OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions on Walk Behind Lawn Mower Frames Reel Lawn Mowers, Atco & Villiers etc. Yardstar Reel Mower

Thanks Darryl,

I haven't been able to get those numbers yet. I phoned back the next day (about 4pm) and asked if it was possible for him to read them out to me but he said he'll get them for me later because he was in the middle of something right then and then hung up on me.
WTF? Why is this so hard? He's definitely a grumpy old guy.

I didn't know whether to call back in a couple of hours or leave it until the next day. I'm starting to think he doesn't want me to have the numbers.
I suppose it doesn't really matter if the mower is 5 yrs old or 10 yrs old if it's been looked after, right?

I planned to go see him tomorrow morning sometime anyway so I'll phone back this arvo to make an appointment for Saturday to check out the mower and ask one last time for the serial numbers.

cheers.

Hi John, yes mate you are right, he sounds like a grumpy old guy and there will be no probs with the age of the mower that he quoted....and you will see them when you go and look at the mower....don't forget, first impressions are often best....if, to you, he seems at all dodgy, don't buy it.....as Kenny Rogers once sang....you gotta know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em....

Hello guys,

I found another nice Rover 45 going for $750 and it's actually much closer to home. He says he bought it 3 - 4 yrs ago. This one is only six blade cutting reel.

The Model no. 45058
Serial no. 4058223
That's all he could see. Is that any help for manufacturing date?

cheers.

Hi Phantoma,

Those numbers are from the ID sticker but don't give any indication of a manufacture date. The appearance of the machine is consistent with a late model however.

Unless you are planning to mow quite low, there may be no benefit to the 10 blade reel.

Cheers, Michael

Thanks Michael,
So for palmetto buffalo lawn you wouldn't see a superior cut from a 10 blade reel?


cheers.

In my opinion no, hopefully Darryl will be able to give you some further advice on this also.

But here is my understanding of it...

Firstly buffalo should not be mowed too low. It's bad for the health of the grass, increases the thatch build up (amazingly quickly in summer), reduces it's disease resistance and if mowed really low for some time can actually kill it. Buffalo should be maintained somewhere between 30-40mm in the summer months. In contrast couch will happily thrive at heights down to 10mm in summer.

The second consideration is the difference in frequency of cut between the 6 blade and 10 blade reel. Decreasing the frequency of cut (more blades or rpm) at height, can cause a fanning or turbulence effect that prevents the grass from being cut cleanly.

I'm not suggesting that you will have a worse or better cut with the 10 blade reel, though I don't think you will see a noticeable improvement with it on Buffalo. A 6 blade reel on a Rover/Scott Bonnar does a beautiful job if well setup and maintained. I have both 6 blade and 10 blade Rovers myself.

If you're interested to read some more to get a better understanding (and have it explained much better than I can), here are a few pages with good info...

Info on Cylinder Mowers and Frequency of Cut

Dangers in mowing Buffalo too short

Cylinder lawn mower heights for Buffalo grass

Excellent, thanks for all that great info Michael.

Hi John, no mate, those numbers don't help with a date, the closest we can get is the 'code' from the black cooling air cowl on the Briggs....that will give us the date of manufacture of the engine....which gives us the approximate age of the machine (unless the engine has been replaced, of course)but that in itself would be rare for such a relatively new machine.

Hello again,

This is the equipment that I have ended up with and I'm pretty happy with it all even though I spent more than I intended to. Total cost was $1100 for the lot.






The mower is a fully restored Rover 45 by a retired lawnmower mechanic who does it as a hobby now and only makes very little profit.
That's a brand new B&S motor on the mower. He has four other new B&S motors on his work bench to go into other restoration projects. They've been sitting there for a while though because they're a bit dusty but you can tell they're brand new. I even saw a couple of new honda engines as well.

He took the side cover off and showed me that this mower has all new chains, all new sprockets, new handle grips, new bottom blade, new height adjustment mechanism for the reel, new throttle cable etc, as well as a new paint job and stickers.
The cutting reel is not new but has 12mm-13mm of blade left and he had it sharpened during the restoration.

