Yes I'd strongly suggest this one has had a bit of component swapping going on.
Being that it's a single Ally ID plated chassis then I'd say it would have sported the Pentagon logo on both the Chain Case and also the original catcher. Maybe the chain case has been belted at some stage or had the cutter chain rub through the steel on the original due to lack of proper adjustment.
As far as pulling the roller halves apart, it seems you've achieved this as per your photos.
One thing that many haven't taken into consideration when vulcanising rubber onto the rear roller and is that it will increase the height of the chassis by about 5 mm off the cutting surface which is non adjustable and also changing the angle of attack of the bed knife to grass blades. It might not seem much but every mm changes how things function correctly.
Just a quick word on the rails, your machine looks like its survived rather well with minimal fatigue fractures, nonetheless I would utilise the Gusset repair method but I would increase the length of the gussets so as to help the torsional strength of the rails and push the stress out wider to where the chassis is stronger.
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 had all sorts of trouble removing the key from the rear roller shaft. Had to get hubby out to help me with that one. I had a bit of a play with the handlebars and ran over them with some alfoil and water. They may not need re-chroming after all!
Will take your advice re the length of the gussets. I can imagine the stress those 20inch rails must deal with!
In terms of the vulcanised rubber, I think I may be able to get away with it. I've got blue couch which mows a bit higher than green. Do you think that would be okay? I will probably maintain it once a week so don't think I could mow it too low anyway.
1. The front roller shaft - is this still serviceable? 2. Degreased parts ready for cleaning and/or sandblasting. Finally got the 'hub cap' things out of the rear rollers. 3. Paint matching. I asked for more silicon in this mixture as I wasn't overly impressed with he lack of 'hammertone effect' in the last lot of paint. Though - their colour matching is very good. 4. Handlebars after their final clean and polish. Very happy with how they've come up.
That paint sample is a finger dab and as such will always react differently to spraying. I don't feel there's too much of an issue there.
Did you get them to write the formula down for you ?
As far as the roller shaft is concerned the end piece could be easily reformed back to what it used to be prior to its constant bashing that its had over the years. The main thing to concern yourself with is the wear on the shaft itself where the plastic caps have been rotating on. The shafts as replacement parts are quite pricey but really all you have to do is cut the shaft off at the anti rotation flange, then drill it out and replace the shaft with a new piece and re-weld along with running a die over the end to cut a new thread.
In regards to the handle bars, they look magnificent, I'll swap mine for yours,
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.
Yes, I trusted him considering he did a great job matching the colour last time. I did ask him for a paint formula, but unfortunately he said it's all in his head and done by eye. I didn't press him on it, but if I continue to order through them and take on a few more rest's, I'll definitely be a bit firm about it.
What thickness (in mm) is the fibrous washer meant to be that originally went with these thrust pads? I had a quick look at bunnings, but it might end up being easier to just cut them out of a sheet for myself.
What is your suggestion for obtaining a fibre washer of the correct size?
My husband brought home 6m worth of polished stainless tubing for the front roller. Apparently that's the smallest length you can buy it in. Looks like I'll have to make a few and put them on eBay or take on a few more reso's. Ha!
Just waiting on the parts back from the sandblaster and then I'll get started on painting. Hoping to be able to chuck most of the small parts in a tumbler over the weekend for cleaning.
Gee that roller looks good, you'll be able to park it in your lounge room, but seriously it's sad that it won't stay that way for long.
If I may ask how much did the 6 metre length end up setting you back ? as that's a s*%t load of rollers there, also what is the exact dimension of the tubing for future reference to other restorers ?
Hammertone silver on the rear roller is good. So I see you decided against the vulcanisation process. Personally I feel its a waste of time.
I have to make up a traveling trolley for my machines as they traverse quite a bit of harsh bitumen to get from the garage and to the front lawn where the mowers are generally used as I don't want to harsh up the rear roller as 20 inch rollers are hard to come by, especially the 3 piece units.
I'll organise to transpose the links over to photos in your last post so that they can all be viewed instantly.
....................Meanwhile, keep up the good work.
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.
Painted the reel today. Hopefully most of the Hammertone green will go on tomorrow. I won't get to the chassis for a while as I can't get the welding done until next week.
As for the front rollers, OD is 70mm and thickness is 1.6mm Tubes for 20" are 493mm in length. Tubes for 17" are 417mm in length. I belive tubes for 14" 337mm (TBC). The 6m of tubing cost just over $80 from Stirlings Australia. I just had them cut it into 2m lengths so that they could fit in the car.
I still don't have a solution for the fibre washer to go with the brass thrust pad. Any ideas?
You'll probably have to go to a Fasteners type outlet and they'll have quite a range. Here in Adelaide we have a store called "United Fasteners". There's an outlet of theirs in Brisbane.
I put the green hammertone down today. Very happy with the smaller parts but not so thrilled with the lager ones. Not sure if the gun was pulsing, but coverage wasn't as even on those. Anyways, I'll see what it's like when it all dries and if I'm still unhappy, I might just put another coat on with a foam roller.
I've had a very busy few weeks with work, so not much progress to report. Still waiting on the frame to be welded.
The damaged reel and front roller shaft threads were repaired while the reel and bottom blade were sharpened.
Will hopefully be able to finish the paint job this week and start assembly in about a fortnight 👍🏻
Those smaller parts that came up really well in the tumbler are now starting to rust (especially in this rainy weather). What is the best thing for me to do to protect these? I was thinking of running them through the Cleaner & tumbler again and then shooting some clear coat over the top (white knight rust guard). Can you see any issues with this?
Simply spray WD40 etc. over all bare steel parts and when ready use some Wax and Grease Remover (Prepsol) prior to painting to remove the said temporary protection.
