OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums General Discussion Forum Power Equipment...Mishaps and Funny Stuff A Dark Secret: The Sunbeam Incident ...

This will upset many members of this forum.
I once found a Sunbeam mower with Victa 160 that ran well and took it to a cliff and threw it off while it was running and watched it smash on impact.
Got to confess it was fascinating to watch and oh so funny when it hit the bottom and stalled immediately on impact. The alloy hi arch deck shattered into several chunks and bits of the orange engine cowl flew everywhere!!
It was quite spectacular and I'll never forget how the mower oscillated side to side in this funny way while it was in mid air and running.
I had never laughed so hard in my life and my mate was shocked at how much damage the mower sustained when it hit the bottom.
The engine looked intact, though as it landed up right and the deck and blade disc would have taken the brunt, although the crankshaft was probably bent to some degree.
A short time later we went back and all traces of the mower had gone!

What else do you do for fun?

I've grown up since I my youth Tiger but I do enjoy watching a lot of destruction videos on YouTube.
I now wish I had waited for a better contender that was fargone and barely running. We were mainly curious to see what it could stand up to.
Wish I could save it now and regret it.

Dear Mowerfreak

Please refrain from giving any advise on this site if that's how it affects you. As I'd hate to see other members fling their pride and joys over a cliff.

Man I've read it all now and I scared for life.

BB.

Back in the early days I'm sure many a 2 stroke mower was heaved over a back fence or taken to with a sledge hammer, or possibly thrown off a cliff, because they would not start, a running one off a cliff, now that is something different

I must say this is somewhat an unusual post ...

Although ... I have read in The Lancet of laboratory mice preferring Sunbeam
lawnmowers for 'cliff activities' [mowercide] over other brands ...

This is clear fodder for a Steven King novel.
I feel some 'troubled' posters* may be concealing some 'dark secret' of their own ...

All very disturbing.
-----------------------------
Jack

* I exclude myself here.
No mower was harmed in the making of this post.

I had 2 mowers in my collection that just would not start nomatter what I did to them ( both were 2 strokes) I got so fed up with them I left them on the front nature strip and whithin 24 hrs they were gone!

G'day Hermosil

I am always curious about terminology...
"Nature Strip' seems to be the term used in Vic and SA.
In QLD it would never be called that - it would be the 'footpath'

Having said that, I regret the mowers I have 'let go'.
Your story is of that type...

However, Mowerfreak has given us a more freaky story - of
watching the demise of a lawnmower in a more dramatic way.

The typical YouTube scenario is a running lawnmower shot at
- by gun-loving Americans - until it stops and/or explodes.
I guess Chuck Norris could play the part of a mower hit man?

All very destructive.
-----------------------
Jack

Nature strip is used in NSW.
Speaking of mowers growing legs, I once had to dispose of about 20 machines I had amassed because my father was worried the landlord would have an issue upon the next inspection and I knew I wouldn't get around to bring them back to life.
The same day, a man in a ute gathered them all up and said a mechanics school has a use for them.
Of course, I would later lament some bits I ended up needing from some of them, but that man probably saved me a lot of grief in disposal costs down the track when we did eventually have to move out due to end of tenancy notice.

Hi Jack, I'm sure "Myth Busters" have probably done something like that.

Hello all
I grew up in Northern NSW and they're footpaths up there. Southern QLD has them as footpaths as well. Not sure about Northern QLD.

On the topic of stuff left on the footpath: We have a house at Evans Head and we generally go through a 'drinks fridge' every couple of years due to rust.
We got a new 'drinks fridge' and left the old one out on the footpath with a sign which read "Works well-free". It was still there a week later. We put another sign on it: Works well-$50". It disappeared overnight.
Go figure

I have to admit I've thrown a whipper snipper over the fence. It was an old Ryobi and wouldn't start so....

Cheers Scott

They have some fun blowing them up with a product called 'Tannerite' [which is basically a 2-component explosive mix, which can be detonated by a high-velocity bullet strike] now, too.

Haven't destroyed any mowers myself. But I did have a hand in a quite spectacular explosive car demolition once [perfectly legally, I should add]...

G'day GM Gadge and all peace loving folks

There is the expression, 'biting the hand that feeds you'.

The great Budding Foundation has provided a glimpse of the talent that was
Edwin Budding, the inventor of the lawnmower.

Edwin invented the lawnmower and ... a 'Pepper Box' pistol!
I wonder whether there is something ironical in that ... ?
Did Budding shoot at his own lawnmower?

http://www.thebuddingfoundation.co.uk/edwin-budding-a-brief-history/

Cheers
---------------------
Jack

Gee, there are some real imbeciles out there, but the reality is that all these pressed metal style chassis Victa's should be treated in much the same manner I feel.

Those stupid handle mounts on top of the vulnerable flat pressed steel was always a receipt for disaster and also planned obsolescence.

[quote=Bonnar_Bloke]

Those stupid handle mounts on top of the venerable flat pressed steel was always a receipt for disaster and also planned obsolescence.[/quote]
I think you meant vulnerable. It probably worked on the thicker steel of the first series steel chassis, but it results in a horrible flexing feel on the thinner steels used to make later versions. That is the main thing that puts me off the odious things. Victa should have changed it long ago.

I have recently discovered a disturbing thing (for me) that the new Victas with the 4 stroke motors do not suit the Powertorque motors, because they don't have the mound and the mounting hole for the 4th bolt under the carby. I have always had good results with the earlier 4 stroke Victa bases because the base and wheels were usually in good condition and if the Briggs motor was ok I would pull the motor and fit a Powertorque to the base. Hopefully I can find another 100 Powertorque bases over the next year or two so I can use up my float needles and primer caps

B&S have wasted no time changing the bases to be specific to their engines.

Thanks Norm, On another note have you ever had any luck fitting a Powertorque to a Rover base. I know there is always the issue of the Victa shaft not being long enough to put the blades at a usable height but I wondered if there is any way around this. Perhaps different blade holders etc. Its just that there are so many good Rover bases around often alloy ones etc. All the best Jeff

Hi Jeff, I have fitted a couple of Powertorques to other bases, only one to a Rover base but it was an early one that had obviously had a short shaft Briggs so it was no problem height wise. You are right I have alloy Rover and Masport bases here that you can't give away. I have looked at fitting a Powertorque to one one day and was thinking of putting a 10 degree set in the blades so that the tip of the blade will be down to the correct height. Too busy at the moment fixing the Powertoques I have

Can't you just lower the height to compensate? Lawn shouldn't be cut too low anyway.