Hi Max, I would be interested in looking at the Ariens if you wanted to sell it, always looking for bits I know the Ozito stuff is pretty ratty but I just looked at the little welder my son bought some years ago, it is an Ozito and that is the portable welder I use these days ( I can no longer pick the Monarc up to move it around) It is the one I welded the split base up with. Only problem with it was a few years ago I was welding up quite a few bits of cast iron and it tripped out on heat overload. Let it cool down and all was good. MF, yes arc is no good for bodywork mig is best. I have only ever used a gasless mig once for about 5 mins and the finish I was getting was awful Downside of small migs is they are problematic and difficult to keep working and if you get a gas one there is the expense of getting a gas bottle. Tig is good but much slower and you still need a bottle of gas. All depends on how determined you are to go with this welding. The muffler on my car has cracked all around the weld at the back of it. Bit annoying as it has only been on for a couple of years and is all still nice and silver, looks new except that the weld has cracked right around. Too difficult to arc so I will take it off and take it up to my mates factory so I can mig it up. It is all horses for courses, everything has special advantages
Wasn't a lot of parts on the spare Ariens when I picked it up ,I was only keeping it for spares for the other one.
I still have a few spare Victa bases for you Norm.
If I had have known you were welding up Victa axles I would have saved a trailer load for you Norm as I have thrown out tons of good ones.
Tig is generally slow to weld except for welding sheet metal because the metal doesn't distort so you can keep welding, with the mig you have to spot weld and let the panel cool takes a lot longer with the mig or you can mig weld a little at a time then cool with a wet rag and panel beat as you go but is still slow. The good thing about Tig is the weld can't rust.
I take it you were welding correctly Norm with the gassless as the polarity is reversed and the technique is the same as arc welding .
Hi Max, I just pull the top axles out of the axle bin and if it needs welding up I just do it. Often the height adjuster hole is worn so needs a bit of weld and then I often cut the stubs off and replace with whatever wheels I have a set of so a bit of extra welding doesn't matter that much Don't throw that Ariens out it still has the drive bits they could be needed sometime, even if they are rusted solid, it is only bearings and they can be replaced
Did they make those ariens out of steel or alloy? or is it just a chute attachment rusted through. Norm, there one of those ariens on gumtree at the moment with a briggs intek - $570. looks like it has variable speed SP? there is a dial with SP speed on it in 5th picture
MF, I mentioned months ago I bought the little Ozito inverter welder. Display model (just the unit, wires, the rod holder and earth clamp) for $50ish. Coming up to EOFY now, so keep an eye at bunnings and you will probably see some out
I then over the next months got a chipping hammer, few different sizes of gen purpose and a few low hydrogen for about 70% off on the clearance trolley.
Do not weld anything you cant afford to destroy for the 2 hours of welding.
I had only mig or oxy welded before this - mig you have to negotiate wire feed speed with voltage with gas feed and get them all spot on (not impossible but whenever I have ever thought its right, any experienced welder nearby will be able to hear something isn't crackling right. I love to oxy weld, but the gas bottles size and $$$ are getting up there.
As you can see the little ozito is literally the size of a victa catcher flap and about 8 inch thick
Hi Tyler, The Ariens bodies are steel but reasonably thick, the one Max has has obviously been left in long wet grass for a very long time. The side chute is plastic. The drive is amazingly simple and very rugged and dare I say unbreakable. It is variable speed just by pulling the adjuster rod on the handelbar up and down. Yes they do come up from time to time at around the $600 mark. If anybody wants a self propelled to handle the tough going these are the only way to go. Fitted with a Honda they are the bees knees. Only issue with fitting the Honda is you have to drill new holes because the Honda bolt pattern does not match the Briggs pattern. I would not be interested in one with a Briggs Intek motor they are a crappy motor I also wear a leather apron, but not for welding, I wear it for when I am cutting with the grinder as the sparks destroy the right hand side of my pants and T shirts.