Apart from that all I can say is we have come to expect this type of perfect workmanship from you and it again is clearly evident here.
Cheers, BB.
PS. a quick edit, I noticed that you painted the Reel bearing carriers. Personally I wouldn't have done. I know the earlier ones were but it was later deleted and left as straight cast Aluminum finish.
Last edited by Bonnar_Bloke; 22/10/1707:47 AM.
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'm taking my time rebuilding this one as I want the paint to cure properly before I start putting things together.
As for the bearing carriers, I thought the same thing BB! They weren't painted on the last rebuild, but they definitely were on this one so I figured I'd just repaint them on the outside. I actually had some trouble getting the original paint off these.
I also went over to help Dad set his reel on his mower that I restored for him yesterday afternoon. He was complaining about the cut on one side of the mower. I must say, I prefer the polished look on the bearing carriers. I did have a bit of a laugh because when I went to start dropping the reel down, I noticed he'd totally lost one of the pivot bolts out of the bearing carrier. I have absolutely no idea how he managed to do that or when it happened. Luckily, there's no damage to his reel or the chain/chain case.
Wow !!! Now that's one of those lucky situations that he didn't run over it and you know the rest !
I guess I've always preferred the unpainted finish to most of the mechanical bits around the reel as this way it looks busier than too much green.
Yes SB started out painting them but by around 1976 they stopped doing that as it was another stage of the build they could eliminate, thus saving costs again as they were already drowning in the world of Rotaries such as Victa and Rover, plus many others.
Cheers, BB.
PS. Did I mention Victa in a Scott Bonnar post ?????
Last edited by Bonnar_Bloke; 22/10/1701:18 PM.
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.
My apologies for the inactivity. I promised I wouldn't leave this unfinished, so I renewed my subscription and I'm back! Not long after my last post I found out I was pregnant with our first child. So, the painting stopped and morning sickness took over. My daughter is now 10 weeks old, so it's time to get her to help me put a mower together!
I'll be getting all of the painted parts back out and re-doing some of them because of imperfections (especially the catcher). I received a gravity fed spray gun as a Christmas present, so will be giving that a go. Is it as simple as sanding out the runs until smooth and then applying another coat or do I have to sand the whole thing back?
Well that's fantastic news, glad to hear all is well for all 3 of you.
We all here at the ODK are really happy you've come back.
Now as far as sanding back hammertone is concerned you'll find that due to the uneven surface that it creates for itself you'll have to spend quite some time to get the surface absolutely flat otherwise the next coat of paint will only exaggerate what's underneath with the new coat making it look much worse. The good part is that you are basically using the original surface as a guide coat and you'll easily see that when the total surface is sanded back all over you'll be at a flat datum point, if not you'll clearly see un-sanded spots which will be the low spots in the paint and thus you'll know that you have t keep sanding until you see no more spots.
I'm sure this is not what you wanted to hear but was probably what you anticipated to hear.
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 left you hanging again. This has got to be some sort of a record for the longest running restoration? Haha! I’ve finally organised for the larger parts to be re-blasted and the smaller parts were okay, so they will stay as is.
I trust you’ve seen how many aftermarket parts have become available since we last spoke. I think the most impressive of all is the handle grips!
I will hopefully have some paint shots to share with you in the coming weeks. Motherhood has kept me busy! I’ve also organised for a prototype acetal end cap with bearing holder to be machined to fit the original diameter tubing for the front roller. None of the current aftermarket products match the original OD and I see that as an issue. Once tested, I’ll get a batch machined for my restoration projects and because I bought about 1m of acetal rod over a year ago.
Well this is a blast from the past isn't it ?? LOL !!!!! wasn't quite sure what happened to you.
Yes there are many more players in the Model 45 market than ever before. Some of them good and to be truthful some are just thieves.
Yes the release of remanufactured grips is a good thing, in actual fact I have a set of perfect set here that I was going to use to make moulds to have them reproduced in numbers but I found out that to have the smaller numbers made to order was going to be a fair huge end price to the customer to make it worth while for me doing it, thus it never happened.
Well someone has decided to take the plunge and see if it pays off, we'll see in the long run if it does by how long they are available for.
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 would have to agree with you there, BB. It’s great to see parts readily available, but not sure what to make of all the bartering and ridiculous sale prices. Just today I saw a Rover 45 for $1300. Has not been restored, but has a ‘newish’ Briggs. Who would’ve thought?
Thanks Jack, TC and Blended. Those are some really nice words - I’m chuffed!
I stumbled across the ‘Memoirs of M.C Bonnar’ (not mine - a member of a Facebook group posted it. I have never seen it in any of the Scott Bonnar history sections, so thought this may be of interest?
Being advertised at ridiculous prices doesn't mean for one moment that they are selling for those prices.
Sure they've certainly gone through the roof, but most sellers are now advertising high and buyers are cutting them in half. No one is buy a Rover at that stupid price point. That price point is reserved for the 20 inch machines and none of the smaller units.
I just gotta laugh when I see some model 40's or 33's being offered at around $800 plus. That's just plain blatant stupidity.
Cheers, BB.
PS. I think I'm correct in saying that Admin / Historian CJ has a copy of that book.
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.
What a great story this is. This is why the internet exists - fantastic.
It is so good to see people doing worthwhile things and other people giving their time to encourage, support and just plain help.
I very recently acquired a 14 inch model 45 and have some nerves about restoring it myself. So I googled, ended up at ODK, and in 24 hours have already learnt enough to make me think I can tackle it. After reading through here I even feel emboldened enough to start a thread to document it, share some of the fun and mostly ask for the help I know I am going to need.
Congrats Em on a great job (and I hope you still visit here from time to time so you the little bit of good you have done for people like me).
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