OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Restoring, Customising and Modifying Reel-Type Mowers SB 45 - dual project (newbie)

Hi BB,

I've been productive and now all parts but 1 are painted (i forgot the little motor stop switch - can you believe it!?!?!).
The orange paint seemed to be quite thick so I added more thinners than recommended, but I still used a lot of paint on the motor and it looks very thick in the photos. Rest assured, I applied very light coats and there are no runs. However, I needed a fair few coats just to get the right coverage.

Here are a few photos of where I am up to:







I replaced the head and carb gaskets and will do the rest upon reassembly. I'm going to have to paint the stop switch and the clutch cone at some stage this week so that it has enough drying time. I'm actually on holidays, so I was hoping I wouldn't have to go into work again until reassembly. Whoops! I also need to paint the handlebars in the chrome paint and then everything should be ready for reassembly next week. The reel and bed knife will go in on Friday (hopefully) for sharpening. I'm starting to create a document with tips from various threads to help with reassembly. There is a lot of information to take in on this forum, that's for sure!

Em

Hi Em,

That colour on all the chassis parts looks absolutely spot on in it's colour match. Yes it's a bit more glossy but that's even better in my opinion.

The engine looks ready to add the extra bolt on parts and thus looks stunning.

Don't forget to fit new "RLS5" bearings to each end of the reel before handing it over for spin grinding. Ensure the bearings are a tight fit over the shafts and not loose. If they are you'll have to centre pop the shaft surface area upon where the bearing is located using equi-spaced pop marks around the shaft. Then press the bearing over the pop marks which will lock the bearing in place.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that this is going to be one of the best restos I've seen in quite some time.

I can't wait to see the photos of the final assembled product, something many on this forum seem to fail to do thus leave us all hanging, but I'm sure you're not going to do that to us here.


Cheers,
BB.

PS. Yes that's a good observation in regards to various lots of info being spattered all over different threads. maybe we could publish a full limited edition step by step workshop manual on how to do it from start to finish.

Nah !!! that'll take all the fun out of it wouldn't it ?

Thanks BB. I need all the encouragement I can get, because I'm feeling a bit out of my depth.

I ran into trouble today when trying to sort out the bearing in the housing pictured below:


I ordered the bearing as pictured in the parts list on outdoorking - but it's not the right one. I believe this bearing is self-aligning, can anyone tell me what type of bearing I need to get? I'll have to have a look at a few local bearings places over the weekend or on Monday. I ordered this bearing , but it doesn't allow the shaft to fit through

Any help would be appreciated. Here is where I'm up to as a lot of the parts are still a bit tacky, so I can't handle them too much....

Will put the rear roller in with new bearings on Monday and hopefully the reel and soleplate will be sharpened by then as well.

Hello emk3,

My advice would be don't put it together until the paint is fully cured, maybe wait a week or so.
You don't want to spoil the great finish on it. If it's tacky you will get finger prints, marks etc. all over it.
I know it's exciting to rush in and put it together but it's best to let the paint fully harden.

So far, well done your machine will look better than new

Hi Em,

I agree with what member freebird has suggested and as it's enamel paint without a hardener added it will stay soft for quite some time.

Rushing into it will spoil all your hard work that you've done and as you've probably guessed by now that I've very much supported everything you've done on this amazing rebuild and you wouldn't want to trash it at the eleventh hour.

May I suggest that you put all the Hammertone enamel painted parts outside in the sun for a few days, this will speed up the curring process, especially with the metal heating up and cooling down day in day out.

As far as the bearing is concerned I totally agree with you that it should be a self aligning unit but if I recall correctly Rover in their wisdom decided that a standard bearing was good enough due to cost cutting (I don't agree). I gather you may still have vto original unit that you removed and on that it should have the bearing number on it. You'll probably have to look with a magnifying glass, well I'd have to anyway. Check out "CBC Bearings" as they'd have it. I know it's still available.


