OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Collectors Corner Cylinder 20" 45

Hi fellas, have struck a problem, I,ve run out adjustment with the wheel to cutter bar,
It might be a dumb question but are there any little hidden tricks to sorting it or is a new wheel the only way out,
I went to the trouble of slotting the adjusting bolt holes but soon realised the chain length is also another factor in adjustment,,
It will still cut a piece of A4 paper but won,t cut any thing thinner,,

Any members in or close to Bundy Qld,, thanks Geoff

Hi Geoff, welcome to Outdoorking. I think the first thing Deejay, our reel mower guru, will ask for is some pictures of the reel, and the adjustment mechanism. One of the issues is how much meat is left on the reel, so please make sure the pictures show the reel from above.

Hi Geoff, and a warm welcome to the forum. Its great to have another Scott Bonnar owner on board.

Grumpy is correct, I will need pics of your machine and in particular the cylinder reel and the bedknife blade.
You should never have to modify the machine to get it to do its job....and there should be minimal clearance between the reel and bedknife.
Here is some info you might be interested to know:

Myth: You must have contact between cylinder and bedknife.

Fact: �You do not need contact between the reel and bedknife to cut turf grass. Contact between the reel and bedknife will generate heat which will have many effects on not only the turf grass, but also on the traction unit. The heat generated between the reel and bedknife will tinge the leaf blade. Also that heat can cause the bedknife to expand which will tighten the cutting unit up even more. The tighter the reel - bedknife contact, the more strain this puts on the traction unit which can cause chain and sprocket wear or hydraulic hose failure and premature failure of the hydraulic system where fitted�.

Contact between cylinder and bedknife causes drag requiring greater effort to turn the reel and in turn this greater effort has an adverse effect on drive lines and engines. This drag also leads to rapid wear and loss of sharp edges, as well as a poor quality of cut. With contact you have the undesirable �scissor� action instead of the desired �scything� action. It is the scissor action which damages the turf plant and can prolong the healing process.

Myth: New bedknives are �true� and don�t require grinding.

Fact: �New bedknives are certainly not true coming from the factory. Every bedknife that gets installed on a bed bar needs to be ground properly in order to achieve a consistent quality of cut. The bedknife is the single most important factor in achieving a great quality of cut. The bedknife�s job is to position the grass before the reel blade cuts it. Depending on where the position is will depend on how clean and consistent your turfs after cut appearance will look.

Bedknives will take the shape of the existing bed bar once tightened. By grinding the bed knife properly it will give you a smooth surface that you will then align to a reel that has been ground to a true cylinder. Once this is complete you will have 2 perfectly aligned surfaces that can achieve the quality of cut that everyone is looking for. It is very important that the bed knife is ground to its proper angle (manufacturer�s recommendations) in order to maintain high quality turf grass.
Once again Geoff, yo OutdoorKing

hi Deejay, here,s the piccies





from what you,ve said with the myths, is std A4 paper a large enough gap between wheel and cutter bar, or should it be larger/smaller,,?
{a friend uses a cigarette paper}

also out of your info I,m thinking the amount of face on the cutter bar is to large causing the grass to be gummed to death rather than cut,, the mower cuts carpet grass cleanly, but couch is a bit less than ordinary,

Geoff, one of those reel blades looks as if it may have burrs, which would mean it had been making heavy contact with the bedknife. See the yellow oval:


There is some kind of grass fur all over the blades, so perhaps that accounts for the build-up on the back of the blades as well. However, they must not make any significant contact with the bedknife at all. Deejay is the man to sort all this out with you, to the extent he can while he is interstate working on a mobile phone, but if your blades are burred it looks as if you are going to need to tidy up that mower quite a bit - the bedknife will be damaged too, by the contact. This might also explain the issues you have been having with the adjusters.

On the plus side, there is still plenty of meat left on the reel, which is the most expensive part of the mower. If you listen closely to Deejay, chances are you will soon have your SB humming and cutting like a new one.

the small burrs are a mix of dry and wet grass, and is on the back of the cutter,

wondering if any ideas for a fix have been thought of, or am I buying new bits

Hi again Geoff, In my opinion, that reel has plenty of meat on it, a little hard to see the bed knife blade; but in any case from the appearance of the reel, it needs to be professionally sharpened.
You need to remove both the reel an soleplate complete with the bedknife still attached, and take them both to the engineer/machinist who will spin grind the reel and face the bedknife correctly for you. Instructions on how to do that are found HERE
To adjust the clearances correctly on the re-install, you will need to check the serviceability of the reel bearings, these are cheap to replace...so please do so if you are in any doubt at all.

We are here to help, so any questions you have, just post them here.

instructions have been locked and loaded,, there might be a bit of a gap between now and when things happen,, always seem to have several projects on the go,, {including the SB rebuild}

No probs mate, best of luck with it. Don't forget to take pics as you go along, please.