloy ends on my serial number is {45 02963} WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN at first i thought it was the 2/9/63 year date anyways kind regards steve...

o i just thought deejay i have seen some s/b 45,s with 2 model plates riveted on 1 covering halve of the 1 under it ? thx steve...

NEWSFLASH....Hey Steve, have a read of "Some Scott Bonnar History" thread in the "Question on Lawnmowers" topic, it will explain in roughly what year your machine was manufactured!

Real nice resto

did you cut out the broken piece and weld in a new one?
I fixed up a neighbours that was totally cracked in the same spot as yours
I made 2 new rails and welded them into place, very fidly getting everything perfect