Pretty regular occurrence with these old motors hey Paulie. Definitely focus attention on the fuel system. Give it a good clean up.
These old motors can really give the patience a workout. Purring one day, spluttering and choking the next. Not to mention the stench of spent unleaded all over you after use. This is why mine end up on the shelf to collect dust in the shed. With a very 'laid back' intention of tearing down and attempting a refresh... some day.
When you're pretty time poor and just want to put these machines to work on the spot, new motor is the way to go (obviously budget permitting). Do it Paulie, you will love it.
I have some carby cleaner to run through on the weekend, was up late last night cleaning the old fuel out and only got the motor 90% back together after that. Will get it fully reassembled after work tomorrow and run the cleaner through. I really am trying to keep the old motor if possible but will be buying a cheap set of calipers today to make sure on drive shaft size before refitting the motor to the mower. Being as impatient as i am, i want to be in a position to get a new motor on the weekend if the clean up of fuel system doesn't get the old girl firing properly.
Can't wait for the growing season to be over so i can strip her down completely as at the moment i need to mow twice a week, i had to pull out the rotary mower on tuesday and managed to near scalp half of the back lawn so currently really wanting to get the reel back up and running.
As a side note i did have a quick look around the engine mount bolt holes while motor is off, i cant really see much in the way of damage but need to get the rest of the old paint off too make sure. Of course i did forget to get some photos.
Yep! Precisely. I get a small window of time to get all three patches done at my place. 40 year old motor misbehaviour - I just can't accommodate the time for at the moment.
Don't worry too much about the calipers (unless you really want them). Do you have 5/8 and 3/4 open ended spanners? Stick them over the engine shaft, that should give you a pretty clear indication of what you have. Or you could measure the hole on the engine side clutch half, and do your conversion - close to 16mm is 5/8.
and 19mm is 3/4
Last edited by Bonnar_Bloke; 25/01/1911:10 PM. Reason: added info
Well I bit the bullet and bought a brand new briggs and stratton today,
After looking inside the carby and the condition of it, it became an easy decision to get a new motor. Guys i brought it from oiled it up and ran it up for a few mins for me as well so shouldn't have any issues, low/no oil or otherwise.
The new Briggs may be a little fun to set up with the old thumb throttle cable.
Last edited by Bonnar_Bloke; 25/01/1911:13 PM. Reason: Photo orientation correction
Did get a quick cut in today. Cutting very nice. New engine definitely highlighted how poorly the clutch was set up though as well as the fact the reel definitely needs to be sharpened, ordered a new bottom blade today as well so once that arrives I will send both to be sharpened together.
New engine was a good call though. After stripping the old engine down today the old one is in really bad shape. Thinking I may rebuild one day however. Maybe someone else could get some use out of her once complete
It's amazing what a difference a new engine will make, especially a smoother running one without the thump in it like many of the earlier power plants had, thus why most bowling clubs where it is far more critical had electric powered machines opposed to petrol driven.
Electric machines just don't have that downward thump that effectively will make the surface uneven to a rolling ball.
Cheers, BB.
I live a 24 Hour lifestyle, but every now and again I seem to fall asleep, well at least that's what my wife tells me.
I actually only spoke to the local lawn bowls club yesterday about where they have their fees sharpened, their grounds keeper was very reluctant to share any info with me to begin with.
He did however let me have a look at his mower, very impressive machine, although I have no idea what brand/mode it was.
He did say they post their blades for sharpening, couldn�t tell me to whom though.
I have ordered a new bottom blade as I need to get the reel sharpened, I figure with such little life left in the bottom blade now was as good a time as any to get a new one honned with the reel. Also have a feeling the bearings need changed out so will be ordering new reel bearings this week also.
I am enjoying the project so far although it is insanely addictive so far.
Will get some progress shot once new reel bottom blade and bearings arrive.
Most of the good clubs send their reels off to the same sharpening service location that all the others do as good recommendations travel fast, while the bad ones travel even faster.
Here is Adelaide you'll find that Steve Rose at "Australian Saw Blades and Sharpening" gets most of SA's larger reels from all over the state, thus he's never really (pardon\the pun) out of work.
