OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Welcome to Outdoorking Forum HELP Area Introductions squizzy - VIC - Another Mower Messer

Hi all from Pete, aka squizzy, a long time mower messer who also loves old Mobilco / Echo chainsaws. This looks like a great and very active forum which should be a lot of fun to be involved with. I have quite a collection of 60's Victa mowers and parts from when I had a small business for a while . but my prized two mowers are my dads 18 and a new 50th anniversary mower, My favorite model is the first self propelled Victa which is my current project. Hopefully a picture will be up of my 18 and 50th........look forward to chatting later, cheers, pete

Hello Squizzy,

Welcome to the ODK forums. Yes, they do get quite a bit of activity.
The place to start is 'Active Topics' from the menu bar (at the top).

We look forward to the pics mate.
When you say 'first self-propelled' I guess you mean the one using steel
dogs that directly drove the rear wheels ...?

p.s. I have written about Mobilco mowers, but I know Mobilco made a name for
themselves with their big saws, and then their chainsaws. I heard their
chainsaws were re-badged American machines. Is that true?

Just imagine receiving a chainsaw in a fitted timber case!


Cheers
-------------------------
JACK.

Welcome to the ODK Forums, squizzy!

Mobilco's earliest 1950's chain saws, such as the one in that ad, were rebadged Swedish Be-Bo's, made by AB BERGBORRMASKINER, MOLNDAL, SWEDEN.

Later Mobilco chainsaw rebadges were from Mono [USA]; PM Canadien [Canada], TAS [aka Tanaka, Japan; these were a small 'pruning' size saw]; and Echo [Japan, from the late 1960's-early 1970's], rebadged as 'Mobilco-Echo'.

thanks for the welcome Jack and gadge, sorry about the no pics, got a couple there but just gotta get them up. That's right Jack. the self propelled has the dogs on top of the wheels and where made from around 64/5 till around 1970. i;ve only just got a catcher for it after years of looking. and my love for Mobilco Echo stuff came about because Dad worked with them and then so did I.....sort of runs in the family, I have around 20 saws.
Here they are, my Dads 18 and my unused 50th anniversary.

Cool! I have a 50th that I would like to restore to mint... What colour is the underside of the deck? Thanks

Hello again Squizzy!

I liked the story on the chainsaws. It seems that many interests are formed
from childhood and young adulthood.

Moderator Gadge sure knows his chainsaws as well!
I think you will find this place full of interests and information.

Great machines! That Model 5 looks nice. Who restored it?
I guess you plan to not use the 50th Anniversary machine then ...?
I'm sure you will get some comments. I wonder how best to 'preserve' these
machines from deterioration?

p.s. There is a nice brochure on the Self-propelled HERE.

Thanks and, again, welcome.

--------------------------------------
JACK.

Well, I can't claim to be any expert on chainsaws in general; but I do have an interest in, and liking for, things Mobilco!

As CJ is aware, my family had a business that was a Mobilco dealership from at least 1973 [I'm not certain when the predecessor business we took over first had the Mobilco agency; it was founded before 1956], until they were closed down in 1977. I did get to attend several of the Echo servicing schools that Mobilco ran, in that time.

The Mobilco Echo saws were very well designed and built, and leading-edge in compactness and light weight for their era.

I can't claim to be an expert either Gadge, but i do love the mobilco / echo saws, which as you say were beautifully built, and if my 452 is anything to go by, will never die!! Dad worked for Mobilco till it was sold off, then Ariens Echo till he retired. I worked with him on and off for many years and collected stuff as i went, Most saws i have are really good examples with my favorite being the 60s. sounds like you where pretty close to them as well. I've been rebuilding Dads model 5 since i pulled it apart as a teenager, a mate resprayed it and most of the parts are off the original machine, i do have the wire recoil starter, but it needs to be painted and i haven't been game to pull it apart!! As for the 50th, i got that as a trade on a victa ute and your right Jack , probably will never use it, how to preserve it is always the question ah.....i'll take a picture of the underside for you deisel. cheers pete

Yep, I still have a 16" bar Mobilco Echo CS601VL. That was a 1970's trade-in, from a farm, where it had been worked hard.

It cut a power of really old, very hard yellow/grey box firewood [ringbarked 50+ years before] for the old man, before he passed it on to me around 1992, when the olds moved to a house without an open fireplace.

