OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Restoring, Customising and Modifying Victa Walk-Behind Rotary Mowers Repairing cracked/broken catchers

Is there an industrial strength glue commonly used to fix the cracked plastics or is fibreglass and similar epoxy stuff an option? I have a perfect mustang cather with 1 crack on the bottom edge that has a fair bit of tension on it so it will need a strong fix i think. Thanks.....

I tend to find Araldite the best solution, get the good stuff (sellys) and make sure once it has been applied, you put clamps or duct tape, or anything you can to keep the crack under pressure, and closed for a good couple of days (longer than the pack says)

I put this up earlier today elsewhere;

Jeffery, (or in this case Greg) if you look in the Victa frames section theres a thread i started about catchers. The black one i have got pictures of was a big mess. Had tin plate all over it and a big bit of aluminum under the bottom that was bent to the wrong shape.
I suppose an hour all up with the soldering iron to get it how it looks now.
A soldering iron and some thin strips of plastic cut from a busted bit of catcher with tin snips.
Its sort of like welding with a TIG or Oxy, melt the plastic and you need to do it full depth, then work the melted plastic back in the crack then with some thin strips of plastic off another catcher, melt that in as filler and tidy it up as best you can. Only thing is that plastic does not solidify as quick as metal, so if you keep that in mind, even with a smallish soldering iron like mine you can still get a fair area of plastic liquified at once, almost to the drip/sag stage.
If its badly cracked up, the best thing is to tack it at about 25mm spacings and get the whole thing looking like it should then go to work. They can be a pain to get into the right spot, catchers never seem to sid where i want them. About an inch is a good size to work on at one time, over any more distance the plastic thends too cool to much as you work back and forwards. Thats sort of how i do it, like a grader, back and forth getting it hot, then work the liquid plastic back in. Then go over the top melting a thin strip of extra plastic down onto it to fill it in.

If the underside needs to sit on something (like the top lip) you will need to get under and sort it so its flat. If you done it right, where you have fixed a split there should be blobs of plastic coming out from where the crack was on the inside. A row of lumps and bumps.

Comes out pretty solid, not as strong as original, but its better than no catcher at all. Only thing is it can look a bit ugly. Ive seen some of the motor bike plastics guys have done and they have sanded and worked the surface back down flat and its barely noticable at all.

The one pictured will be plated on the underside with galv sheet metal. I hand form it up out of flat, get the shape right so its snug up on the bottom where it sits over the axle. Use the steel lip thing thats in them std and rivet through the tin through the plastic through the strip and another couple of bits inside the catcher floor so that wheres its plated under the plastic is sandwiched.
I did this to my old Mustang catcher years back. It was still all good when i sold the mower last year.


I didnt take the pictures to show what i had fixed, just the shape of the catcher. Truth be known it probably should have just gone in the bin. It was split both sides on the top lip that hooks over the body. Several cracks underneath, im sure there was a big one on the back too. You can see the crack on the right hand side. The RhS of the lip support was totaly gone and the LhS was split two ways. A bit of the front edge had busted away completely, ive cut that into thin strips to use as filler.


Id suggest practising on another catcher and see what results you get.

I wouldnt reccomend araldite, it does not bond well to the plastic, well none of the stuff ive used has. Its been a few years, maybe they make better stuff now.

My mate was telling me about a plastic glue system sold by a company called Wurth. I looked online but im not sure what part numbers it is exactly so you would need to chase up a Wurth rep.
My mate told me one of the trucks in his fleet (hes workshop manager) hit something hidden in the grass at a farm and smashed the drivers steps to bits. The driver bought back all the bits (feeling guilty i guess), new price was over $1500 or soemthing stupid. The boss said for my mate to use the glue, he was sceptical. He gave it a go, i think it was two part stuff and came with little bits of mesh and stuff if you need to reinforce in high stress areas. The whole time he was thinking it wasnt going to work. Once it was done he said it took full fat bastard body weight no drama and 8 months down the track it was still fine when the truck got sold.
He was pretty impressed with the stuff.

Araldite doesn't bond right to the catchers? bugger, i have not really used it much for catchers (haven't had to fix too many) but its done OK for dress cowls and wheel rubbers.

Must be something to do with the catcher plastic, as you have said.

Thanks for that heads up, I like your molten plastic idea, i do have a catcher that wants work, but is not important, i may use this as an experment with that and other methods.

Just one question, is there any particular reason not to use a heat gun as-well when melting the plastic?

Hi Mr Davis,

with the heat gun it would really depend on the type and power of it, i wouldnt use a LPG shrink wrap gun as all you would have after a few seconds is a pile of useless smelly plastic.

and a high powered electric one would just blow holes in the work if you were not carefull probally similar to trying to weld with an OXY cutter lol

and a low powered electric gun wouldnt do much at all i know guys that work in a bumper bar repair place and they use a filler rod [scrap bumper bar cut into strips] and a 40 watt soldering iron with a wide tip or chisel tip they are properly called dont use a pointy tip for this as you leave more scratches than you would like to deal with

hope you understand my ramblings.

Wheel rubbers??? As in the tyre spinning on the wheel hub??? I just bang 2 screws in opposite each other, the heads are behind the cap so you cant see it.


The plastic is not very porous and flexable so glue needs to be able to handle that. Plastic is also 'oily' Well unless its seen a lot of sun, then its chalky.

Find a motorbike forum for old dirt bikes. Some of what you can do is amazing, plenty of elbow grease and time and what was chalky and horrid can be shiny and new again (just a little thinner so not as strong). Theres some good threads on the http://www.yamahait.com.au/ forum.

Heat gun should work to make the plastic more flexable around where you are working. Havent tried it. Might give it a go next time.

Yep I like the soldering iron and plastic idea. Have brought back a few dirt bike plastics but have not tried the plastic welding method. Will have to give it a go. Of course the trick is tracking down another bung catcher with the same colour plastic!!

we do some plastic minor repairs at work,v out the crack,use a butane torch/soldering iron and melt the same type of plastic over the crack working along the length of the damage it will drip in and slowly fill it with out warping the original catcher.(be careful the fumes are strong).
the other way we do it is to put some of the plastic in paint thinners and leave it until it turns to jelly,scoop out onto the vee'd out crack and let it dry
both of these methods are good for cosmetic repairs , i am still using a tool box everyday i did this to 18 months ago