I was picking up something from a lady with a very orderly shed full of junk. I just had a hunch there might be a mower in there....... Bingo a Massport Mulch and mow, with a broken base hole...... She said the motor was good. Should be easy to weld in a plate......... Can't wait to get started... Sometimes you have just got to open your mouth........ speedy
........................Keep your blades sharp......................
MF, there is one thing you are never short of and that is 4 stroke bases, always mountains of them to be had, motors die on those often before the bases give up. It is the reverse with the Victas
Yes it's steel. The back cross bar is missing, and a few cracks.... I have an Bolens/Massport aluminium base that I'm fitting the engine to..... Too much work on the old base. speedy
........................Keep your blades sharp......................
MF, I always get excited when I come across a Victa with a 4 stroke on it. This gives me a 4 stroke to put on one of the countless 4 stroke bases here and because it had a 4 stroke on it they usually haven't done a lot of work so unless the base is rusted they are in good condition and often the wheels are good as well, not all flogged out as you usually get with the 2 strokes
Up early and put it together.... It was missing a exhaust bolt. I tested no spark. Took coil off, dug one out of the box.... then noticed throttle at stop position...... Moved it and had spark................durrrrrr.... Put a Victa base plate , sharpened blades.. Mowed the back lawn, changed oil and added oil treatment.... it runs smooth and pretty quiet... cheers speedy
........................Keep your blades sharp......................
Bit late to the conversation regarding the cracking of masport bases, but the main reason is the engine, followed by the blade carrier. Have seen at least 20 of these now that have done it.
Masport cheaped out on the steel thickness and paired with the comparable roughness of flat head briggs saw a rapid cracking of decks in several main locations; the rear left and front right engine mounts, the rear left about 5cm infront of the wheel (where the side begins to curve around)
The decks issues are compounded by their propensity to lose the rear 'spreader bar'. This places undue stress on the rear end, causing further left rear arch cracking and eventually the metal behind the rear axle to give way; meaning the rear axle pulls out of the deck.
Seems more common with the quickcut, but in the last few month have seen more of the quadcut models doing it (which I think speedy's would have been) - maybe it has just taken longer for the inevitable to happen
Seems now the OHV briggs are on the decks they are less susceptible
MF, I think the decks are even thinner than Victa's - Masport don't say how thick the deck is on the 18 inch in the brochure, but the 19in is 1.6mm steel. All they say is the 18in is made of 'durable steel'.
Pair thin steel with possibly poor heat treatments (too much hardness and not enough toughness) in the chinese factory and that could be the causes of brittle failure.
Not sure how thick the Victa decks are, but I am quite sure a victa with a 450 briggs is heavier than a masport with a 450 (I try to avoid picking up mowers on my own)
But then you have a bigger blade carrier causing +400ish grams over the masport quickcut.
I do know a masport of this age with a quickcut bar will lift off its front wheels once the catcher is full, a victa wont.
Norm's solution of Talon bases for PT seem to be the best alternative as they are thick and have less rust traps
I don't think the bases crack just because of metal thickness ,I've thrown out over a hundred cracked bases ,Masport steel / Alloy ,Rover steel / Alloy ,Talon steel ,Victa steel / alloy ,Electrolux Alloy ,etc and it doesn't make a difference what engine is on the bases ,all have cracked in the same places ,I've noticed the main thing that cracks the base is when the end of the crank is out of balance ,eg bent crank ,bent blade carrier , one broken blade ,I see a lot of mowers that one blade will half break off and the owner will still mow with one blade ,once the rotating mass is out of balance it will start to crack the engine mounting position on the base as well.
The rear spreader bar should not be bent or loose as this will allow the base to flex and crack, so .in my opinion most bases crack because of negligent owners who don't maintain the mower correctly as I've had a lot of old mowers that have been looked after and those bases have not cracked but the same mowers crack when owners break a small piece of one blade and continue to use the mower.
The design of certain mower handles can help to support the base ,which will add strength to the base.
