OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions on Walk Behind Lawn Mower Frames Victa Lawn Mower Frames Alloy base

I have this alloy base Victa with a 4 stroke motor on it at the moment, I will probably put a Powertorque on it but it is a good base that probably cost Victa quite a bit to produce and I wonder why they made these because it takes the current style catcher and it has the 4th mounting hole for the Powertorque motor. I wonder if this base was produced before the pressed metal base, I can't imagine them producing them after they had gone to the pressed metal, because the cost must have been twice as much.

There is a YouTube video about the development of a new model for Victa from about 15 years ago, and it revealed that tooling for making an alloy base is only one tenth the cost of making the pressings for a steel base.
I am pretty sure the alloy version was introduced well after the steel base or at least at the same time as the power torque engines came out.
Don't forget the full crank 160 was used on the steel base for a time and I have only ever seen the Powertorque two stroke used on that base of yours.

Hi Norm, that base was made from about 1992 onward and superseded the earlier type which took the clip catcher like the vortex, corsair, silver streak, etc just to name a few. Victa has always gone with both steel and alloy variants (well at least for the last 40 years or so), and priced them accordingly. Obviously the alloy bases being offered on their premium models.

Thanks Big Ted and Mowerfreak, can't say I have seen a Powertorque on an alloy base, that is not to say they didn't make them. I realize that the tooling cost for a steel pressing is huge, but once setup the can just punch them out in a fraction of the time a casting would take. Big Ted, makes sense to have an upmarket model to sell

Here's one I had until over a year ago. I have owned one other with a beige frame.

Another interesting bit of trivia if anybody is interested, I have a solution for anybody struggling to find a catcher for a high arch alloy Victa. If you rivet a Rover rear catcher door to the existing door, a Rover catcher fits very nicely, problem solved. Seems a pity to dump the alloy bases because of no catcher when the motors are so rebuildable