OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Collectors Corner Rotary Turner Saphire Rotary Mower

Good Morning ODK Members,

Turner lawn mowers pop up from time to time and when they are within range of me I grab them to add to my collection. A Turner Saphire was advertised down south and well out of my reach, if no new owner was found it was heading to the tip. I told a friend about it and he picked it up the next day in exchange for some beer.



Saved from the tip and safe for now.



The Saphire was introduced in 1964 and was an interesting design, inboard rear wheels and a very large aluminium rear catcher that is a true work of art in the way it is put together.



Inboard 8” wheels





Internal wheel arch’s are beautifully made.



More to come 😀

What a rig!

Looking forward to more, paul_c.

Hello Paul and Mystyler
These are the first detailed images I have seen of the Sapphire.
I had no idea the catcher was aluminium. Turner claimed c1967
that it was the largest grass catcher of any domestic AUS mower!

I feel Turner was the most bold and innovative of AUS mower makers
in the 1960s. It is amazing that the Sapphire was still being sold along-
side the more moder Valiant (with plastic catcher) in 1967!



Paul, Many thanks - again - for adding to the record on these rare lawnmowers.

-------------------------
Jack

Hello CyberJack and Mystyler,

To continue on, the Saphire was disassembled and was found to be in pretty good condition all round except for the rear axle area which had been exposed to a make do and mend. The height adjust set up is of a good conventional design, the lever arm is attached to the axle via a bent metal strap which is riveted to the arm and axle. The strap had let go so the first repair was to weld the arm directly to the axle, this then failed so the next more elaborate repair was to weld a bar across the lower part of the handle bars and then weld bracing down to the axle to prevent any movement.



The axle issue was really the only bit of damage to the chassis as everything else was fine, no cracks or chunks missing from anywhere, amazing seeing as how big the base is. I ground off all the welds and roughly had the axle back to the way it should be, fashioned a new flexible piece out of a Cutting blade and fastened this to the axle and arm with screws and nylock nuts.





Luckily there was only a small piece missing on either side of the chassis where the bars had been. One side of the axle wasn’t sitting right as a spacer bush was missing so a new bush was machined and fitted. The axle now fitted and moved smoothly once more.



Next job was to get the chassis rolling.

Good Evening ODK Members,

Found that Turner also produced a nice chrome look wheel that I had no idea that it existed, the fronts were ok but the single large rear one was unserviceable.



The engine was next on the list, it didn’t need much work. A new muffler, replacement head gasket, new air filter element and an oil change. Runs great now but looks dreadful, a well overgreased starter spring was responsible for the botching on the white paint of the fuel tank. Over time the grease must have misted out and settled on the paint making a mess.



Also fitted a new drain valve to the Carburetor fuel bowl, these always leak. Could not find any fuel bowl seals anywhere



All back together and on its wheels





😀👍

Great stuff paul_c. Looks and sounds unique. Will she cut grass again?

Of course, will fit up the new blades and await summer 👍😀

Brilliant to hear. Would love to cut with one of those.

G'day folks,
The problem is that there's no cross-reference available between Kirby part numbers and Tecumseh ones, that I know of. So you have to try to work out substitutions from physical dimensions, which is a bit difficult if you don't have both the new parts and Kirby bits in front of you.

What's the outside diameter of the carby bowl? Or the ID of the top bit, if it's one of those with the flared out top.

FWIW, if you have a look in the Tecumseh Carby Parts section of the ODK Shop, there are several bowl seals listed.
The two with sizes listed are 1-15/16" and 2-1/16"; with any luck one of these will fit. They're cheap enough to order one of each.