OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Restoring, Customising and Modifying Other Walk-Behind Rotary Mowers The Rover Pro-Cut Chronicles

As the years went on, it became obvious that replacing this mower would be difficult.

These alloy Pro-Cut models were eventually discontinued because, according to my dealer, Rover said the chassis "molds were worn out". They promptly then replaced the old Pro-Cut 50 and 560 models with a newer design alloy chassis. These were available in 19-inch 750 and 760, or the 21-inch 960, all featuring a blade clutch and powered by Rover and Kohler engines. Pleasingly, they managed to keep the above-deck gearbox.





I looked at these several times, but something didn't feel right. I remember mentioning this to the dealer and them saying they had a few issues with the blade clutch. All the while, my old Pro-Cut was getting more and more tired. The dealer suggested I put some money into refreshing the drive system to buy me some more time, which I ultimately agreed with. New cogs and pawls were installed, as well as new rear wheels. The front wheels were basically bald by this point.



By the time I had decided I really needed to make a move, Rover went and discontinued the entire Pro-Cut lineup. Again, that's for that MTD.

Once again, nothing on the market was meeting my full width chute requirement, so compromise would be needed. I eventually took a plunge on a Bushranger 800SP with the Honda GXV160 engine. These things are very heavy-duty machines, from the thick alloy chassis, the 3-speed shaft driven gearbox, the steel wheels, bulky height adjuster, cross-bolted axle mountings, huge 70-litre catcher.........................in other words, built like a tank!













The compromise being the half chute, meaning I decided to keep the Rover for jobs I knew would be ultra thick. The idea being I would reduce the workload of the Rover and prolong its working life.



The Bushranger was certainly a stout performer. The GXV160 is such a sweet engine, smooth, fuel efficient, plenty of grunt. Like all of these Honda/Chonda's, the muffler is too small so they are pretty noisy on full throttle, although it does have a nice idle tick-over. The half chute, yeah it did block up from time to time, I just did my best to take the right mower to the right job. And that heavy-duty that made it well built also made it hard to manhandle.

Thing is, I was still using the Rover, especially in early summer when the grass goes nuts, and again in mid-autumn when the leaf fall is heavy. As such, I needed to do another round of drive system repairs. And so began a series of annoyances.

To be continued.........................