OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Restoring, Customising and Modifying Reel-Type Mowers SB 45 adjustments and restoration

Hello, I have recently purchased a Scott Bonnar 45058 cylinder mower S/N 3951115, powered by a Tecumseh engine H30-35311S Ser 0151B.
I don't know anything about the history of this unit, nor do I have any idea of its age. I paid $240.00 for this mower which may or may not have been too much.

I've enjoyed reading the forum posts here and I am confident I can get the unit working properly with a bit of advice and perseverance.

The engine starts easily and the mower actually cuts grass although the blade setting seems to be poorly adjusted.

I tried to adjust the reel down towards the sole plate but I appear to have run out of adjustment on the two srews. The blades don't look too worn to me so perhaps I am doing something wrong.

Anyway I thought I'd begin this thread with a few photos and update it as I progress.

Thanks so much for this forum; I have enjoyed reading through the various restoration posts.


The catcher, not in this picture, is in pretty good condition.


Perhaps a trained eye can give me an opinion on the state of the blades.



The chains can be easily adjusted for tension.


There is no throttle cable just this lever on the engine.



This is one of the blade adjusting screws. As you might be able to see the adjustment is at the top of the elongated hole. The blades do not appear to be able to be set lower and they certainly don't cut paper.


The Tecumseh engine.


Should there be a housing over the clutch and lever?


Thanks again.

Hi Dave, and a warm welcome to the forum. It's great to have another Scott Bonnar Model 45 owner on board.
You have there a Model 45 (late model twin rail engine deck) 17" cutting width.
It is unusual, we have been discussing this on the forum this morning, with another member that has a 14" Model 45 (late model twin rail engine deck) with a 2HP Kirby engine.
This engine of yours may have been repainted at some stage...because SB has theirs painted in orange....See the pic;
This is a 20" machine, but the colour is the same on all Kirby's.
Yours is painted white...I have never seen one in this colour scheme before.

The blade adjustment has not run out of travel....you have plenty of thread left on the bottom of the bearing hanger...for adjustment advice, see the video...Click HERE This will step you through the procedure.
The cylinder reel has plenty of life in it; but will need re-sharpening as will the bottom blade....check out the SB threads in the Repairs and Maintenance forum for instructions on Removal of the reel and soleplate.
Can you also please post some pics of the chain-case with the cover removed and close-ups of the sprockets where they are not covered by the chain...this will allow us to assess the condition of the sprockets and chains.

Once again Dave, to the OutdoorKing forum.

Thank you Deejay for the advice and message of welcome.

In my restoration I will endevour to procure the correct paint for the motor.

The photos below are not brilliant but it appears there is no damage to the cogs and there is even wear throughout.







Thanks so much for the advice on adjustment of the reel.

Deejay, I think that is a later Tecumseh, made in the US, not one of the Kirby ones. The Kirby ones have a very distinctive air cleaner, visible in the picture you posted. Unless SB went through a period of fitting some Tecumseh engines in the latter days of the 45, it may have been re-engined.

Hi Grumpy, I think that may be the answer, I have never seen a late model Scotty with a US made Tecumseh....but who knows what they were up to, at that time...wish we had more records.

The plate on the engine states:

Tecumseh Products Company.
900 North Street, Grafton, WI 53024, USA.

I assume that is Grafton, Wisconsin.

It recommends OIL:
Summer SAE 30
Winter SAE 5W-30

Hi again Dave, I think this engine may be a later addition to your Scotty, if we could work out its date of manufacture we would have a good idea....however, I don't know how to date Tecumseh's....perhaps another member of the forum will.

I think Tecumseh did explain in their workshop manual how to date a lot of the later engines they made before they went belly-up. I don't know if Dave's white one is late enough to be included. Dave, if you post the serial number which has a few letters at the beginning, and the other letters and numbers from the same block of data, we can see if it features in the manual, and whether it contains a date code.

Thanks grumpy, I thought you might know the answer to that one....Tecumseh's are definitely not my forte`, so to speak....

Tecumseh engine H30-35311S Ser 0151B.

That is the information I needed, Dave. You have a horizontal shaft engine of 3.0 hp, made in 1980, 1990 or 2000 (the date code doesn't tell us which) on the 151st day of that year, on production line B. Presumably the 1980, 1990 or 2000 question is resolved by the type of engine it is. The "specification number" (similar to Briggs' "type") is 35311S, and in combination with a parts list I don't have, that might give the answer. However I think a 2000 engine would be a low emissions type, with a number beginning with "LEH" instead of "H", so it is probably 1990 (it doesn't look old enough for 1980 to me). Very likely a serious Tecumseh guy would recognise the engine, or its paint colour, or some other feature as we often do with Briggs engines, and know which decade it was made in.

Hi grumpy and Dave, well, that clinches it, the Scotties were using Briggs and Stratton exclusively in 1980 and by 1990, Rover had been manufacturing the 'Rover 45' for quite some time. (Different colour scheme and Briggs engine)
So Dave's machine has been re-engined at some time...it would be interesting to find out what happened to the original Briggs....perhaps it was like mine, which was a real lemon...right from day one.
Good to have a result, guys....well done!

Thank you gentlemen.

I found this site with links to various sngines:

http://www.smallenginesuppliers.com/html/engine-specs/tecumseh-engine-specs.html

And this for a drawing of my engine:

http://www.smallenginesuppliers.com/html/engine-specs/tecumseh/h30-35.html

BTW, the reason I initially could not adjust the reel down to the sole plate, was the fact that I didn't realise the little locking nuts needed to be loosened and that the two adjusting screws have to be turned in opposing directions to lower the reel. The link you provided helped enormously.

