OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Finding and Swapping Tip & Curb Side Finds More from hard rubbish

Wow I decided to go out again today as the next hard rubbish isn't that far from home.So I thought yeah why not.Well my luck must be changing as I found these mowers today.



This one here I'd say was run without any oil,as it through a leg out of bed.It has no oil in it now.It came out so hate I'm not even sure the fuel tank is savable.



Does anybody know anything about this one.It has a weird steel base,but I love those wheels.


Once again my dog Buddy just has to know everything that I'm doing.He just can't stay out of many pictures.Always gets his nose in there somewhere.Arh well it doesn't bother me though.



I'll have to go out tomorrow and see what other bonus I can find.Hopefully something older.

That green Victa vantage you have there I believe is only available at Bunnings. The new ones are blue instead of green. I do not believe Victa dealers sell them. That is the model with the single bar blade instead of the normal 18" victa blades. A common problem with those is that they surge at full throttle. This is due not to carby related problems, but happens when the bar blade wears over time. When the blade wears it doesn't provide enough weight to the crankshaft and thus becomes much lighter than when new. The way to fix the surge is to replace the bar blade.

Just a tip for you Blumbly as many come in at work.

Thanks James yes I thought that's where I'd seem them from before I just couldn't remember.Yes it does have the single bar blade on it,but I don't think it has the wearing problem.I gave it a clean this evening,it is like new under there (Just didn't get time to take photos.I will tomorrow).The base still has fairly new paint under there.Seem to have had very little use.Makes me wonder what is wrong with it.Anyway that's for another day to find out.

Yes Blumby, like James said, same as the blue bunnings ones and the no name sprinter, which is also available at Bunnings. 16" cut and not much of a mower but very popular on ebay. They fetch anywhere between $150 and $200.

Cool thanks guys I guess I'll see how I go with them,but at least I have a good spare steel base.As I'm thinking I might keep the wheels,change the motor over to the charger base.

Well sounds like you have a project on your hands. Should be very straight forward. Then you will have a good condition 18" victa base with 148cc Briggs and Stratton motor. Good thing about it is that they are so common, you can find parts just about anywhere for them. Both the base and the engine. I'm sure you will be able to sell it for a fair profit.

Well I hope so as that is the plan.Any ideas as to what they are worth?Also in today's search didn't find anything except for some computer parts which was just in time as this computer was really getting sad and slow.Just installed another mother cpu and ram.Already without the right drivers heaps faster.Couldn't have come at a better time as last night it took me 30 minutes just to delete 3 files.I never did get them deleted.So now I'm running another AMD Phenom II X2 550 3.10GHz.My old one was only AMD X2 2.10GHz,but the mother board was getting old and had it.Now I'm like a pig in s*#t,well you know what I mean.

Good condition victa 18" base with serviced engine can go to about 200 max. I think you could get 100 quite easy. Just give it a good clean because no one likes dirty mowers. If you fully service it then you could get up to 200. Just depends on the buyer.

Awesome so with the job I'm planning it should be about the 150 mark.Good that's what I was thinking of.

I like the look of that grey victa!

Underneath all the filth.. It looks like a good mower with good decals and everything... providing The base isn't rotted out..

Kori

I'll take some pictures of it later and you can see how it cleaned up.

Blumby, dont rush out and do the engine swap, i think the 16" vantage runs a long shaft motor, as opposed to the short shaft they use on all the others, so just measure it before you commit to the job. As a side note the charger also runs a bar blade and a different boss to your conventional Victa 18" mowers. Just another way of keeping costs down to remain competitive in the marketplace.

Thanks bigted yes I was going to measure the shafts as I have been caught out with that before.The charger doesn't run much any-more it's a bit broken with the conrod hanging out the side,but thanks yes the charger is just spare parts as the engine is no good.

Got the Victa Vantage 18 running and cleaned up.Thanks you to a few of our members here.




Anyway had a buyer at $160.The took the mower on I think it was a Monday.Then the following Saturday he rings me and says that it's wouldn't start.I said that I couldn't do anything over the phone and that he needed to bring it around for me to look at.
He brought it around so I started to look over it.So the first thing I did was take the spark plug out and noticed it was wet,but not from fuel.Then I stood back and had a look and started to wonder why it had oil on the base when I had it very clean.I took off the air filter and wondered why it had oil in the top of the carby.So I looked at the dipstick and sure enough there was the problem.
I said to him 'did you put oil in this?'
He said 'yes I did it wasn't full'
I said 'I did a service on it,and this mark on the dipstick (while showing him) is the full mark'
He said 'Oh I thought it had to be filled up to the thread.I was going to ring you and check'
Yes he should have.
To cut a long story short no wonder it wouldn't go it was full of oil.I asked him why he originally asked me for a four stroke.He ended up taking a two stroke.I knew he couldn't get in as much trouble with that.Maybe?
I have now fixed it up again.I took a video of it's smokey re-start here's the link if you'd like to have a look.

So now I will have to find another buyer for it.Oh well what can you do?

Hey Blumby, watched your video, that wasnt too bad, ive had them spewing white smoke for up to 5-6 minutes at times. It cleaned up really nice though. Pity the person you sold it to was a nuffy.
On a side note, it sounds like its revving too hard, the other giveaway its overrevving is the spinning front left wheel. Back the revs off a little or someone will blow it up and then tell you that you sold them a dodgy mower.
They are pretty popular units, finding another buyer won't be a problem.
Cheers, Theo

Thanks bigted the wheel was spinning as there was no weight on it. I'm not sure I agree with it reving too hard it hardly even revs now. The butterfly on the carby hardly even moves now. The different's between its reving and idle is very little. Slacking it off anymore and I could take the throttle completely off and then I could call it an automatic. Hmm maybe I could make my millions after all.

Saw Your video on Youtube and Came over to see the corresponding Thread..

Nice little Machine! Overfilled oil is something I see heaps overhere in the States.. People Simply add another Quart (1/2L) Without draining the the old Sludge out first.. Seen some where the oil is up to the top of the fill tube..

Kori

I think that was were he filled it too,but it just couldn't stay in and dribbled out where it could.

Blumbly firstly the machine looks good came up very clean, well done.
As for the overfilled oil I have had an experience similar to yours:

One day during the Christmas break, a customer brought in her Masport push mower with a 2 stroke Briggs and Stratton engine for repair to me. The complaint was that 'it wouldn't start'. I found an unusual noise when turned over. So I took off the barrel, and noticed a massively Broken piston skirt. Feeling bad for the customer,I decided I would serviced up another four stroke push mower and sell it to her, as she needed it urgently and all suppliers were closed to order parts for this engine, also I was not even sure if parts were available...

Anyway I had fixed up and fully serviced a Masport 18" steel base push mower with a Briggs engine on it. After I was satisfied with the mower I gave her a call, sold it to her and she took it home...

Sometime later I received a call from her. She sayed 'the motor locked up' and 'I can't turn it over anymore'. I thought to myself, what possibly could have gone wrong. Anyway after leaving it with me I firstly checked the oil level. I removed the dipstick and saw that the oil was literally filled to the brim. Well you can guess what I did to fix the mower. The funny things was she had only used a 2 stroke before, so she sayed 'I thought you had to add oil when you go to use the mower'. LOL.

Yes their are those people who have no idea,and that's fine not everybody knows about them,but I'd just wish they ask instead of doing.Although no damaged caused but it could have been.