I have a couple of 125 mowers that I'm thinking of fitting LM carbs to to see how they perform. I have found they work very well on the early pre G4 full cranks. Any thoughts or suggestions?
Yes Tyler the Sunbeam is a good mower and my son picked up another catcher for it this afternoon, it starts and runs very well. I don't bother putting them up for sale if they are not right, no point if you are giving a warranty on them, I don't want them coming back, the odd one comes back for some small problems but very few.
I have one of the earlier ones with the green steel cowl and G3 - good machine. You certainly can tell the quality of the deck - weighs a ton
Almost picked up another catcher as well last week - but it was cracked and bore water stained. On the plus side there was a super 24 rear wheels and axle on the curbside pile next to it
I will change the photo tomorrow as it now has a Sunbeam catcher. Max I think you probably got the original Sunbeam catcher I had for it . As for fitting the LM carb my problem at the moment is fitting the PT carby stub to the spigot on the 125 as it is smaller in diameter that the 160 stub. I will probably have to make up a sleve to bring it up to the same diameter as the 160 Tyler I hope you grabbed those super 24 wheels
Sure did Norm - the axle is a bit weakened at what would be the right chassis mount - must be a grass trap. Wheels are good though, with hubcaps
I drove past the catcher but then saw the axle and turned around. It was one of the last finds of the collection - along with a old ryobi 4 stroke line trimmer and a stihl fs66 that goes like the clappers (although I keep getting carbon whiskers across the plug so there must be a bit in there).
No idea what happened to that Sunbeam catcher then, no big deal. Not sure I would have bothered fitting a PT to a Makita base, big motor on a small base
Ok so what I will try is to turn out a PT inlet manifold so it is a snug fit on the 125 inlet manifold and try to hold it in place with JB Weld and see how that holds. Means that I would need to mow a lot of lawns to ensure that it is going to hold ok. Anybody have any other thoughts on holding it inplace?
Hi Max, just like most of the mowers I do I usually spend a min of one day repairing them, just to get everything working properly. I know it is dumb but it keeps the mind working
I probably would have made an adaptor in the lathe and bolted the 160 full crank manifold to the adaptor then clamped the other end to the barrel spigot,it would save time in testing.
Not sure if the JB Weld would come loose over time it won't hold a car diff together .
I'm surprised the JB Weld held as long as it did, it is good but can't perform miracles. I don't have many 160 F/C manifolds to play with and the ones I have I need but I have buckets of PT ones. I have been using the PT ones on the 160's I converted but the 125's having the smaller spigot are giving me a new problem. I did think of doing the split adapter as pictured and I may still go that way but I will try the JB Weld if for no other reason than the fact it might work.
In that case it sounds like overkill then. Why not a section of hose? I don't like the idea of using compounds that can't be removed later on. It just bothers me.
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
Since it's a mule, are you going to install electronic ignition as well? Is it a mark III? The 125 punches above it's weight. It should go well with the modified LM set up, unless it's a tired unit.
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
MF, the motor is good, runs well, it was just that the carby was leaking fuel every where, I have to do another one but I haven't had that one running yet
Thanks speedy, I'm not into building mowers for people to put into collections with everything period correct, my aim is to build good mowers that will serve people well for years to come
Mower runs like a dream,just have to cut a few lawns to ensure the JB Weld is going to hold on although it may not have needed it as the manifold was a tight fit that I had to hammer on. Hopefully expansion will not split the plastic manifold, time will tell. Now onto the next one which I tested with an old G3 carby this morning and it fired up straight away. This one is an early Mayfair with a rocket type muffler. Put an LM on it and it will be good for many years. My next issue will be that I might run out of PT inlet manifolds to chop up for these conversions
I'm stoked with this pair of Mayfairs I have, my sadness is now how many of these were scrapped over the years when they had perfectly good motors but had carby problems and so they were scrapped. Every one of these I pick up has a perfectly good motor, just let down with carby problems. All these discussions about the fact we must reduce waste and these perfectly good machines just get dumped because China can dump cheap stuff here and pollution to them is a problem for somebody else Another thing I like about these mowers is the north/south motor makes them much smoother
Sounds like the Powertorque spigot should stay on Norm ,I was thinking it may have been a loose fit and the JB weld would be taking up the slack.
I have always found the round Mayfair blade plate makes the motor run smoother than if you fit the oval powertorque blade plate as long as the blade plates aren't bent or damaged.
The round cutter plate must be more dynamically balanced compared with the oval plate.
Less metal needed to make the oval plate. My SupaSwift which has a plain round disc with Victa blades fitted cuts like a completely different mower, so thoroughly and precisely. I enjoy it 3hp Briggs and all. I have seen the pattern of Victa always engineering to find ways to save per unit cost of production, often with obvious shortcomings like thorough rusting of their steel bases and inferior balance.
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
