OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions on Walk Behind Lawn Mower Frames Four Stroke Lawn Mower Frames Talon mower

Have a couple of Talon 19 inch mowers and we all know how bad the motors are so I am thinking of putting Powertorque motors on them. With a bit of tweeking of the height adjuster bar, moving the spring to the other side of the bar will hopefully allow the motor to clear everything. Next step was to press a blade carrier so that it drops the blades down that extra 20 mm that is needed to get them to the correct height because I don't have any longshaft PT's here at the moment. The fact that these are a 19 inch cut gives a bit more clearance from the head to the height adjuster bar

This should be interesting.

Please succeed.
They seem a half decent base. I found one left outside a mower shop in excellent condition with a dead engine.

I wouldn't say it is for anybody to do unless you have a longshaft motor lying around, the pressing of the blade carrier is not something you can do without a press I will drill the base to suit the motor tomorrow and see how it all lines up, it is not easy to drill the holes so you end up with the fuel tank sitting square on the base because nothing on the motor is square for you to take your lines off. I did mark out one of the dust covers from the underside of the motor with lines to square it off the height adjuster but it was a long time ago and I have no idea where it is now

Well there you go, who would have thunk that, the Talon base is multi drilled to suit the PT motor as well as the Briggs. You just have to drill the 4th hole off to the side and this is on a section that is the correct height to just drill and bolt on, so simple. Now to go hunting all the dumped Talons out there. And I have always just binned those Talons

This should look good Norm when finished ,Hmm what to call it ,the Power Talon.

Power -conversation piece.

The 19 inch cut makes them a bit more appealing. The second base could be interesting because it is self propelled, that might make the grey matter work a bit harder. I changed the motor a couple of days ago on a Yardman 16 inch self propelled toy and that one caught me out, it was fitted with a short shaft Chonda, first one I had come across and the blade boss was tied in together with the pulley and they couldn't be separated. I ended up using a spacer ring that is used on the Victas fitted with Briggs motors
Looking good with the Hammertone paint, just found I can get it from Pompies Marine just down in Mordialloc and they claim it is touch dry in 10 mins and dry enough to handle in 20 mins. See how this turns out next week.

The hammertone paint worked out a treat, quick drying and covers a million sins. I should have been doing them this way years ago.

They look like new bases. Much prep involved?

MF,
very little prep work, flap wheel to remove any of the flakey powedercoat, wipe it down with prepsol and hit it with the paint. I have just cleaned up 3 PT bases so I will give them a coat shortly, they should come up like new

Hi Norm,

This is exactly why manufacturers chose this type of paint when working with castings and welded assemblies etc.

I've always loved the outcome of hammertone over straight flat finish paints.

Cheers,
BB.

Yes BB,
I have used hammertone before but with the mowers I just started painting a base and fixing a mower and just kept going that way. I also used a new gravity feed gun I bought when Masters first opened and I had never opened the box. For a $26 spray gun I was impressed with the way it worked. While the weather is still warm I will paint up the 3 24inch bases I have and probably another 10 PT bases and that should see me out over the winter months

It's a shame you can't fix wheels with it. They should look really shmick with a set of your cement specials attached.

Thanks for the pix. Astonishing what a quick blow of paint achieves. You're obviously emulating the Talon look with those. Perhaps you can paint the engine cover yellow as well lol.

MF,
they probably look better than the pics show. As for the cement wheels, one of the wheels on my rough around mower has had a small section break out so at this time my production of the Flintstone wheels is at a standstill till I get to evaluate them a bit more

I wish I knew the name of the product the handyman used to fix our step that had been crumbling. He says it's a special cement vmix that allows flexing.

Sorry Norm can see it in the thread - what brand is the paint. Is it the one from Pompei Marine you mentioned

They look excellent - I normally hate painting them due to the exacting prep work required to give a nice finish.

Hi Tyler,
As I said not a lot of prep needed, just weld up/repair the bases where needed, quick run over with the flap wheel to get rid of the flakey stuff and clean up any surface rust, quick wipe over and then just spray it. It is the paint from Pompies Marine, Pompiers have been on the Mordialloc creek since the 1920's so they have a good idea on marine type rust prevention. And in the end the can only cost $40, can't imagine how many bases it would paint, but it would be a lot.

Bit of progress on one of these all seems to be going ok, motor fitted no problems, and the blade carrier looks good and with the blades it gives a 500 cut so these should end up very good mowers. I still need to do a carby and kill switch mod and this does take a bit of time but we have plenty of that at the moment.

Looks nice Norm - will be the best talon ever made

Yes Tyler at least we now have a home for those long shaft Tornado motors once the body falls to bits

Looks excellent NormK.
Did you cut a dash for the exhaust outlet?
Love how you just moved the spring to the outside as an elegant solution to the clearance issue.

The real test will be how well it cuts through a thick patch of buffalo.
What a great way to make use of a perfectly good base.

MF,
Yes I cut a slot in the base so it all sits down properly. The PT will only fit on these bases because of the width of them allowing the height adjuster bar to just clear the head. On any other 18 inch base an offset would need to be made in the bar. I may set one up to show how it can be done

It's great that the Talon lets you skip that step though, and you get a wider cut as a bonus!

There must still be a good supply out there of Talon mowers with good bases and wheels where the engine had given up the ghost. Gardeners choice are the same aren't they?

Advantage with the Talon is that it is also drilled to suit the PT motor. Talon bases are usually in much better condition that the Victa ones I pick up and I can also fit other wheels on them

I KNEW I should have grabbed that Talon dumped out side the Mower shop!!

Hey Norm, this looks like a great project. Any more progress?

Hi Mystyler,
both finished look great and work well, very simple conversion. I will pull them out of the shed later and get some pics. Good mower now with a 500 wide cut.

That's good news as there are tonnes of good Talon bases that will otherwise end up in landfill.
The Powertorque is worth fitting as an upgrade to the rather underpowered B&S copy that's on them.

Couple of good Talon/Victa's