BTW since you sneaked a 20 inch machine in I thought I'd tell what I accidentally picked up today, yes accidentally, a 20 inch Solid Deck (Series 1) machine today complete with it's original HK-30 Kirby still installed and all its original parts. It runs but it leaks fuel terribly from the trickler that's on the underside of the fuel bowl, . It also has a cracked bearing carrier on the drivetrain side (RH) and that's going to be a hard find as the carrier in the early 20 inch machines are larger than the normal 14 inch and 17 inch machines. Yes it can be substituted for one of the smaller types and thus change the bearing over to an RSL5, but I prefer to keep things with the original specs. It's gonna be a long hard find. Yes I've found a couple of lefties already but no Right handers. Bugger !

Anyway, Keep up the good work.

Cheers,
BB.

Thanks for the feedback BB.

I'll leave it alone all weekend and then put it all out in the sun on Monday. I guess I'm just stressing about my Christmas deadline. As soon as I realised the paint would take on fingerprints, etc, I put that part down and left it, so nothing should be spoiled. I would be very mad at myself if I managed to spoil anything after all the time and effort I put into the paint prep.

As for the bearing, it came apart and was chucked accidentally during disassembly. This may become a bigger issue than I first expected as I have no idea what type of bearing it is. I just assumed this bearing would be readily available as per the other bearing on the machine. I guess my only other option is to see if I can disassemble the bearing housing on one of the other machines to see if it had the same one?

Good work on the 20 inch find. I love the idea of restoring something back to original specs...If I had more time on my hands, I'd restore SB 45's as an ongoing hobby because I've really enjoyed it (so far). I imagine the process would be easier once you've done the first one as well - that's what I'm hoping with my 20inch anyways. I'll start working on it in the new year but I was just so pleased for $50. I haven't had a really good inspection, so hopefully it doesn't come back to bite me!

Hi Em,

Yes that will be the only way of getting a sample to obtain the info. Honestly those self aligning bearings aren't a problem overall as they last for more years than I care to remember as they are not subjected to much shock like rear roller bearings and reel bearings are.

Yes it certainly can be quite addictive, but after you've done a few I'll ask you the question again.
I just don't know if I'll be able to find a RH bearing carrier of the larger variant as the 20 inch machine is the rarest of all the different sized mowers and also the most expensive when they were new, thus most of the pricing structure was based around the 17 inch model. If you had a 20 inch solid deck you'd be really reluctant to part it out as they are rather indestructable and as such they are always rebuilt opposed to the twin railers which were far more tempermental with failing rails, thus many of those have gone to SB Heaven long ago. Anyway the later ones had reverted back to the smaller bearings so as to streamline parts over the 3 issued size mowers.

I'll also have to solve that trickler issue as it can be rather dangerous if the exhaust spits out a spark in those rather lame Kirby mufflers. This wouldn't happen with a Briggs engine as there mufflers are of a far better design.

Anyway give those parts a few days in the sun and you'll be up and away. It won't take long to have it looking like a mower again. You'll see.



PS. I've just noticed that you're missing a section of the rubber seal that you've painted over on the PTO shaft bearing housing as per your photo above. If you look closely you'll see that you've got a jaggered edge around the shaft when it should have another section attached that protrudes outwards and seals snuggly around the actual shaft. This stops water getting into the actual bearing itself.


It should be like this,



Cheers,
BB.

hey Em, great job so far looking really good.

how did you clean up your front roller to make it look so good? I'm doing a fix up at the moment and I'm not sure what to do with the front roller i was considering buying a stainless one but im having issues trying to find one.

keep up the great work!

Hi Solman, thanks, but it's really just a temporary solution - I used white knight chrome spray paint. In hindsight, I probably should have just clear coated over it after sanding. I've already scuffed it up a bit on reassembly and I imagine the wear will be terrible once the mower is actually used. I was wanting to get a new stainless steel front roller with bearings as a few of the members here have used on their rebuilds, but I can't seem to locate one either. Apparently they used to be sold on eBay, but there's nothing there now.

BB - I made a mistake - the self aligning bearing situation is sorted. I was sent the right one - blonde moment. Also, out of the 4 SB45's I have, only 2 of them actually had that rubber seal near the housing. Isn't that odd? Anyways, I 'borrowed' one from another mower and have used it.

