Can anyone identify this mower?

[sten 84]

I bought this a couple of weeks ago but no makers name and no engine cowling so cant date it either, it has a 14 inch cut, any ideas please ?

 

[mowerdar 98]

I want to say maybe a rough cut mountfield but not so sure

If at first you don't succeed Use a bigger hammer

[Wristpin 400]

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?

Edited April 22, 2015 by Wristpin

[sten 84]

This number is on the crankcase of the engine, could it be a date, I haven't seen a number like this on a  Briggs engine before.

[HeadExam 1,783]

This number is on the crankcase of the engine, could it be a date, I haven't seen a number like this on a  Briggs engine before.

13.9.11 1999-03-14 001.JPG

I believe that number is just a stocking number, it could also indicate the type, as I think this number correlates to a vertical shaft engine type used on both twins and singles with vertical shafts

EDIT: It looks like he number correlates to the engine type to identify the crankshaft used in the particular engine. Not all that up on Briggs engines, but Kohler used between 70 ad 100 different crankshafts in the 14hp Kohler k321

[Stormin 4,458]

- anyone got any Farmfitters knowledge or literature, either sales or technical?

 

Paul Mackellow's your man.

[Joe the small engine man 89]

hi, It looks like a old Hayter. not completely sure I will check through the hand books and manuals! 

[nigel 1,877]

i think it looks like a hayterete

[Joe the small engine man 89]

That's what my thinking is, also if it is a Hayterete or hayter because they are the basically the same deck and design than it will probably have a Briggs and Stratton engine on it which will probably be a 5 HP

[vegikev 126]

hi sten, is there anything writen on the throttle control??

never seen a hayter with that height control knob but also cant find anything like it, also what is the blade set up on it , most hayters (but not all) have a disc with triangular blades fitted

[pmackellow 2,738]

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?

 

I have got some Farmfitters literature, don't think this mower is one though the deck is the wrong shape...

[Joe the small engine man 89]

ill ask my granddad and at work if he has any ideas.

[Wristpin 400]

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.

[sten 84]

hi sten, is there anything writen on the throttle control??

never seen a hayter with that height control knob but also cant find anything like it, also what is the blade set up on it , most hayters (but not all) have a disc with triangular blades fitted

Hi, no nothing on the throttle control and it has just a normal single blade

The wheels look the same as on some Hayteretes.

[pmackellow 2,738]

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.

 

Ah right, ok

[nigel 1,877]

are i need to go to spec-savers, i did"nt see it had a steel deck

[vegikev 126]

just realised my hayter hawk is made of steel

[Wristpin 400]

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"

Edited April 26, 2015 by Wristpin

[sten 84]

I've just found some pictures of a Westwood I had a few years back and although the height adjustment and handle mount is different the deck looks to be the same or very similar

[Wristpin 400]

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.

[sten 84]

In the 1982 Westwood catalogue the mower with the deck similar to mine has an 18 inch deck not 14 inch They also list a model called a Sabre and if it was you were thinking of Wristpin then yes it has an alloy deck.

[Wristpin 400]

In the 1982 Westwood catalogue the mower with the deck similar to mine has an 18 inch deck not 14 inch They also list a model called a Sabre and if it was you were thinking of Wristpin then yes it has an alloy deck.

westwood 001.jpg

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!

[dcp001 4]

In 1963/64 our village cemetery got a Multigardner unit,with a sticker on it "Farmfitters Ltd, Gerrards Cross, Bucks England"

It consisted of an Aspera LAV 30 / 35 mounted on simple frame which consisted of the handlebars, extended under the engine, to which the engine was bolted, and had a single bolt bracket for clamping it on to a choice of cutter frames or other tools.

We had the 18" rotary mower frame, and a small 10" cutter frame for cutting in narrow spaces between graves. 

The 18" cutter had a triangular plate onto which 3 x small reversible triangular blades were bolted, and a circular shield.  

The 10" cutter blade was a single broad reversible bar, and the shield was clearly related to the one in this picture, being the same design and colour. 

 

The height adjustment knob / rod, and wheels looks identical to that on the 18" cutter, which has long since gone.

 

I am sure this is from the same family.

 

We still have the 10" cutter, and the handlebar frame, and the incomplete remains of the second engine.

[sten 84]

Thanks dcp, yes the Multigardener does have similar lines but I cant find anything on the net with any sort of height adjuster, even the colour is similar

[sten 84]

I found this photo courtesy of pmackellow of one of his Multigardeners and even though nothing in common about the deck the height adjuster is the same.