OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions on Walk Behind Lawn Mower Frames Victa Lawn Mower Frames Victa Imperial 16" - Drive problem

Greetings one and all.

I'm a noob here, courtesy of a Victa Imperial 16" mower that I was gifted recently. It's a 1970 - 1972 model, so it's not quite as old as me . The machine is exactly the same one as shown in the thread below just here "Victa Imperial 16" 4-Stroke - Oil Change"

The mower came to me with a couple of issues that I've managed to solve.

- the engine exhaust valves were running with pretty much zero clearance. A light engine rebuild / reset has it running fine now.

- the centrifugal / centripetal engine clutch wouldn't release, regardless of how low the motor revs dropped. This turned out to be a broken clutch shoe pivot / mount. I built another mount out of bits and pieces from the shed stocks and that's fine too now.

BUT, the next issue is that the actual drive to the land roller is working only intermittently. There's something loose rolling around inside the hollow roller as well. The drive clutch (hand grip release) is fine. I can run it with the drive cover off and with the drive clutch engaged the chains all do their thing - just no drive. Basically, when I run the motor with the clutches engaged, the shaft is spinning inside the land roller.

The silly thing is that the drive randomly 'fixes itself' for short periods of time and the whole machine runs perfectly. Then without any warning the drive stops. There's no tell-tale noises or rattles or anything, just no drive.

Anyways, it's pretty clear that the issue is inside the land roller. To remove that roller from the chassis, I have to remove the final drive gear / cog. And it is here where I am stuck.

The final drive gear / cog is locked onto the land roller shaft / axle by a reverse thread and a keeper bolt & washer. The keeper bolt comes out easily, but in trying to persuade the cog to spin back off it's thread, the shaft just spins with it. The kicker is that the drive problem that I'm trying to fix means that the land roller is not moving as I tap the cog backwards, it's just the shaft / axle.

So can I be so bold as to ask if anyone has any ideas for me? There's no engineered-in way to clamp or hold the shaft that I can see. There's not enough room to get vice grips in there anywhere. I'm flummoxed at the moment.

I'm totally stoked with the mower. When she runs it's perfect, but that intermittent drive makes it next to useless. I live on a hill, so just pushing it around until the drive kicks in isn't an option.

Any advice would be muchly appreciated.

I can do photos and stuff if that will help the diagnosis. But I'm hoping someone has been here and done this already.

Cheers

Roger

Hello RogerD

A warm welcome to these forums.

I think I understand the issue here.
The Imperial is based on a Ransomes' design - which had a key slot
on the other side of the spindle. The Imperial does not have this.

A quick shock is all that should be needed to unlock the LH thread.
A soft piece of wood accompanied by a mallet blow (clockwise) should
release the thread.

Lack of drive will be a differential gear problem.

Hope this helps.
--------------------
Jack

Hi, Jack

Big thanks for your reply.

That photo tells me most of what I need to know I think.

I've tried the quick hammer blow to try to release the thread. I appled CRC5.56 / WD40 beforehand and some tapping of the cog itself in some pre-emptive effort to release what is forty years of being done up tight. I definitely when in the correct direction.

To no avail though.

I actually despair a little at your photo because it tells me the diff gears are plastic and I reckon the piece(s) rattling around inside must be a chunk of one of those gears *primal scream*. So if I do get it apart then I'm not sure how I'll go repairing that.

I'll have to do some more thinking in the light of your reply. I'll be sure to report back if I get it apart (or even if I don't).

Thanks again.

Regards

Roger

Roger I guess once you get it apart, if you are unable to get the spider gear parts you could turn it into a single wheeler by locking the drive side drum op to the sprocket, but that would also depend on how hilly your block is, might suffer from a bit of wheel spin.

Hi Norm and Roger

That's a great idea when all other options have expired.
In fact, for the record, the 14" came with a single piece rear roller and...
the 16" - in its later life - was offered with two-piece and a single rear roller.

It's not ideal, but the issue will not be 'wheel spin' but less-than-ideal
turning (a little bit more effort and some scrubbing).

The gears are no longer available as Victa parts.

On a roll.
---------------------
Jack