The project he's working on now is a Scott Bonnar 17" restoration and he was repainting the framework in the Scott Bonnar Green.

The $50 (non-starting) Victa edger I mentioned in another thread actually runs well. All I had to do was to drain the old fuel out, put a new spark plug in and filled it up with some fresh fuel. (25:1)

The green edger is a 3 or 4 yr old locally made Pionex which has had very little use and is like new. It's so easy to use and maneuver and runs smoooth.
I'll probably just alternate between the two edgers every time I mow the lawn so that neither of them is just sitting idle in the shed.

The new Pionex edgers are these ones,
http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/malaga/lawn-mowers/lawn-edger/1028313998
but I like mine better with a sturdy triangular frame and a single wheel at the front which makes it a bit easier to go around curves.

cheers.

Well done mate, the Rover looks like its just rolled off the factory floor! At $1100 that's great value for the quality of machinery that you have. It's certainly a better deal than the yardstar and victa edger that you were looking at in bunnings.

Hi John and my on your Rover purchase, it looks in brilliant condition and well maintained should give you years of mowing pleasure.
If you look on the black cooling air cowl of the Briggs, you will see a string of letters and numbers stamped into it, can you please post the complete string here, and we can tell you the date the engine was manufactured.

With the 2 edgers, I think you got very good value for the money.

Thanks guys,
I'm all set for summer lawn mowing now.
Btw, I forgot to mention that the Rover 45 has a new clutch system as well.

Also, if you look at the Pionex edger the frame mounted blade height adjuster lever actually adjusts the height of the front wheel while the adjuster on the new model Pionex edger looks like it adjusts the height of the blade.
I find mine pretty easy to adjust.

The string of numbers on both B&S machines are;
Rover 45
Model: 093312
Type: 0142 E1
Code: 070915 YA

Pionex Edger
Model: 091212
Type: 1025 E1
Code: 010630 FA

What can you tell me about them?

cheers.

Hi John, well mate I can tell you that the Briggs on the Rover 45 was manufactured on the 15th September 2007, and the Pionex Edger Briggs on the 30th June 2001, and both are between 09000 and 09500 series engines, which designates them as 3.5HP
Hoping this is of help.

Thanks for that interesting info Darryl.

The engine on the Pionex edger is older than I expected but I have since found out that my Pionex is two models older than the current one I posted in the link above.
Below is the model after mine and prior to the current two front wheel model;


So mine is probably closer to 6 or 7 yrs old really and depending on when the B&S motor arrived in Australia, sat on a pallet unsold, then sat in an unsold Pionex edger, the years probably add up. Still, I'm happy with a like new edger for $150.

The age of the Rover 45 engine is also a bit older than I imagined for a new one but he did say that he goes to surplus machinery auctions to buy them cheaper.

Is it okay for a new B&S engine to sit idle for a some years?

regards,
john

Hi John, I am sure that you will find that everything will be fine with your 45 mate, the standard of restoration will ensure that.
Many new engines sit on shelves without detriment.

Hello
Nice pick up, were these advertised locally on gumtree or out of the quokka.
Cheers
Steve

@Stevesandra,
Sorry for the delay, work got busy with long days and I've been quoting jobs on the weekends so that I have work after Xmas.

Yes, everything I bought was from Gumtree but i did find a couple of leads in the Quokka earlier on but the Gumtree adds were better value and had photos.

cheers.

I'd reccommend having a look at the used mowers on www.quicksales.com.au

Hi doork, and a warm welcome to the forum.
It's good to have you aboard.

Just a gentle heads up, whilst we welcome good advice for our members, our forum rules of conduct prevent us from posting commercial recommendations (ie. advertising) without prior permission of the OutdoorKing site owner.

We hope that you will enjoy the site and post some pics of any projects you have on the go. What machine do you have to mow the lawns?
Once again doork, to OutdoorKing.

got a brand new 10 blade reel in brissy for $320.