Hi All, Have been a bit slow with the Scott Bonnar 65 because:-
1/ Spent 1 day removing one of the three cylinder gangs on a very 2nd-hand TORO Super Pro 81 (1982 manufacture) mower that I have had in the garage for some years; about 4 years ago I was starting it in order to take it for sharpeningwhen it backfired and jammed. I thought that it had broken something inside the Kohler engine, and left it as was.
Recently I started to remove the engine, and found that the drive belt had jumped and become stuck, so now the old machine is functional, though the gear box seems very worn in that the gear stick is loose and the four gears are hard to select. So I took off one gang to see if sharpening would be possible. The adjustment lowers the cylinder onto the base plate, and there is not much travel left in this adjustment. ADE Turf Equipment in Melbourne deals in large Toro mowers, and said sharpening and new base plates would be no problem.
They showed me the machine they use, and it had a Scott Bonnar mower on it at the time! This was smaller than mine, possibly a 24". The whole mower was mounted on the sharpening machine, with its base plate removed (these latter are ground by a separate machine). Thus the tool carrying the grinding wheel moves along below the mounted mower. I did not see what caused the cylinder to turn as the grinding proceeded. Having read the details about grinding these cylinders on this forum, I wondered how it would be possible to fix and position the cylinder with the accuracy apparently required with respect to its axle. I did not see this working, but will go back with the other two cutting gangs and take more notice next time.
If anyone has had the patience to read all this, what do you think, and should I be thinking of sending my Scott Bonnar cutting assembly to an engineer more like the one described by Deejay?
2/ I spent yesterday working on the drive mechanism of a Hardi 320 mini sprayer - not so mini in fact as it has 10 spray nozzles and is a vineyard sprayer, this machine was also bought 2nd hand 15 years ago and needs tlc, parts, and time. Yes we have a vineyard, very time consuming.
3/ We used the long shank of an Allen key as a tommy bar, locked this onto a handy protrusion from the frame, and then turned the cylinder using a long tyre lever working from the axle onto one of the blades beside its supporting disc. It took quite a force, but the sprocket screwed off in fine style. Had no time then for further dismantling, but the rest should be plain sailing. Will keep you posted, and upload some photos as I go.
Cheers to All, MacCullum