I tried to replace the rear roller bearings today and they do not fit into the housing (for real this time). I took them to a local bearing place and they confirmed that the old bearing diameter was 37.1 and new was 37.3. They didn't have anything that they could give me, so I'll try another place tomorrow, but I may have to reassemble the rear roller with the old bearings, which is not ideal seeing as though I have now replaced every other bearing along the way. I will, however, dismantle one of the 'spare' mowers and see if the housing is different by any chance.

Will hopefully be able to share some progress photos tomorrow as everything will be ready to go!

yeah i was thinking of painting mine as well, but its gonna look crap after a few runs with it.

i have found this....

stainless front roller

but I'm not sure if this fits a scotty, can anyone confirm? Looks very much the same.

Hi All,

Here is where I'm up to with the rebuild:


I picked up the reel and bedknife today


I also put all the decals on and applied a clear coat to protect them



Hopefully I can adjust the reel to bedknife tomorrow and install the sprockets, etc. Any advice or anything that you think I may have missed?

If all goes well, I may be able to test the motor on Thursday or Friday

Chains and sprockets on and reel adjusted. How time consuming is the adjusting!! I watched the video tutorial and I set it so that it touched (barely) and backed it off about an eighth of a turn.



Ignore the motor in the photos. I just had it there to hold he clutch and sprocket square in order to tension the chains. I will be working on it tomorrow and then will try to fire it up on Friday. I imagine once (if) I do get if going, I'll have to fiddle around with the clutch cable settings and also the carb adjustments as most of the screws were fiddled with. From memory, it ran really 'fast' or 'high' last time I played with it.

What do you think of the chain tension? There is only a little bit of play in them. I'll grease them up once I know I've got them in the right positions.

Hi Em,

Things are looking superb, the only thing I can pick is that the chains do look a tad on the tight side.

How much deflection are you getting in the centre area of the cutter chain between the PTO shaft sprocket and the plastic tensioner guide ?

Yes it's a fine art to getting it all correct and it's not quite as simple as it seems, but once you've done about a 100 of them you've pretty well much mastered it and can do them in about 5 to 10 minutes.

So is the reel still making contact with the bed knife ?

Cheers,
BB.

Theres probably around 1cm play in the cutter chain. A little more in the others at the moment.
I finished assembly today and started the motor. It struggled to stay running until I fiddled with the throttle linkage. I still haven't had a good crack at the carb settings as I was making sure the clutch was disengaging and engaging correctly at the time. However, when I went to switch it off, i received a decent jolt. I believe it happened as I moved the off switch onto the spark plug. This as never happened to me before when testing or turning off the motor, so what could explain this? The only thing I did was clean the carb, cylinder and replace the original coil with a magnetron coil...Is there a guide to follow to reinstall the head bolts to this motor? Perhaps I've mismatched a bolt or two? Would that cause a shock?

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Here are some photos. Got the motor running well today, so will make a few minor adjustments to the reel (it was tearing the grass, so I think I need to drop the cylinder down a bit closer to the bottom blade) and then clean it down ready for Christmas. I'll take some more photos including the catcher before I put it away to hide it!

Hello emk3, BB and Contributors

What a fantastic restoration, and this is a credit to yourself
and the art of full restoration.

From my perspective, the images are outstanding.
The first image in #79793 is almost theatrical!


I do also notice the subtle difference in the 'chemicals of preference'
used in these images ... [interesting]:-




I'm sure BB will explain the importance of a good set on the reel.
Also, a seasonal back-lapping will limit service costs.

I feel this thread will help members in their Model 45 projects.
Just Brilliant!

-------------------------
Jack

Hi Em,

Well Jack has said it perfectly without me having to add a thing regarding the outcome.

One thing I will say though and that is that I on behalf of the ODK must thank you for documenting this project of yours which I'm sure will be a huge surprise for your Father and that will help many new ODK members when thinking about doing what you have done.

I'm not for a moment saying that this was easy for you as we both know it wasn't, but you've persevered at times when many would've just given up and advertised the whole lot as a unfinished project, so for that I must commend you on a job well done and something you should be really proud of especially when it was your first one.

Now I'm really looking forward to you doing that 20 inch machine and maybe encouraging me to do mine at the same time, that's if I can find that special bearing carrier that I require.