I'm constantly referring work on to him and to date have never had a bad word come back to me.
Cheers, BB.
I live a 24 Hour lifestyle, but every now and again I seem to fall asleep, well at least that's what my wife tells me.
I asked around a little more and have in turn dropped the mower off to have a new bottom blade installed, (will be a raised lip blade) and reel sharpened in accordance. After asking quite a few people over here i found a mower shop that comes with quite a lot of support from the local FB group (WA Lawn Addicts) who seem to provide more info than local bowls clubs are willing to give.
I found a new bottom blade and sharpen for $165 to be very reasonable. Once the mower comes back the last mechanical fix required will be to recork the clutch. I have a feeling that it is burnt out as it really does not want to engage the reel at at all without a lot of jiggling of the lever. The reel side clutch half seems to travel to far in my opinion, once i get the mower back and pull apart the clutch i will be able to confirm this however.
Fingers crossed this is the last mechanical fix as many more is going to start cost me a little too much. (In the better halves eyes anyway.)
Sadly these mowers have pretty much out priced themselves now with most of the sellers on eBay just ripping buyers off unmercifully, one in particular comes to mind. All these clowns are doing is buying components from GA Spares and re-flogging them online and making a killing due to the current craze on Model 45's.
I'm not expecting a free ride but the profits are simply right off the planet and thus this will end up sending many mowers to the scrap yard.
I live a 24 Hour lifestyle, but every now and again I seem to fall asleep, well at least that's what my wife tells me.
The sad truth BB. A lot of the eBay sellers peddling components from the GA Spares catalogue are aiming way too high. Even some of the more 'reasonably' priced on eBay at the moment are beaten by my local go to, without me even mentioning what I could pay for them online...
The reel bearings of all things are one piece of the puzzle that you can source pretty commonly (RLS52RS / generic) and they�re not dear. The GA Spares catalogue likely has them, although you can find them at bearing shops, online, etc. Seeing as you are having the reel sharpening done locally, that would be a good point of call - ask them for a pair. The GA spares componentry I am more or less referring to are those specific to the SB model 45; e.g. clutch halves, reel bearing housings, transmission parts, etc.
You shouldn't have to pay any more than $8 to $9 tops for an RLS5 bearing. Then there's those clowns on ePrey that are selling them for around $30 for a pair. These scumbags need to take a good long hard look at themselves. How they sleep at night is beyond me.
If only we could all get a GA Spares account then we could wipe the likes of the above out.
Cheers, BB.
I live a 24 Hour lifestyle, but every now and again I seem to fall asleep, well at least that's what my wife tells me.
Oils aint oils BB. Hang on that was Valvoline wasn't it?
You could almost use most of the eBay listings as a benchmark of what NOT to pay...
eBay is not the same as it once was. These clowns' listings are basically akin to online paid advertising/marketing, where for me it's become automatic/habit to completely ignore the ads with certain watermarked images used on their listings. Given using it as a selling platform is no longer practical for Joe Blow, its rare to see any (I'll call them 'regular') seller auction listings. Not when the other platforms out there don't take a 'cut' of your sale.
Good luck to the clowns though - they aren't getting any of our hard earned...
I do actually deal with only one of them, but I buy "direct" from him and not via the eBay platform and as such I get the items much much cheaper than the average Joe would.
I've recently challenged one of those Clowns that's based in Perth and he tells me that even though his prices are off the planet that he's achieving well over $2,000 in monthly SB alone sales, yet alone all the other junk he sells.
My argument would be if he was far more affordable then I'd say his sales figures would be much higher than his measly 2K and truthfully who are all these gullible people that can obviously see all the listings but still pick the most expensive parts ? do they actually think they are getting better parts than from the lower priced sellers ? wake up people........... they're all coming from the same place just being retailed through different levels of greedy folk.
Oh and BTW Oil's aint Oils was in fact Castrol's catch cry for quite a number of years, while "Valvoline.......You know what I mean" was John Laws finisher in the long running Valvoline ads he did. He was the best of the good ol' Mr Cash for Comments people.
Cheers, BB.
I live a 24 Hour lifestyle, but every now and again I seem to fall asleep, well at least that's what my wife tells me.
