Wristpin

Yes, with the Westwood / Countax associations I guess that it is the same machine. That odd height adjuster in the original post is so distinctive that sooner or later the problem should be solved - maybe!

A good outcome. Much more satisfactory than adding extra keepers that weren't specified in the first place! From your comment about the Kevlar belt I take it that it had a "standard " pattern nylon or rayon corded one fitted - seldom a satisfactory substitute and usually an example of buying cheap and buying twice!

I was looking at that machine in Brian Bell's Seventy Years of Garden Machinery yesterday evening but discounted it for reasons of the height adjuster and handle bar construction but, as you say, the deck is similar - who knows, Westwood did all sorts of things before concentrating on ride- ons . In Countax's early days they sold a little walk behind called the Sabre I can't find any pictures or details however I have a feeling that it had a cast deck pan.

So was the Twenty One and Osprey but it's not any of them! The engine on the machine in question is mounted on an aluminium spacer block. In the 80s when replacement engines were relatively more expensive that they are today there were quite a few " cheap" engines on offer which were reputed to be "left overs" from various mower manufacturers production and were being disposed of at a discount. The problem was that they came in a mixture of crank lengths so the people offering such engines offered a selection of long blade bosses for the short cranks and a couple of different thickness spacers for the long crank ones; so it's just possible that the machine in question is a "blitza"

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk Can thoroughly recommend this forum for all matters welding and a lot else besides.

I'd still do that check, what does rebuilt mean? new bearings?. While adding extra keepers may eliminate the problem it shouldn't be be necessary if everything else is as it should be.

Don't think that the Hayterette ever have a pressed or fabricated steel deck? Even the very old ones (1960) that I've seen had a cast alloy one with individual height adjusters. Should explain that the Farmfitters enquiry was not in connection with the "mystery mower" ; actually needed some info about a 1970s cultivator but the matter has now been resolved.

What is the condition of the deck pan? Seen them where they have got a bit weak so that when the tension goes onto the belt the deck spindle turret tilts toward the crank pulley and the belt flips off. With the engine off , engage the drive to the deck and check the turret is vertical and not leaning forward. If it is, find a bit of suitable plate and reinforce a large enough area of the deck to spread the load and resist the forward pull of the belt.

That height adjusting knob sticking up through the deck should be a good identifying feature but at the moment is not ringing any bells with me! I had an email this afternoon regarding a Farmfitters rotary cultivator dating around the 1970s - anyone got any Farmfitters knowledge or literature, either sales or technical?

The front wheel drive concept used in the Easimow reappeared briefly in the early 90s in the Dynamow which was the "in retirement "project of Dennis Selby of Shay and Mountfield fame. On paper the Dynamow had a lot going for it; very manoeuvrable, hydrostatic drive, a rotary deck with grass collection and a rear roller for stripes. In practice things were not so good. The first (and last) one I sold went to a chap with a smallish flat garden in a particularly dry spring and the man was well pleased with it. However, the dry spring was followed by a wet June and that front wheel lost traction and dug trenches in his lawn! We ended up taking it back in exchange for an Atco 24 and trailer seat and disposing of it at auction. Can't help wondering whether the design of the Dynamow was not influenced to some extent by the Easimow?

I second that, I've got a slightly earlier version with a chain start JAP and on the couple of ocaisions that I've attempted to use it I've ended up abandoning ship and running beside it!What width cut is yours , it looks wider than mine which, I think, is sixteen inch but it's buried at the back of the shed at the moment. You refer to it as British Anzani; I may be wrong but I believe that the "tubular version" was originally made by a company called Ranger in West Sussex who later sold the design to British Anzani who redesigned it with the more often seen streamlined pressed steel backbone. Edit Just found this which explains all - http://www.oldlawnmowerclub.co.uk/mowers/moms/mp046-british-anzani-easimow-lawnrider

A friend has a JAP engined Ransomes Mastiff and a Hayter 26" roller unit with both cylinder and rotary front ends that he is going to either break for parts or put on an auction site. Both have been well looked after but not used for some time. Before they get advertised, if anyone is interested please pm me and I will put you in contact.