Dave

Since it is raining here in Brisbane I will clean up the reel and sole plate and take them to my local mower repair man for advice on getting them sharpened. I won't worry about painting them for now.

Some more pics.


I don't see a problem with these sprockets.


Reel removed and the sole plate was next which I found surprisingly heavy. These mowers were very well built.








The chain also appears in good order.

Dave.

Do you have any advice on removing this bearing? - I can't budge it.

Dave

It should be removed with a gear puller, Dave. However it should not be especially tight on the shaft, and it looks as if you have moved it a bit before taking the picture. If you were able to move it, and you don't have a gear puller, there may be a solution. Use a piece of steel tubing that will go over the axle of the reel but will not go over the outside of the inner race of the bearing, and tap the bearing back to its original position. Then carefully clean the outer part of the axle, where the sprocket sat on it, so the rust and burrs are removed and it is smooth shafting. Try again to remove the bearing at that point: it should slide more easily. If you still can't get it off without damaging it, you will need to borrow a small gear puller.

Thanks grumpy for your reply.

I tried tapping it back as you suggested, but it is sitting pretty flush against the axle plate and also flush with the end of the axle.

My best bet at this point is to get the mower repair fellow to remove it for me when I take it down to be sharpened.

On that score, I had one quote of $200 to get it and the sole plate sharpened which seems a bit expensive to me. Hopefully my local mower man will give me a more reasonable figure.

Dave

Dave, if you go back to our archives you will find a number of reports on quotes for that job. If we go by those, it appears your man is asking about three times as much as his competitors.

Just returned from the repairer. He'll remove the bearing for me.

$50 to sharpen the reel and $60 to replace the blade on the sole plate.

I left it with him and he said it would be about 1 week.

That will allow me to strip the rest of the mower and paint it.

Regards,
Dave

If it's the same repairer, it seems odd that between your visits he reduced his price by nearly 50% while throwing in a free bedknife. However the final price seems to be in line with others we see here.

Different repairer...

Well, now I have her stripped down to everything except the back rollers and the shaft from the motor.

I can't figure out how to loosen the nuts holding the last two sprockets in place.


This is the nut holding the sprocket at the end of the engine drive shaft.


Here I am pointing to the nut holding the rear roller sprocket.

I am unable to move the nut on the rear roller even when I can stop the roller from turning. The nut simply won't budge and if I try in the clockwise direction (left hand thread?), I can't stop the rollers from turning.

With the other nut, I can't get enough grip on the drive shaft to loosen that nut, the shaft just turns - I have removed the engine.

Anyone resolved this in the past?

Regards,
Dave

Hi Dave, you normally crack all the nuts before you remove the chains, as you have found out, it is difficult to do after the chains have been removed.
However, mate, have faith that you are not the first to do it, nor will you be the last.
Righto, to get you back on track....
First, apply plenty of WD40 or CRC, Penetrene etc, to the sprocket nuts in question.

(2) For the engine sprocket....You need to arrest the engine clutch shaft with a pair of vice grips or stilson wrench to stop it turning. Use the correct socket spanner and undo the nut...in a anti-clockwise direction it is a right-hand thread. Tip: use some bicycle tube or scrap rubber between the jaws of the wrench or grips to help stop marking the shaft....

(3) For the roller sprocket....place the correct socket spanner with a right-angle bar on the nut (after its good soaking as above) and give the bar a sharp hit with a hammer in a anti-clockwise direction....you don't need to hang on to the sprocket with you hand whilst doing this....a good sharp hit should crack the nut and then unscrew....
Please let us know how you get on Dave,

Thanks Deejay.

I'll leave them to soak overnight and try the techniques in the morning.

regards
Dave

I am also repairing/restoring an old SB45 fitted with a Kirby-Tecumseh engine, though mine is a 14" cut.

The two bolts that you indicate are both 3/4" right-hand thread. As Darryl suggested, I left the chains on, clamped the drive shaft and after liberal amounts of WD40, off they came.

I'm slowly being convinced to replace the Kirby engine with something that I can get spare parts for. I have another cylinder mower fitted with a B&S 2HP engine that I've just rebuilt and it runs very sweetly, so I might substitute that one and put the Kirby in storage.

Chris

That sounds like a good plan, Chris, including putting the HK engine in storage. You might pick up some parts for it opportunistically and tidy it up sometime over the years, so the mower can be restored to original one day after it stops being used regularly. It's not that the HKs aren't usable, it's just that they aren't as nice to use as other engines, plus in general you can't get new parts for them.

Thanks Chris for giving me the heads-up on the thread direction of the nuts on the engine clutch shaft and rear roller sprocket....I couldn't remember exactly which way they went and surmised that they would be in the opposite of direction of travel...ie. left-hand thread....wrong!!
Just to make sure, I went and checked my machine this morning.
I've corrected my post above...I just hope he hasn't started working on it yet...and that he re-reads the post!
Thanks again Chis, as I've often said here..."It's great to learn new things and tinker here"!

Might be my turn to make a correction.

The two nuts I'm referring to are the ones on the end of the drive shaft and the one on the end of the reel drive.

I'm about to attack the drum nut as we speak - I'll let you know what happens

Chris

Thanks Chris, I hope I don't have to make another correction!! .....

Yep - standard 3/4" RH thread.

I cleaned the tip of the shaft first so I could look at the last couple of threads and then braced the gear and very carefully and gently applied pressure. It came off quite easily.

Chris