Latest update on the hybrid twin Tornado base mower I built for my mate earlier this year. It has now become his mower of choice because it is fairly light and with the GXV160 motor it has buckets of power. Problem now is all the grass he is cutting is wet and I have told him he has to keep cleaning the wet grass out from the underneath but I'm not that confident he will do this.. My thinking now is once the grass starts slowing down I will get the mower back, strip it down, get it sandblasted and then get it hot dipped galvanized and hopefully that will last long enough to see him to retirement.
Yep wash ports aren't a great idea Mf in my opinion , the last thing you want to add to a steel mower base so it doesn't rust is water.
I remember using a wash port on a stainless mower base and water still got into the axles, wheels, pivots and bushes.
Might no be worth sand blasting first Norm as I looked into some places that do Gal coatings and they do all the prep work also, some businesses won't do a cheaper job even if you do half their job for them.
It would be interesting to find out what they charge for the galvanizing.
Hi Max, Years ado I remember the min charge for galvanizing was $100, could be anything now. A mate of mine is getting stuff galvanized all the time so I would just put it in with his stuff. That is why I was going to get it sandblasted first so there is no hastles with the galvanisers whinging about grass in their bath. I think he pays about $1 a kg maybe a few cents more but they get big amounts done all the time See how it goes Now I have another bloke who has one of these self propelled Hondas with a stuffed drive. Body is in excellent condition but a totally useless machine without the self propelled working. I don't have enough Tornado bodies to build another hybrid one and the hours spent building them is stupid, but I'm not sure what to suggest to him, there is nothing on the market made for this sort of work
Does anybody know an accurate way of testing these self propelled? I have checked the cables and they seem to be working. Next step is to hold the self propelled lever in and move the mower back and forth. If there is no engagement then I have always assumed the box has failed unless somebody has another way of testing them. Any thoughts?
That sounds a good price Norm for galvanizing around a $1 per kg. I was thinking about getting a mower fuel tank galvanized , I have heard you can get metal Galvanized by electroplating but not sure what that would cost.
With the SP drives I prefer to test them at the drive unit itself as cables can stretch, seize and fraying cables are a problem.
1 With a gear speed engagement lever make sure it's selected at the drive unit ,sometimes I will disconnect one end of the cable so I can move the lever on the drive with my fingers or a screw driver.
2 Move the self drive engagement lever at the drive unit with fingers or a screw driver and rotate the pulley or shaft drive the correct direction to check if the wheels are rotating ,if the wheels don't rotate then I would do the same test with the wheel off to see if the drive axles are rotating if you can't see the axles rotating at the drive unit as some axles have plastic tubes covering them.
I thought you would just sell the guy an Ariens mower Norm ,it's an Ariens or a Deutscher mower if you want a SP mower to last.
Hi Max, Poor bugger paid $500 for it off marketplace, I didn't ask him if the drive was working or if he was told it needed a cable adjustment which I see all the time, I would love to know where all these mongrels get off with selling stuff they know is junk. Apart from that Max the kid is lifting the mower in and out of the back of his car which is amazing but it is going to end in tears because he will hurt his back.. Ariens and Deutschers are heavier and a bit too big for domestic lawns and this kid has just bought a mower and wanting to start mowing some lawns. I don't really have an answer for him at the moment
Yes this reminds me of all the sellers that would say their car had no rust ,then when I go out to look at the car it's rusted out in the frame and floor.
I scrapped a lot of working SP mowers Norm so if you want a drive I may have one for free ,I think I still have a good 505 SP ,I only paid $30. if you need a cheap replacement mower.
The mower contractors around here I see them cutting small yards with ride on mowers ,by the time they get around all the plants and trees I would think a standard mower would be quicker.
One contractor had 2 Deutschers in the back of a trailer to cut small yards as well.
Thanks Max, very generous of you I will see how I get on. My mate over in McKinnon has at least 7 mowers from a Deutscher, Victa 24,couple of Hondas,couple of Victa sidethrow slashers, a Masport mulcher and probably a PT with a catcher. Each day he takes whatever mowers he needs for the jobs he is going to do and he uses them all depending on the type of job.