Quite surprised that no one has mentioned the durability of the belts driving the decks, Back in the 70s and 80s we used to look after many Wheelhorses that were customers' everyday mowing tractor and those belts, the primary mower belt from the engine to the deck and the spindle belt that took the drive to the three cutting spindles, were the weak link when asked to cope with wet and thick UK grass. U S grass tends to be drier and coarser so the L section ( more or less equivalent to our A section) belts were fine over there but not so good here; particularly if you are using it as an orchard mower, several light cuts rather than attempting one heavy cut will get the best out of the belts. As a result of this issue we used to do a fair trade in making up 30" towed cylinder (reel) mowers by fitting draw bars to single units from triple gangs that were past their prime . Once you had got the cylinder up to speed you could bat along at a fair lick and achieve a reasonable finish. They would cover the ground far quicker than the standard rotary deck travelling at belt preserving speed.

Snap! I had the first Imp sold by the local Rootes dealer in June 63 which was not without its troubles as the Imp had been rushed onto the market before being fully sorted due to Government funding and a "greenfield" factory at Linwood near Paisley, Scotland. Traded it after a year for another new Imp which was trouble free. Later had an Imp variant, the Sunbeam Stiletto. Imp0001.pdf

I believe that the magnetron coil armature unit you need is BS pt no 591420. Double check by measuring the distance between the coil armature mounting screw centres. Should be approx 64mm . If this checks out you can either buy a new Briggs coil or find a good used one which should not be difficult as the same coil has been used on recent Sprint engines and there should be plenty around on engines or cheapo rotary mowers that have been scrapped for other reasons. The magnetron coil/armature units are completely self-contained so you can snip off the wires from under the flywheel and forget about the points and condenser - no need to remove them. In fact, unless you are going to replace the points actuating plunger with a blanking plug you will need to leave the points in place to retain the plunger to prevent an oil leak from the mag side main bearing. The new coil comes with a small "lucar" spade connector which is for a "kill wire" to stop the engine. This should either be taken to an existing kill switch on the throttle/governor plate or to a remote kill switch - unless, of course, your engine has neither and is fitted with the old type spring steel strip to ground out the spark plug.

Easy job to convert to electronic ignition with a new, pattern or used magnetron coil and armature. Then forget about points and condensers and the need to remove the flywheel .

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/M8YjvHYbZ9w?rel=0

Timken is the easy bit - a U.S. manufacturer of quality ball, roller and needle bearings. The rest I'll leave to the experts!

The colour of the handlebars suggests Norlett but a very similar colour was used on some Qualcast branded cultivators. The green horizontal shaft Briggs is bugging me, sure that I have seen and even worked on that colour BS but the brain won't cooperate at the moment! Could have been on an Alcon pump or even a Ransomes Marquis.

I've fitted dozens of the Meco brand units to various engines over the years to both 2 and 4 stroke engines but interestingly the only case of incompatibility was when I tried one on a Kohler - timing issue and nearly snatched my hand off. However, the unit that you illustrate is the one sold by a man who specialises in Kohlers so should be fine in that application. The Atom units used to come in different colours for different applications but I haven't seen them on offer for ages. The great plus point of the electronic modules is that they are "fit and forget" so when used on old Villiers 4 stroke engines etc they eliminate the need to remove cowlings to scrabble about cleaning and adjusting points through the port hole in the flywheel. Allegedly the clever electronics give automatic advance and retard but that's a bit smoke and mirrors to me! One word of warning, if you are thinking of fitting one to an engine with the type of centrifugal ignition rev limiter such as on a two stroke Allen Scythe be aware that by eliminating the points you disable the rev limiter !!!! There is a way round that issue but I digress!!

Think that those numbers could be in the vertical rusty patch just to the right of the inlet port.

Amazing what you find, believe it or not this engine was starting and running but a bit smoky! Book says ring gap of 6 - 11 thou: these gaps more like 250 thou or quarter of an inch!!

There's an off chance that I may have something but before I go searching does your blade have the round or the "double D " centre hole ? From memory there were some running changes and at one point ordering a boss would result in being supplied an update kit including a new shaft.

Not going to enter into the rights or wrongs of balancer weight removal other to wonder that if removal is OK why did Kohler go to the bother and expense of fitting them? Anyway, lurking in the depths of the tool box is the Kohler "special tool" for setting and locking them during reassembly.

A long while ago I read about someone using linseed oil thinned with white spirit to preserve an old Standard Fordson. Never tried it myself but it was said to preserve the original patina and give a pleasing appearance.