Again thanks for sharing what you've so brilliantly achieved with all of us.

Cheers,
BB.

Haha thanks Jack and well spotted.

As soon as I ran into a problem, I would look at the time and see it was already past 5pm and would grab a 'cruiser' to help me problem solve. Turns out it worked a treat. The forum has been fantastic and has been a bit of a safety net to be honest. I was worried I would be out of my depth, but I now know the motor and mower parts quite well. Whenever I have run into trouble, I've been given great advice and I really appreciate the patience exercised by members and mods. I've learned a lot throughout this process and I think that is probably my favourite part - the fact that I now know about this machine and could service the motor myself. I never thought I'd be able to do that, so thank you !

I have at least one more mower to rebuild, so I'll remain active on here, but I really did want to pass on my thanks, especially to Bonnar Bloke.

Em

great work,looks the business!!

hi emk3

your machine looks beautiful I even showed you pictures of your machine to my wife
truly something to be proud of well done.


once again well done

Hello again BB,

I hope you had a great Christmas and New Year break.

I got the 20 inch machine out today as it look like we may be able to move into our new house in late Feb, so I had better get a mower sorted! We're thinking of putting Aussie Blue Couch down because it stripes nicely.

Anyways, I had a look at the motor and I'm thinking that I'm best to just replace it. I like the look of the Honda motors that you can just 'swap' straight in. I have also seen that there are some 'Chonda' motors on eBay that you have recommended.

Here is what I found with the original B&S motor:


The shaft is pretty badly damaged along with the inside clutch half. One of the head bolts is also snapped off inside the machine. Controversial.

I have 2 spare 17 inch machines here with decent clutch halves, so I'm thinking I will just be able to use one of those machines for parts? Do you have any advice for a suitable replacement motor for the 20 inch?

Here are some photos of the sprockets, reel and bed knife:






I'll be putting in the chain case for colour matching and then I'll be getting started with he paint stripping/sanding/paint prep. I think this one will be on the back burner for the next few weeks as I go back to work and we move in. I am hoping that it will be a much quicker/smoother process though now that I know the most effective and efficient ways to do things.

How are you going with your 20 inch? Did you find the bearing carriers?

Em

Hi Team,

It's been a while! We've just moved into our new house and the landscaping is about to start, which means I need to get a move on with the restoration of the 20 inch.

I have a few questions:

1. Does anyone know where I can source a stainless steel front roller with bearings? I have seen a few used in restorations, but have had absolutely no luck in getting one for myself

2. Has anyone ever had their rear rollers rubberised? Was this expensive and more importantly, was it worth it?

I'm going to organise for colour matching of the chain case and also take a few items in to be re-chromed in the next fortnight or so. It won't quite be a faithful restoration as I'm putting a new Chonda motor on it and may get some extra bits and pieces chromed. It'll be close though!

Hi Em,

Well it seems that I missed the original post in this thread, thus why I haven't answered it.

As far as paint is concerned could you please get whoever is doing the paint mixing for you to write down exactly what the tinters are and exact amounts used down on paper so that we can put it on the record as we asked these questions all the time.

A Chonda will be a good power plant for it and much cheaper than a Honda. If you do the routine maintenance on it it will last ages as they are pretty good now a days.

I had the bearing carrier tig welded as it's ally and not die cast as first suspected. It's stronger now than it was originally and also it was much cheaper ($30)It also required a slight process on the chaps mill as it had a slight twist in it from the breakage, thus now it has the bearing sitting totally square in the carrier.

I know a chap that does the rubberising of rear rollers but unless you are doing heaps of miles on concrete surfaces it's really not worth it as it aint cheap.

Your bottom blade is a beauty and will just need a light machining at the same time as the reel gets it's spin grind.

Your sprockets are all fine.

Looking forward to seeing more.

Cheers,
BB.

Hello again BB!

I'll ask the paint place to note everything down. This green is a lot lighter as compared with the last restoration. I'll also ask if they wrote that mix down at all as well. I think you were pretty impressed with that colour, even though it was quite glossy and lacked the desired hammertoe effect.

You've done well to come up with a solution for your bearing carrier!

