Thanks for the tip Wristpin. Rotavators - Cultivators. Hoover's - Vacuum Cleaners. It's what happens when you have a well known brand & I don't suppose either were too upset at the extra publicity 😁
Actually a lot of companies do get upset and spend a lot of money protecting their trademarks. In the early 1960s my first job on leaving college was with the Caterpillar Tractor Company and part of my product familiarisation was reading all the trade magazines, noting all the use of the word caterpillar with a small c as a description of a crawler tractor or track . The authors / publishers were then sent a snotty letter pointing out the error of their ways.
When I created my former company's web site I used the word Strimmer and even though acknowledging that it was B&D's trade mark I received a three page letter demanding that it was removed immediately - or else!!
Might be worth an enquiry re Digmower to the Museum of Rural Life at Reading. On a point of order, you have a rotary Cultivator and not a Rotavator which was the registered trade mark of the Howard Rotavator Company and should not be used on any machine not manufactured by them.
A great thread and wonderful workmanship . Ignition - unless I’ve missed it, there’s no mention of the condenser, has it been changed? Judging from the number of faulty / weak condensers that I change on not quite so old engines, it may be worth a punt.
. I'll see if I can get the use of a press to push the spindles and bearings out. I'll warm those up beforehand as well.
Just need a selection of bits of tube etc to support the new bearings on the appropriate inner or outer race so avoid "brinelling" the tracks before they've done anything!.
I don’t want to start a Briggs v Honda thread but would just say that there are millions of old BS engines giving good service, surviving on minimal maintenance, and my experience is that Hondas don’t put up with that for long.
What ever you do , make sure that you account for every bit of broken pin. One of my customers didn’t bother and a couple of hours later had a split crankcase. When we were doing them , if the pieces of did not = a whole pin, the sump came off and the whole thing was flushed out over a clean stainless roasting tin (gastronorm, from a catering supply co!!) until every bit was accounted for. Bits even got up inside the piston. To make more room the cam shaft pulls out easily if you rotate the crank to just past TDC on the power stroke to relax the valves. The crank and cam are marked for correct timing on reassembly.
Don’t think that you need anything too harsh or abrasive as in a plastic tank there is not usually any bound on dirt like rust to steel. I would remove the tank, seal off the outlet and add an inch or so of fuel and give it a good swirl round then pour it back into a can via a gauze filter funnel with a bit of blue roll in it as an additional filter paper. While pouring try to keep the fuel swirling to help any debris in suspension. Then have a look at the blue filter and see what may have been captured.
As an aside and not wishing to insult anyone, I used to regularly see people sealing off fuel pipes with a handy bolt. The problem is that the threads act as a rasp and loose of bits of pipe material which tend to fetch up where they aren’t welcome. Other than using the proper clamps, when scrapping an engine I used to save the mushroom cam followers. They are hard, polished and have slightly tapered ends and are unlikely to cause the above issues. Two or three different diameter ones are useful emergency bungs.
Getting the disc off can be difficult and really stubborn ones need a lot of heat on the boss and that means oxy- acetylene.
Try turning the machine upside down ( drain oil first!) removing the blade bolt and then filling the hole with Plus Gas ( diesel is good and cheaper!) and leaving it to soak , topping up as needed, for a couple of days. A home made puller will hep.
Going back to the end float on the APTO shaft perhaps I should have said that if removing the disc is an issue , 20/ 25 thou is probably acceptable .
Clutch adjustment as follows. Set the cable adjuster on the handle bar lever mid way. Pull the APTO shaft outwards to take up the float, with the clutch lever locked in the disengaged position, adjust the fork using the fulcrum nut so that the two dogs are just touching then turn the nut one turn plus two flats to move them apart. Make sure that you keep the APTO shaft pulled outwards. This should ensure positive engagement and disengagement even if the APTO shaft is wandering about a bit.
The shim / thrust washer is a Suffolk / Qualcast part F016L08500 and was used on the 30,35 and 43 cm cylinder mowers on the top shaft by the spherical bronze self aligning bearing. A possible source is the Gateshead Garden Machinery company who bought up all the old stock when Bosch disposed of the Atco, Suffolk and Qualcast brands. Another possible source is Jon Cruse at the Hailsham Mower Centre : he specialises in obsolete stock.
When you open the port hole you will see a bronze gear retained with a roll pin. If you are careful and angle the gear so that there is some clearance behind the roll pin, you can tap the pin through just enough to clear the shaft and release the gear without the pin falling into the engine . The shaft may then be withdrawn and the gear lifted out. You will probably see a recess worn into the thrust face of the gear - that's where the shim goes. If, when you offer it all up and and the shim is too thick , don't try to force the pin back in but carefully reduce its thickness on an oil stone. You don't want the shaft to bind through total lack of end clearance.
I always used to replace the roll pin with a Spirol pin which had more resistance to overload shearing and meant that any overload sheared one of the exterior roll pins. An issue in this metric age was sourcing an imperial diameter Spirol pin - use too thick a one and the boss on the bronze gear will split around the pin hole.
Before attempting clutch adjustment you should check for, and if necessary eliminate end float on the engine’s Auxilliary Power Take Off shaft. Assuming that your Harrier has its original engine the chances are that it has a couple of mm of in and out movement this makes any attempt at dog clutch adjustment fairly futile. When dog clutch Harriers were in common use I made an unofficial modification to reduce / eliminate the end float buy inserting a shim washer onto the APTO shaft within the engine sump. The shim that I used was in fact a Qualcast part number and with a bit of practice the operation could be done through the “ port hole” without removing the engine sump.
That said, I may be able to find Hayter bulletin on the correct adjustment procedure for an APTO with minimal end float. If I can find it I will post it later.
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Edited by Wristpin Additional information / correction
X2 for a pic of the flywheel - straight on with the retaining nut in the middle. Possibly there will be 2 or 3 small threaded holes spaced around the nut into which screws from a puller will engage. Probably no need to buy a puller as one can be made using a bit of scrap steel and basic hand tools.
I would have thought that those Echos would have electronic ignition so is there any need to pull the flywheels - but perhaps not.
EDIT. Just found a micro fiche of the SRM 200da and it shows points and a condenser , so you could well need to make or obtain a puller.
Checking is relatively simple but if they need adjusting it gets more complicated as reduced clearances are increased by grinding metal from the end of the valve stems . The worst case of a loose valve seat probably requires the rear body work to be removed to give decent access.
That vid applies to a much older cast iron block engine.
I repeat, all you need is an electronic coil (Magnetron) . Undo two hex head screws to release the coil, clip the wires tight under the flywheel with out removing it. Fit the new coil and set the air gap between it and the flywheel and connect the original wire from the kill terminal on the throttle plate to the new coil and it’s job done.
Just make sure that no fault with the ignition switch is going to send 12 volts down the kill wire.
K181
in Ride On's
Posted
Motorcycle repair shops, particularly those dealing with vintage bikes are worth a try. Also look for engine reconditioners.