OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums General Discussion Forum Off Topics Rough Repainting of Green Lawkeeper.

Here is a badly rusted out V40 that has been brush painted with Aldi metal care paint. I was surprised how good it looks despite penetrating rust holes. The front has the same damage on both sides.
The sister unit with Briggs was painted with rattle can paint after having surface rust and scale removed with a wire wheel.
He uses these mowers to mow lawns in the neighborhood.

MF I have never seen one rust out in the front like that and the only reason I can think it has done that is because the front deflector plate is missing and it has been missing for a very long time allowing the clippings to get caked up in there. A deflector guard fitted in the rear left corner under the handlebar bolt would have protected millions of these pressed metal bases from rusting out but that might have cost Victa an extra 50 cents to supply/fit at time of manufacture so it was never going to happen. The plate could have then been replaceable if it rusted out, but this is not in the interests of any manufacturer

G'day Mowerfreak and NormK,

Gees it looks like the rust has taken over on those sections of the deck. I mean as we know those things even when they are solid and new they are a little flimsy and move a bit. I wonder how that one would feel with all that missing metal near where the handle bolts to...lol

Well the one good thing I guess is luckily B&S Victa has kept pumping out the same style steel decks for the 4 stroke motors for many years. So luckily we can probably find some decent Victa decks being dumped with hard rubbish or at the tips for years to come. Another great thing is they also used the same plastic catchers for many years, so we can also find and use them for years to come. Like the one I found the other day, nice clean rust free solid Victa steel deck with a 4 stroke B&S on it. We have to salvage anything we come across as spares and parts to keep our mowers on the road (lawn) for many years to come! lol

Cheers!

G'day Mowerfreak , NormK,,Converse

I've used them for decades and never had one rust out, cut the grass when it's dry.


Wet grass tends to cut less cleanly, resulting in larger clippings. These wet clippings like to clump together and block up the mower's deck and bog dawn or ruin the lawn mower itself ,ideally, you should wait until the grass is dry enough so that you can walk through the lawn and not have wet shoes.

Hi Max,
Obviously not everybody has the luxury of waiting till the grass is dry, going by the number of rusted out bodies that turn up all the time. When I get a Victa that I am refurbing, I clean the right hand inner side/corner and paint it with fish oil in the vain hope that this will slow the rust problem up. Not sure if it helps but worth trying. I had thought about getting a dozen bodies sandblasted and then galvanized but I don't think people would be prepared to pay the extra for it.

I won't mow wet grass, even if there's only a little bit of dew on it. I don't want grass coating the underside and catcher. Telling you the high arch can cope with mowing wet grass makes it seem like it's routine. I like the high arch design for the flow when mowing tall grass.

Once upon a time many years ago when I used to work I would sometimes be mowing my grass in the dark with a torch, regardless it was wet or not. I had given consideration to fitting a headlight on the mower because the headlight on my head wan't bright enough

That's right Norm,not everyone can cut dry grass but I get a lot of mowers with a couple of inches of
grass stuck under the base so not many people would clean and dry their mower afterwards.

I have heard of a fibreglass mower base ,stainless would be good.

These days you can buy a clear coat that stops rust but it's a little expensive. Gal might be a good idea if it's not too expensive.

I'd prefer to cut long grass than wet grass..

Cheers
Max.

Norm, I mowed in the dark 3 weeks ago, and missed a bloody big strip of lawn down the middle because the torch carked it halfway through.

This time of year, the sun just vanishes in 5 minutes

Max, with the galvanizing there is a minimum charge and I think it is based on weight, I would have to check it out. I have a mate that gets a lot of pipework galvanized, I might be able to throw the bases in with a pile of his stuff. What doing a bunch of bases means that I would need to repair all the bases before I got them sand blasted which does take quite a bit of time

Just saw the dropped n in the title MF, funny because they are the same colour as the XB coupe in Mad Max - the ultimate lawkeeper

Except we would have to call the V40 the 'corrode warrior' haha

Yes the Gal coating looks fairly cheap to get done Norm, I will check some mowers I thought I had one that was Gal
coated.

NdI'm glad for the error. That was good.

Another big issue I would have by getting a dozen bases done, I would then need to find a dozen sets of wheels, and that will not be easy

What I can't understand is how somebody can use a mower to get it into this condition, it must have been terrible just trying to push it with one side completely rusted out
https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/dan...lawn-mower-suit-parts-or-fix-/1218257154

Yeah I've had a lot like that given to me Norm,had a few where people have bolted wood on the top and then bolted the
handle to the wood or bolted the handle closer to the centre and sometimes the handle is bolted
on the side of the base.

If wheels are needed Norm, I think there has to be a easy way of fixing the insides of the wheels you have. I was thinking
of trying some sheet metal.

Looking at a couple of Swift bases they look Gal, the one on the left is not Gal.(first image)

Cheers
Max.

Hi Max,
gal certainly looks like a good idea, I wouldn't even bother painting them. Steel wheel inserts might be an idea, I could probably get a heap laser cut, there is only the 2 sizes, just have to work out how to glue them in there

Hi Norm,
I think tin snips and a little grinding would do,should be easy to make but you could laser cut them.

Just made a sample out of paper ,fold the 5 outer tabs in then put 5 pop rivets from the out side of the tyre,
one rivet per tab.

Then rivet the five X markings on the side of the wheel.

LOL! Yes that's a good one, "The Victa V40 Lawn Warrior"

Just a question on the galvanizing of the decks, how well does that hold up to all the debris and stuff that will get thrown at it under the deck?

That reminds me years ago when I was looking through Unique Cars magazine, I do remember a car being in there for sale can't remember what exact model it was now maybe a classic American muscle car or something like that, but it had in the ad description "fully galvanized body, will never rust". I won't ever forget that car description, and I don't think I ever saw another car ad ever say it had a fully galvanized body for sale.

Cheers!

The gal steel will still rust eventually Converse ,just takes a lot longer than mild steel.