Howard Hako

[S1g 579]

This is a project that ive been doing on and off for a few years. Anyway, over the last few

days I have dug it back out due mainly to the fact that I haven't picked up a spray gun in

6 months and wanted to have a bit of a practice session before I sprayed my Sachs diesel

Gem. I was also unsure how my new batch of primmer would react to Vapormatic Howard

Orange.

Well im pleased to report that it worked a treat.

The history behind these machines is that by 1960 Howard had been increasingly frustrated

with losing out sales to what they termed "Scratchers". Their solution was to start import the

Hako Combinette, as a direct competitor to machines like the Wolesy Merrytiller. The

problem was by the time Howard had put their mark up on the price, these rotadiggers (note

how they didn't call them Rotavator's)were just too expensive to be competitive. After about

a year to 18mths the project was dropped,making suvivours quite hard to come by.

This example turned up on good ol' ebay in 2013. I placed a low bid on it and won.

[S1g 579]

The engine on these machines are a JLO two stroke. As ive said before on here this

engine design was purchased by the construction company Wacker, so a good friend

of mine, who is a retired Wacker service engineer said he would rebuild it for me.

I took this plus another old short motor I had lying around up to him. Even though the

seller claimed it was running when put away in the shed (where have we heard that

before?) it still needed a crankcase half, piston rings, seals, bearings and a set of

points, all courtesy of Wackers scrap bin many years ago when they decided to make

the engine obsolete!

It has now had a full clean up. Ive also dug through my sheds and found an as new

cylinder head so will be fitting this over the next few days.

[S1g 579]

The basic machine with the engine removed looked pretty grotty, but

after a hot wash this came up surprisingly well. Next several applications

of paint stripper followed. Then I applied a few coats of a new primmer

(as stated above I wanted to see how it worked with the Howard

Orange.)

[S1g 579]

This morning after checking the forecast for the coming week I

went to my worked and sprayed the top coat. This will be left to

dry for a few days. In the meantime I will start painting all the

black bits. I purposely am not going to go over the top, as I

would like to put this machine to work, once its finished.

[Stormin 4,458]

That JLO engine rings a bell. Is there something else on here somewhere with one?

[S1g 579]

 

24 minutes ago, Stormin said:

That JLO engine rings a bell. Is there something else on here somewhere with one?

My Wacker plate and trench rammer use the same engine.

[howardman 30]

Nice display , you seem to be making good progress. I am looking forward to see the sachs diesel project as i picked up one of those engines up  a few months back...owner gave up on trying to start it and put a kohler on instead.

[Stormin 4,458]

Yep! Knew I'd seen one before.  Not completely senile yet.

[S1g 579]

7 minutes ago, howardman said:

Nice display , you seem to be making good progress. I am looking forward to see the sachs diesel project as i picked up one of those engines up  a few months back...owner gave up on trying to start it and put a kohler on instead.

Thanks pat, as I said I've resurrected this project to mainly give me practice at spraying again. Am particuarly aware that with having a bonnet the Sachs gem is going to have a bigger surface area than most to show up the flaws. The deadline for the Sachs is October but I've also got to get another one finished before then as well,plus a very busy full time job, plus a family life, plus.... 

Got to admit this Hako is making a nice change to the sheer enormity of a gem.

[S1g 579]

7 minutes ago, Stormin said:

Yep! Knew I'd seen one before.  Not completely senile yet.

Even though the two engines are made by different companies all parts are totally interchangeable, and identical in every way.In fact wackerneuson still use a slightly modified version of this engine today called the WM80. 

[Jarrovian 237]

very nice I have a hako but mine has single wheel at front with a seized jlo engine any tips on how to free engine

[S1g 579]

5 hours ago, Jarrovian said:

very nice I have a hako but mine has single wheel at front with a seized jlo engine any tips on how to free engine

Hi, ive now obtained a single wheel for the front by buying a scrap machine.

To free the engine off shouldn't be to bad as the cylinder head unbolts on

these early engines.  Once removed I would then fill the barrel with freeing

oil for a few weeks before trying to move the piston either by tapping down

or by trying a bit of gentle pressure on the flywheel nut.

 

[S1g 579]

Made a bit more progress today. You may of noticed that the

rear wheels look like they are off a golf trolley or similar.

Looking at the brochure I noticed that they looked very similar

to Landmaster Wheels so I purchased a set off ebay and

painted them up. They have been in store for a few years, so

today I dug them out and am going to have to give the tyres a

clean up, but apart from that they are nearly ready to fit.

[S1g 579]

In the post this morning was a set of decals from Titch at Machinery Decals.

Once again the quality is first rate.

[S1g 579]

As stated above, I managed to a couple of years ago obtain a scrap machine.

This has donated the front wheel, depth foot and a slightly better fuel top.

Also on it was a narrow set of blades and a set of side shields. These will be

kept to one side for a while until I have time to restore them as well.

[S1g 579]

After work today I painted the 16 separate blades , handles and depth foot etc.

 

[S1g 579]

Engine has now been trial fitted and the exhaust has had a coat of VHT silver.

[S1g 579]

Managed to make a bit more progress today, sorry

for the poor quality photos, as I only had my phone

with me.

[Stormin 4,458]

I see you use the same paint I do.

[S1g 579]

49 minutes ago, Stormin said:

I see you use the same paint I do.

Do you mean the filler?

[Stormin 4,458]

5 minutes ago, S1g said:

Do you mean the filler?

 

Paint! 3 now 4 posts up.

 

[S1g 579]

Sorry I now see what you mean, but I do tend to slap the filler on like paint, lol.

[S1g 579]

Went to work early this morning and fiered the engine up. Started on only the second pull after being rebuilt about three years ago and not touched since. Was going to upload a video but my internet is so slow. It gave an estimated time of 18 hours for a video just over a minute in length. 

[S1g 579]

heres a photo.

[Stormin 4,458]

Good job done there. Credit to you.