OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Finding and Swapping Tip & Curb Side Finds Rover Thoroughbred 16" from curb side

I managed to pick up a Rover Thoroughbred 16" Lawn Mower with KIRBY on her from the side of the road, Had the catcher with it too.
Got her up and running tho she missing the muffler.
On the Kirby tag is Model H4-9A 47729.
I do wont to repaint the Kirby
Can you tell me what colour code the paint will be?
Do thay still sell parts for this model any where? Any one got any links for KIRBY parts?

A nice little find there!, as for anything else I dont know a lot about reel mowers so I will leave it to the experts

^^same^^ But it looks all there and in good nick....

And that looks like a later Tecumseh to me not a KIRBY but that's just me, to me when I think of KIRBY its a vacuum cleaner... lol


Kori

Hi alwood, you can find some more about availability of parts for your Kirby-Lauson engine by reading post 37624 in this thread:

https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=37552&page=1

Lol Your not wrong there mate.

It,s now starting to play up wont start, It smells like varnish and after reading This I under stand why. on the weekend I get to stripping and cleaning the carburettor fuel bowl and the fuel tank. The fuel lines are old and hard I will replace them too.

grumpy Thanks for linking that thread I see in post 37546 the engine color is international orange.
I wont to stripped and repaint the engine. dont know if the decals can be replaced. or do Just mask them up?
grumpy The post number 37624 I cannot see it there. the post go`s #37563 then #37676
https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=37552&page=2

Yes, it might have been easier to find if I'd said #36724. The dreaded transposition error still reigns.

I suggest you look at this new thread, which contains the detailed information I think you may need:

https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=37739#Post37739

grumpy Thanks again for linking that thread there was some very good information there.
work out the varnish smell was comeing from fuel tank tap/filter.
Cleaned the tank and carburettor replaced the fuel lines and fuel tap/filter, Now runs fine.

Had a look under the Chain Cover.




Chain and sprockets looks good tho there lose.



Dont like how the Cylinder Chain tensioner is pushing down on the chain,
Tho its the same why that is showen in the Thoroughbred parts pdf.
Or have I just over tension it?
On S&B the tensioner is pushing up on to the chain?


Theres oil comeing out of throttle lever on the engine, Can this fix by a copper seal?

Alwood, your first drive sprocket - the one on the engine/clutch shaft - is completely worn out, which may mean that the first chain is worn. You should remove that chain and hold it horizontally on edge, observing how much it sags. The sag is due to wear between the pins and sideplates, and it increases the pitch of the chain, which destroys the sprockets. The other sprockets that I can see in your pictures look good. You just need to replace the clutch shaft one, and you may or may not need to replace that chain.

The chain tensioner on that first chain is positioned on the slack side of the chain. The drive occurs by pulling on the other side of the chain - note that the top (clutch) sprocket rotates anticlockwise when viewed from the chaincase end. It does not matter whether the tensioner presses directly inward, or slightly upward or downward, as long as it is on the slack side of the chain. Trying to tension a chain from the tight side would be incorrect design of the chain drive.

So far as the oil leak is concerned, I haven't yet figured out what part of the engine your picture shows. Some more explanation or a picture from slightly further away might help. You might take a look at this thread though:
https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=37772#Post37772

The oil leak looks like its coming from the govenor shaft I have not worked on enough tecumseh motors to clarify on seals though.

According to Mr Bonnar, who has just rebuilt one in another thread, there is a seal on the governor shaft where it passes through the crankcase. See post #37739 in:
https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=37772#Post37772

There is some interesting variation in common practice on whether to seal that shaft. I notice Honda uses seals on the governor shafts of GXV engines but not on the GCV engines. We have had a thread on the resulting problem of oil leaks:
https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=32871#Post32871
Just one more nail in the coffin of the GCV engine design, along with a cam belt that doesn't last all that long and is very difficult to replace, and an integral cylinder head so lapping valves and installing pistons are both rather awkward as well. The idea of the throwaway engine seems to have even reached Honda, these days.

In saying the first drive sprocket needs replaceng and it been a Rover Thoroughbred are the parts still available, Or is this the nail in the coffin for the old girl?

I do have a 14"Scott Bonnar 45 I pick up for $20 I can put the kirby on to this, Unlike the thoroughbred there are parts still available for the SB.

The catcher is in pretty good condition.
Witch way would be best here the restoration of a 14"Scott Bonnar 45 or Rover Thoroughbred 16"?

Our reel mower guru, Deejay, is the right person to answer your questions. It is very unlikely you will need to abandon the Thoroughbred over a mere engine/clutch shaft sprocket: even if you had to have one made, it should not be a major expense, but more likely than not it will be possible to find some kind of standard sprocket that can be reworked to suit your mower. The first step is to count the teeth on that sprocket, then see what size the shaft is where it goes into the bore of the sprocket, and how the two are attached together. Most likely you will find that the retaining nut has a right hand thread, and there is a key between the sprocket and the shaft. If that nut has a left hand thread, there probably isn't a key, but this is less likely: the left hand thread is typically used if the inside of the sprocket itself is threaded, and there is no retaining nut. Sprockets normally have positive drive, not friction drive.

You can put the Kirby engine on either mower, and find a Briggs of suitable age for the other. Usually a 14" mower would use a Briggs 60102 (2 hp), and a 17" would use a Briggs 80102 (3 hp). Both engines are quite commonly available second-hand.

I think you have two very restorable mowers there, and the right answer will be to restore both of them. The SB looks to be in practically mint condition, and I think will be the more valuable of the two after restoration: it is a very popular mower.