OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions on Walk Behind Lawn Mower Frames Question On Scott Bonnar Cylinder Mowers Phase 2 of SB45 Overhaul

The Scott Bonnar has been going well, and thankyou for the help and assistance I have gained.

As you can see from the photos I have a Scott Bonnar, That has been painted rover red to match a late model catcher and handle bar trim. This mower was a miss match of parts to begin with and I have re-furbished it in the later Rover Red. I now realise that SB units are more desirable, but in the end I will have a good al be it non original Scott Bonnar.

The clutch was starting to show some signs of slippage. And I know from the original tear down the cork was in not good condition. So for the sake of $9 for a new cluch I figured I would have a go at replacing the clutch.

Looks good. I noticed mine is starting to slow down on up hill climbs.

Hi Jarrad, on getting your machine all ship-shape....It looks good in red, and of course, you could always change back to Scotty green at any time down the track. Thanks for putting up the pics of the roller clutch internals...good for the archives mate.

Picked up a 2nd hand sole plate last week. The bed knife is stuffed but the soloe plate is in better condition than mine.

Also grabbed a good 2nd hand clutch cable as a spare.

Some parts arrived in the mail from TMS, including handle bar decal and some new red plastic caps.

Things change quickly in 5 minutes. Have just won this SB / Rover 45 on Ebay, so hopefully I can pick it up this week.

Will then work out if it's best to swap the good bits off this one onto my Red SB or sell of the Red SB as is and do another restoration on this new one.

The red one presents well, has been sharpened and serviced, so dont think it will be too hard to sell.

Because good, well-presented SB45s seem to sell at relatively high prices in Perth, there may be a business opportunity for you Jarrad. Against a background of high selling prices, doing simple clean-up, repaint, adjust, replace worn parts, resharpen, and offer the mower on ebay with a warranty, might be a viable way to spend some time. I seem to recall you were in Pinjarra, though. Unless the road system has improved a lot since I lived in Perth long, long ago (which I'm sure it has) that might be a barrier to getting buyers to pick up their new machines. About 100 km from the city, as I recall?

Your right Grumpy, I am about 100km south of Perth in Pinjarra. We have a Freeway that runs from Perth to Bunbury now. But eastern states people would call it a two lane road.

Yeah SB45 seem to sell for good money, but the fully retored ones that people ask $700-800 for done seem to sell very quickly. Most people are after a good one for $500 ish or nothing.

You'd have to work out the numbers Jarrad, but I'd have thought a mechanical tidy-up and a basic repaint to make it look nice, would take a fraction of the time a restoration would. The art would be in picking the machine to work on. There's no way you'd make money out of taking on a basket case and selling that for $500 in good condition.

If you could find a way to get them to Perth, there seem to be plenty of easily fixable SB45s in the eastern states for around $150.

Too many projects Grumpy. Just need to get a really good unit for myself and I will be happy. Learnt the hard way about buying a basket case (ie) the red one I have now.

The latest purchase cost me $400. Has been sitting in shed for last 3 yrs as lady's husband was ill and recently passed away. She said they brought it about 2 yrs before he got sick from a mower shop and paid over $1000 for it.

Anyway will see how good it is next week when I go and pick it up, but from the photo's I could sell it locally and get my money back. The deciding factor was that the reel was in good nick and given a new reel for the Red SB was going to cost me $400 anyway. I should come out even.

I do keep an eye out for the odd bargan in WA, but they go so quick. Plus need to finish project car, motorbike, camper trailer and the jobs to keep the wife happy

Yes Jarrad, we mower hobbyists have to keep the little lady happy or we suffer the consequences...

When you finally get the new SB home and give it a thorough look over, it will be easier to decide what to do.
You may well decide to swap not only the cylinder reel, but the sprockets and chains as well....This later Rover manufactured machine would have a newer model Briggs, but your red one may have a stronger chassis...

Picked up the new mower today.

It has not done a huge amount of work in it's life, but here are my initial observations:
*Engine needs a freshen up but runs sweet
*Handle bars have surface rust
*Main chain way to long and cant tension any more, Max on tensioner now
*Bearings all feel good
*Catcher dented up more than the red one :-(
*Paint all flaking off chassis and catcher

So in 2 minds of what to do:
Swap reel, engine, sprockets onto the red beast.

Strip green one, sand blast chassis, re-paint chassis, shorten chain and get new tensioner block also. Then knock as many dents as possible out of catcher and put up with it. Or source a new catcher. There is a local company that sells aftermarket ones for $150. I would assume that a Rover one would be expensive

Any thoughts?

Also whats the best way to clean up the rusty handle bars?

Thanks

Jarrad, it is unlikely the chain was too long when it was fitted: it has probably stretched. If it has, it will quickly ruin the sprockets if it has not already done so. You can check whether the chain is out of pitch by removing it, and holding it straight, edge-on. The slack in the pivot pins (and that is what chain stretch is) will result in it drooping over its length. If it droops substantially it is garbage, and you should post pictures of the sprockets so we can see if they are worth keeping.

It is not impossible of course that someone replaced a worn chain with one a couple of links too long. If that is the case, you will find out when you do the wear check. You can fairly easily shorten the chain. You can also buy a half-link if necessary to get it to fit.

Hi Jarrad, We need pics of the machine from different angles so as to make some observations.....
From what you have said, the main chain may have stretched over time....sprockets could be worn as well; we need a pic of the chain case and in particular the sprockets where their not covered by the chain.

Regarding the surface rust on the handles, try soapy steel wool (it won't scratch the chrome...do not use a 3M scouring pad; it will damage the chrome) and finish off with a good quality auto polish that you would use on your car.;)

We may be able to tell you more when we see the pics, mate.

Hi Grumpy, great minds think alike mate...you were quick off the mark....

Will get some pix up later, goin to give machine a wash first as its pretty grotty.

Thanks Jarrad, looking forward to seeing them.

Hope this helps, to me the sprockets and chain look OK. I think the chain would benefit from removing 1 link.

Need to get new seal or complete fuel cap as this leaks. Dont know why Briggs went away from the old fashioned screw type cap.

Will get new clutch cork and chain tensioner on way home. Goin to keep this one and keep all original. So will start strip down this weekend.

The two small sprockets are fairly badly worn, Jarrad, and the damage to them is characteristic of being run with an out of pitch chain. I suggest you do the wear check on both of those chains. If they are as bad as I expect, what you should do depends on how bad the other sprockets are. The large one wears more slowly due to spreading the damage over more teeth, so it might be savable now if you fit a new front chain right away. The problem is that the worn out small sprockets will damage the new chain fairly quickly.

If you post a good, square-on picture of the large sprocket we can talk about whether it is worn out too. It is only if it is already ruined, that it makes sense to drive the whole setup into the ground by continuing to run it.

Bit of a progress shot

Chassis and Chain cover have been paint stripped, sand blasted and coated in grey etch ready for a coat of bright green.

Havnt taken a pix of engine, but it's been rubbed back and had a coat of black engine enamel.