If you don't mind me asking, how pricy would it be for the rubber rollers? I've got exposed aggregate driveway and steppers to deal with as well as a concrete pad immediately outside the garage, so it does have to go over concrete a fair bit, which is not ideal...

I'm up for a replacement front roller regardless as the last one has holes in it. I think I might have to get some stainless steel cut to the original size and use the plastic end caps. I really loved the look of the stainless steel rollers with bearings that were going around the ODK forum a few years back, but the trail seems to have gone cold.

I'm extremely happy with my local reel sharpening company. I put in the other two 17 inch reels to be done a few weeks ago. One of them has a broken blade that must have snapped off during use with a previous owner. Anyways, he's just offered to swap it out for another second hand reel at no extra cost. Got to be happy with that! I haven't restored these machines, I've just serviced the motor, replaced some bearings and sharpened the reel/bedknife so that I can get them both up and running in the next week or two.

I plan to use one on my yard for the next few months until my new 20 inch is complete and I've got a friend who is interested in the other. If he doesn't go for it, then I might have to put it on Gumtree. I had originally planned to use them for parts, but I couldn't bring myself to break them down when everything went as planned and I found replacement parts anyways. No point retiring a machine that seems to be a bit of a phoenix....

Hi Em,

Absolutely not, you won't find any dealers cannibalising a goer to parts as there's no money in that.

The front roller situation is that they are all custom self made units and not commercially made ones. Yes get a new piece of correctly sized pipe and use the original type plastic end caps and you'll be fine. The custom made units are merely a bit of overkill because they can.

I'm sure the paint people won't have the old paint formula on hand any more as they would've just matched it by eye and kept adding tinters to get it right, but if you give them a heads up before they start then we'll be in front.

Cheers,
BB.

Hi BB,

Long time no chat. Came across this article in the paper today. Wasn't sure where to post it. Been a bit busy so far this year so not much progress on the 20 inch but hoping to get to it shortly.

Hi Em,

Firstly good to see you are a financial member of the forum and enjoying all the benefits it brings. It's fantastic to have good people here.

Nice to see a shot like that in a major Newspaper.

For those unaware the machine pictured is a Series 2, 17 inch Scotty with a replacement Briggs & Stratton engine fitted. The machine was produced around 1978 and still going strong in a commercial environment, now that's saying something isn't it ?

Cheers,
BB.

Yes, I was pretty impressed to see it feature in the paper. Looks like it's missing a few parts though...

Happy to pay the $5 to be a member considering how much information and assistance I've received from ODK.

That's the spirit !


Cheers,
BB.

Alright - we're back on! Today I took apart the 20 inch machine. I think I'm going to approach this one a bit differently as I don't have much spare time when I'm working (currently on holidays for a fortnight though). I think I'll get most parts sandblasted rather than do it myself to save time. I've got a 6 blade reel with a bit of life left on it, but I'm thinking of getting a 10 blade instead.

I'll attach some photos of my progress.

I've found some rail fractures, so will use the gusset repair method as per last restoration. The ID plate is in pretty good nick, so I'm fairly happy about that.
I've got a bit of a question about the decals on this model though. You'll see in one of the photos that the handlebar decal is the Scott Bonnar shield, then the chain case has the older 'Scott Bonnar 45' decal (which I love). The chain case has definitely been painted again, so I'm guessing the previous owner must have switched it over. Am I right in thinking that the chain case decal should just be the plain 'Scott Bonnar' text one?

I'm having some trouble getting the rear rollers apart. I've taken out the screws that keep the 'inserts' together, but I can't pry them out. Anyone got any suggestions?? I've seen posts where people have had them totally dismantled, but I can't get mine to come apart!
I need to dismantle them as I'm going to get the rollers vulcanised with rubber. I've left them soaking overnight so hopefully I have some luck tomorrow.

I was originally set on getting the handlebars re-chromed , but they don't look too bad, so I think I'll see how I go just cleaning them up first. I've also got a new clutch half as I'm planning on putting a Chonda GX160 copy on it. I've got a brass thrust pad on it's way too - any ideas of what I can use as the fibrous washer that's meant to accompany a brass thrust pad?

As always, your opinions and feedback are appreciated!

Em