I was looking at one of my Super 24s to work out what could be salvaged and what is scrap. The chassis on this one is too far gone but I’ll strip down the motor to see if it’s salvageable. I think it was originally a 1973 machine but I can’t be certain.
Strange thing with this motor is that the engine number is on the front, not the side. Also the number that is stamped on doesn’t follow with the conventions I’ve previously seen.
It reads: 23 7 VD 31
I did a bit of reading but I couldn’t find anything.
Hi Ironbark, easy fix by bolting on a 50x3mm flat ring around the outside. Please don't scrap it, has a lifetime of work left in it. I'm under the pump at the moment I have to build one for a bloke who wants it to do a job on the weekend, and I only have 3 stripped down bases sitting here at the moment
23 7 VD 31 Without seeing the numbers or the head number or the complete mower it can be a lot more difficult to decipher as the number can be 23 with a 7 on it's side then a 1 then a haft stamped 0 then 31.
You may have the correct stamping or it could be a re conditioners stamping but I have seen too many mis-stamped numbers.
Going to be very hard for you to ever ID any of the 24's I have built over the years Max, I just grab whatever motor I can off the shelf and fit it. Whatever starter I can find that will do the job. The one I am building today is being picked up Sat morning and the motor I will use is a sidepull that at the moment is still on a rear discharge catcher mower.
The motor out of my other Super 24 is sitting on the workbench as I’ve started refurbishing it. I had a look for the engine number and it is also stamped on the front side of the crank case. So, perhaps with Super 24s around this era, they stamped the numbers on the front? It certainly makes reading it easier as that area is clearer of clutter on the Super 24 as their air cleaner assemblies are quite bulky on the right side of the engine.
The number is: 537214222
On the left side of the head is the raised number 4.
Going to be very hard for you to ever ID any of the 24's I have built over the years Max, I just grab whatever motor I can off the shelf and fit it. Whatever starter I can find that will do the job. The one I am building today is being picked up Sat morning and the motor I will use is a sidepull that at the moment is still on a rear discharge catcher mower.
Yep I think we've both changed tons on motors so a lot aren't original.
I find it hard to believe I just emptied a trailer load of mower axles and it weighed 480 kg and I still have more to go. Must be why I never count the number of mowers just count the weight.
You are scrapping a lot more than I am Max, but I do go to the scrap on a more regular basis. I haven't been picking up any quantities of mowers for the last couple of years, just trying to wear down the piles of stuff I have still here
Yes half a tonne was a lot ,I must have wrecked a few hundred mowers in that lot.
I haven't picked up many either Norm in the past 3 years maybe 10 ,threw out a lot of good red rover bases just didn't have catchers for them and even if I sold good running mowers for $20. it would still take too long to sell so I don't have that amount of time to get rid of them and no one wanted a good complete mower base with wheels but without an engine for $5. I've seen guys with 20 Victa 2 stroke mowers for $2 each and they don't sell they just go to scrap in the end.
I see a lot of people going electric around here and a few houses up from me there is a robotic lawn mower.
I'm Just keeping engines and wheels off the later rear discharge mowers.
Hi Max, if you see anybody wanting to dump 2 strokes for $2 I will takes as many as I can get. I don't bother putting motors on alloy bases, they are worth more to me in scrap alloy. If I get a good running motor on an alloy base I scrap the base and put the motor on some Chonda body I have here with a catcher. I think I have a few Rover catchers here that I will probably never use now, I used to be scratching for them. Haven't seen anybody in my street with an electric, corded or battery. The old 24 that Gadge put me onto at the Morwell tip some years ago for $20 is now up and running and off to the new mower man in the morning. He is hanging out for it because of the type of jobs he is picking up. He rang up at 6.00pm tonight wondering if I could bring it up to one of the jobs he needs it for urgently. They never last long here because there is not much alternative out there for the really rough jobs. My mate in McKinnon uses his quite a bit because he has a number of customers that only want their back yard cut twice a year. Front yards are maintained but the back yard is only for a clothes line and they don't care about the grass
Bearing in mind its a culdesac, there is a masport olympic cyl, ohv briggs victa, old vertical pull briggs rover, ohv briggs masport, Quantum masport, Powertorque, one guy with either a lawnkeeper or full crank victa (whichever will start I think) and a thoroughly knackered john deere ride on (lucky if theres 100sqm lawn).
1 Makita battery and 1 ryobi battery mower
So we are beginning to see the battery 'revolution'
Can’t say I’ve seen anyone with an electric mower around here, probably not practical for our type of terrain or amounts of grass. I did cut a couple of acres of lawn for an older relative a year ago using an electric Cub Cadet ride-on. I went down to see her because she was recovering from an operation. It felt very foreign. When I found out how much the mower cost I just about fell off my chair. You could have bought a nice used car for that sort of money.
