OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Restoring, Customising and Modifying Other Walk-Behind Rotary Mowers Lawn Cub Restore

Hi, Looking for anything I can on this mower, It's called a lawn cub.

Anyone know who made the engine, and what capacity it is, or what fuel mix to use?

I would also be curios to know the era for this one, it is complete, and I hope to have it running soon (Muffler is not in place in this picture.

hi i have an original operators manual for one of these.
What a fine looking mower you have there!
Its designed and manufactured by John Boundy industries pty ltd Clayton, Melbourne, Vic and Eagle Farm Road, Brisbane. Don't know if they made the engine? Its a unique engine with a crankcase magneto. Manual says 20 parts petrol to one part SAE 40 oil. Also have a full page advertisment from The Sun-Herald dated march 17, 1957 It advertises the Lawn Scout and the Lawn Cub. The lawn cub is a 15 inch cut (80cc 1.7 BHP) priced at 36 Gns. Re the muffler, it also says "Triple expansion exhaust silencer of pressure cast aluminium, quitest on the market"

cheers
matt

Thank you for that Matt, I keep detailed records of my collection, and you have just helped answer a number of questions i had on this machine.

Oh the piece of paper for one of the mowers.I think this one was left in Brisbane,was left on the Bar.It will be delivered to me on the weekend.

We'd left it upside down on the bar.So I guess that's why we missed it.

That must be the copy of the add i have for this one, i was wondering where that got to, I couldnt find it anywhere!

Back to the mower, I have a feeling this one is pretty ready to go, It seems to have spark, and it does have good compression, it's main issue is the clear laqure it has been sprayed with, some has gotten into somwhere it should not have, and the engine is quite stiff, but still moving.

Also, the paint has locked the fuel cap on, once i free everything up, I will see how it goes.

Anyone had any experience with clear laquer getting into things before, anything i need to know as i proceed?

Ty, some kinds of varnish can be a real problem that should not be ignored. (Warning: anecdote content coming.) Way back before the 1950s, racing engines were always lubricated with castor oil because mineral oils did not have the required additives to make them work properly under extreme conditions. This presented many challenges which I won't go into, but one that was important was that very hot castor oil formed a varnish when it cooled. The varnish formed in the hottest places, including the big end bearing surfaces. It could not be removed with conventional petrochemical solvents. In general it was not important, because it was dissolved by hot castor oil, so you could keep using the engine. Unfortunately, if you switched the engine to mineral oil, the next time you ran it hard, the varnish would partly melt, fail to mix with the mineral oil, and cause a seizure - usually at high speed. There won't be anyone else here old enough to remember an event at the Sandown car racing course in I guess the 1980s when people dragged out their collectible racing cars for exhibition runs/pseudo-races. There was some really fine machinery there that day. Unfortunately a well known rally identity borrowed a Maserati 300S (1956 sports-racer, a very notable classic racing car) from Bob Jane's collection, and ran it as hard as it would go. The result was a broken connecting rod and a large hole in the side of the aluminium crankcase, and the forensic analysis found the castor oil varnish on a big end bearing was the cause. Much bad blood ensued when the rally identity refused to pay all or part of the repair cost.

I think you need to pull it down and remove any varnish that has found its way inside the engine, Ty.

I think that is what i will do then, The mower was provided with a spare engine of sorts (in parts, in a box) so as i pull it down, i will check anything over, and see if anything needs replacing.

I will also make sure to get pictures as i go, especially of the Ignition unit, its quite unusual (Crankcase magnito, inside the cream box at the front)

Hopefully I can get this one running, I dont think it would be much good to me for cutting (to much grass for a 15" to be practical) but I do like to have the collection running, and i will occasionally take them out to tackle a small patch each, then give them a good clean.

OK, between the spare engine, and the set of spare handle bars i found (for the missing rubber grips) I beleive i can get thi one up to scratch!

Here are some more photo's, from me, and from the guy I bought it from.







The first to pictures show the muffler, whitch is not missing, it simply came loose on the trip home from QLD, and will be re-attached as i work on this one!

I'll get some more photo's once I get inside!

This is a fine looking 50's machine Ty, and on a great score there mate. Looking forward to seeing the pics as you go along!

Cheers Darryl, Jeffery just sent across these 2 pictures of it, seems to be 1/2 way through the restore, and shows a different carby.

Or perhaps its a second one from the same collector, this one has no fuel tap, and the engine does seem a little different (could be the engine in the box that came with this one!)

Don't quote but I'm sure he had two of these.I do remember he told me (on the phone) that he had two.It's hard to remember when we get on the phone it becomes a very long conversation.Lots of mowers get talked about.

i have posted pics of it's big brother the lawn patrol,it has the same engine,info is scarce

on these

I beleive i have parts for one of these, well the engine at least.

Spare engine came with my lawn cub:





It has the cowl with this engine too, I'll grab a photo of the cowl tomorrow.



And here are some more lawn cub pics from tonight!

Have you been cutting grass with that one?

No, i still need to get the varnish out of the engine, That grass is just from walking it across from the car.

Here is the cowl i have steve:




And here is the extra handle set, i think these are Lawn Scout, not Lawn Cub.