another Westwood Gazelle W11 project (with a twist)

[ginger_biscuit69 8]

hi all, new guy here. Recently bought this W11 gazelle on a lockdown whim. Was bought as a runner, but with faulty gearbox struggling to engage gears/reverse. Engine was spluttering, & deck isn't in great condition. Chap said it came with his house in 1991 from previous owners, and he has been using it ever since until it stopped reversing and couldn't get it fixed. Comes with 32" cutting deck (rotten but free moving) & rear wheel driven grass collector (working fine). If anyone could tell me the version i have here, that would be useful?

 

Firstly i needed to make it drive. Inspected the gear linkages and found that the swivel where the shifting rod attaches to the box was siezed, so as it swung, the rod was bending. It had bent so much it no longer reached reverse. As i was disassembling it the rod snapped. My solution was to cut off where the thread started, dye it to 1.25mm pitch (and retap the swivel - were both 1mm pitch), then using some stainless steel bits rebuild it all. Now shifts into all gears without fault. Managed to snap the actual gear handle off too, so had to weld that back on too, plus lost the spring for the lift up reverse action. Not an issue to me.

 

 

Next i looked at the engine. It was in a sorry state, covered in crap, and hadn't been serviced in this century. I stripped and cleaned the carb and air filter/box (looked like it had been dipped in grease), put in a new sparkplug, flushed petrol tank (sediment in bottom), and have started to clean the rest up.... starts and runs beautifully smooth now.

 

 

 

this is far as i've got. Engine needs to be properly cleaned with scrubbing brushes which will then also have the black trim bits resprayed. I'm working on the deck currently, replacing blades, patching the deck, then will paint in something bombproof.

 

Otherwise going for a different look, breaking tradition. I'm going to be stripping down the old paint and respraying gloss black, with metalwork gunmetal silver, putting LED headlights on, and chrome effect wheel rims. A friend is currently plasma cutting out some custom signage for it as i will lose the stickers. Figure its value is mainly in the fact it starts and cuts, any preservation is a blessing over its current state.

 

Updates to follow....

[Stormin 4,458]

    I got one of those some years back for the grandchildren. Unfortunately P.O. had run it with a knackered axle bearing. For so long the case was elongated. Just check for play.

[WestwoodW8Gazelle 51]

Hi, that's a later Gazelle model. Possibly a Mk4 Gazelle (first model after the white grille). Looks good, look forward to seeing more posts. 

[ginger_biscuit69 8]

so in a twist of fate, I ended up selling this machine on. Main reason was I didn't have the knowledge to fix the cutting deck to a safe standard, and didn't want to throw money at it for someone else to repair it when so many other machines come up for minimal cash.

 

One of the blades was home made, welded straight to the spindle. I wasn't comfortable getting a proper blade welded straight on, and couldn't find a replacement spindle/mount.

 

I found myself a T1100 with 36" deck instead, which is near identical to the W11, but had larger tyres, a 36" deck which is easy to source parts for, and was in generally slightly better condition. It cost me a fair chunk more than the gazelle, but I feel it will save me in the long run. My dad has a T1100 too with 36" deck, so means we can trade parts.

 

 

Guess thats the end of this thread, will start a new one for the T1100 once i have made a load of progress and can post it one go

Edited July 1, 2020 by ginger_biscuit69

[Stormin 4,458]

  That blade's a mess. I bet it would vibrate like mad. Good luck with the T1100.

[ginger_biscuit69 8]

3 hours ago, Stormin said:

  That blade's a mess. I bet it would vibrate like mad. Good luck with the T1100.

it was straight when i got it, i did sharpen it and use it for a good while until the weld on the wonky bit snapped - at which point i had to give up. The deck/mechanism was in good condition, and being a rare 32" contra, the buyer who seems well mechanically minded should have it going again in no time.