It probably needs a kit through the carby, and maybe fuel lines, but it still runs OK. I just don't leave the fuel in it between uses now, due to the properties of modern petrol!

Great old saw the 601, 16" is a short bar for it, no wonder it went through anything...here's a pic of my 452 i bought new in the early 80's and my 60s, also a shot of the underside of the 50th.

just out of interest, the serial # of the 452 is 250000

Ah, the old CS60S. Echo's longest production run model, by far. Really tough saws, those!
My brother has one, that he picked up for ~$20 at a garage sale! Goes well, too. My old man still has a CS302, too. All Mobilco Echo's.

The CS60S was unique for an Echo of that era, in that they were the only model that used the crankcase pulsations to power the auto chain oiler. It was a common system on other brands of the day, but AFAIK that was the only Echo brought to Oz that used it.

The others all used mechanical drive piston [cam ground on crankshaft actuated] oilers; though the 601 setup was a bit weird, in that it was driven by a cam on the clutch drum centre. Again, unique to that model. When/if the clutch drum wears out, that will spell End Of Life for my oldie.

sounds like you know your saws Gadge, One i have to rebuild one day is a 602 that was stripped back in the day for it's crankcases, recently i aquired a brand new set of cases as well as a nos oil pump.....it will be the first saw i've built up from scratch.

Unusual project there. The 602 wasn't very common here.

It may be useful to bookmark this US chainsaw wrecker's website, as they wreck a lot of older Echos [some models of that era were also sold under the John Deere brand in the US] http://store.chainsawr.com/ They do ship internationally, too.

Thanks for the link, they do seem to have a lot of stuff, I have another 602vl that;s a runner, but the one in pieces was as new when stripped. I also have a 601 and a 601svl which has the anti vibe in the handle. and your right about being sold as John Deeres in green and yellow, but i've only seen pictures of them.

Hello Squizzy and Moderator Gadge,

While the 'sawmance' is going on, I just wanted to thank you for the photo of the 50th.
I wonder if a member has suggestions on the preservation of it?
I know Administrator Deejay has a recipe for a protective wax coating...

Squizzy, I thought you might like this new article on the self-propelled Victa:
https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=62481#Post62481

Cheers and thanks.
-----------------------------------
JACK.

Nah, 'tisn't like that at all, at least from my end!

One of my more useful abilities, is to be able to absorb snippets of information over time, then collate them into something really useful, when the need arises. It's stood me in good stead, in any number of workplace and personal situations, over the years...

That's a good - and desirable - ability Gadge.
I have learnt more about Mobilco chainsaws here than in any other post!

I guess, I'm collating information too - to write something of their company history.
Chainsaws, I think, were closer to Mobilco's core business.

It's their entry into consumer goods - like lawnmowers - that was less enduring.
I mean, a Mobilco washing machine - available in 'eight modern colours'!
[in 240 volt and 32 volt]

Yes, it would seem to have been only a brief foray into the domestic appliance market, on their part.

However, they weren't the only 'out-of-field' industrial equipment manufacturers that ventured into this market. Another standout example was Lightburn; best known for their cement mixers and hydraulic jacks, they also brought out at least a couple of washing machine models. A top loader, and a twin tub that had a weird 'swinging arm' agitator.

The top loader was very 'cement-mixer like', with an angled wash bowl, and a vertical spin dryer drum in front of it. Our elderly next door neighbour in Cobram had one of these, in the 1970's. That thing was a really heavy-duty unit!

Let's not mention their automotive foray/folly, the truly awful Zeta car, here...

I'm tending towards the view that the 1950's was an era of a market that was desperate for consumer goods. Which couldn't be supplied from overseas, for two main reasons.

One was the high Australian tariff barriers; the other was that the overseas manufacturers were just about flat out satisfying their own domestic markets, after reverting from 'war effort' products.

So the established local manufacturing firms stepped up to fill the gap, as best they could.

I dont know about you Moderator Gadge...... but i'm not sure about Moderator Jack gate crashing OUR sawmance , does he have the same Mobilco/ Echo chain oil running thru his veins ??? hhmm

thanks for the link to the self propelled Jack, never seen that before, 6mph, no wonder those kids seem to be running!! The advertising was pretty full on in those days , and the ads look great today. My collection goal is to put together all the mowers in the 1966 brochure, i've already got them i think, just got to drag them home see what i've got. it's certainly a great site you've got here, a bunch of REAL enthusiasts , love it