OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions on Walk Behind Lawn Mower Frames Question On Scott Bonnar Cylinder Mowers Another SB45 Restoration Project - Just Starting

Hi All,

This is my first post here but reading this forum has inspired me to purchase an old SB 45 and have a go at restoring it.

I purchased the unit sight unseen off ebay an immediately went to work on it.

Here is a picture of the mower as purchased






It was resprayed gold at some stage in it's life but there is some green hammertone under there too, It looks to me that the grass box is not original as it is a completely different colour to the rest of the mower (before it was turned to gold!), it also has a reasonable amount of denting on the front.

The engine is a 3hp B&S, numbers, Model 91212, Type 1025e1 Code, 980630fa and runs quite well.

It has also been resprayed black and there is paint everywhere, I am yet to start on it but I will simply be giving it a grease and oil change, a fresh coat of paint and some new stickers.

So far I have stripped the body completely and sand blasted all of the old crappy paint off.

Here are some progress shots




I'm not sure about the condition of the blade but it looked like it had a hard life, there was some reasonable bends in it where it looked like it had hit something hard, there were also some cracks in some of the welds (IMO poorly made too) the reel was gently straightened and the cracks re-welded. The photo above is after repair and undercoated (you can just see the reel in the first shots above.

The grass deflector had fallen off the mount and into the blade and had been bent and chewed a bit on the bottom, this was also repaired.

This is after I gave the parts an undercoat.

Whatever paint was on the catcher it was a bugger to get off, so bad in fact that I gave up with the sandblaster and had to use a stripping disc on the angle grinder. After a little bit of elbow grease I got it off eventually!

During the stripping process.





The shaft through the front roller was/is very worn and I am a little bit worried about it. When I was pulling down the mower this shaft was badly worn where the roller bushes contact the shaft, so bad in fact I reckon there was roughly 3-4mm worn away making the shaft almost oval in shape. I got the welder out and 'filled' it back up then I turned it in the lathe to get it back to the correct size. This fixed the roller shaft but I think there is more wear on the pivot where it sits in the mower frame and the mower frame bushes too, I will have to wait and see how bad it is before I take any more action.

I have ordered a new sticker set and some new parts including a self aligning bearing for the drive shaft, a nut and bolt kit, and some stickers etc

Here are some pictures of the painting process, the colour is Alpine Green Hammer and it is looking fantastic!!



The reel




The first photo is more like the colour, I'm not sure why the second photo is so light.

I would like to get an I idea of the age of the machine if it is possible for someone to tell, looking at the motor I can see that it is reasonably modern but I think the mower might be older than the engine.

I would also like to get some advice re preparing my lawn for this mower. I live in Sydney and have a QLD blue couch lawn that has done very well this season, It is approximately 30-50mm long and there is some light thatching/brownness underneath but nothing too bad, it has been mowed once per week with a normal rotary mower throughout summer and it is so healthy and thick that the mower struggles to cut it as it's like mowing thick carpet!

Also if anyone can steer me in the right direction re somewhere to have the blades sharpened on the northern beaches of Sydney that would be appreciated too.