OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions On Ride On Mowers Questions on Rover Ride On Mower Rover Ranger Auto-Drive - Assembly Question

Hi all, I'm new here and would like to say thank you so much for this forum.

I've been through the pages here and have found some useful info, however I have a question that is bugging me.

I have just tonight purchased a Rover Ranger auto drive. It looks similar to the 53179 with a B&S 10hp donkey on the back. Overall it is in good condition, but needs a little work to be trimming my lawn.

My question relates to the auto-drive system itself which appears to operate the same across the ranger range.

From what I can see there are two clutch plates that engage a forward drive pulley or a rear drive pulley, with a pressure bar in between to engage a clutch depending on which way the drive pedal is depressed.

Is the bar in between supposed to have a roller or something similar? It looks to me like it would just press on the clutch plate, grinding metal to metal, or dies the clutch spin inside leaving the outer plate stationary?

As yet the mower isn't running. It has simple things that need fixing (brake adjustment & repair the throttle cable). Before I drive this thing (it ought to be running by tomorrow if the wife lets me hide in the garage for a bit) I need to know I'm not going to destroy a clutch plate by hitting the drive pedal.

Hi Shan, welcome to Outdoorking.

The Ranger Autodrive's drive mechanism is conceptually the same as the Greenfield system - I think it is found on some other machines too. It relies on a ballrace thrust bearing in between the forward and reverse clutches. Here is part of the Illustrated Parts List for the 01866 Autodrive:

Item 8 is the thrust bearing.

Obviously I do not know whether your particular mower has been correctly assembled, but this is the way it is supposed to be.

Thanks. I've not had a chance to really look over it properly yet. Hopefully I'll get a chance tonight.

I did engage the clutch this morning by pushing the the throttle down and rocked the mower back and forth and there didn't appear to be any resistance from the lever arm and the clutch engaged properly (or as best as I can tell without the engine running).

There was the expected resistance from the engine but nothing from the clutch so I'm fairly confident it will be fine.

Damn these midnight ponderings on how to make things work!

Thanks for the diagram.

I went over it and yes the thrust bearing is as it should be. I played with the mower for an hour or two yesterday and got everything fixed bar the starter solenoid which just rattles when the key is turned with a full battery.

I bought the mower as a project but it was easier to fix than anticipated. The guy I bought it from had done some dodgy work but no parts were required to fix it, just tools and patience. He told me it ran rough and was hard to start - but he had the high air fuel screw screwed hard in. Backed it off, got it started with the pull start, tuned it, added the throttle cable & adjusted a few things and she runs like a dream.

Once I finished my first mow last night my neighbour and I started some backyard mower racing... We enjoy the simpler things in life out here.

Solenoid rattling is nearly always due to low voltage at the high-current solenoid terminal. This is likely to be caused by low battery capability, a poor connection at one of the battery terminals, or a poor connection at a solenoid terminal. Measure the voltage at the solenoid's high current terminal, and see what happens to it when you operate the starter. Usually the solenoid chatters if it drops below about 5 Volts. If it chatters with a good voltage level under load (say more than 8-9 Volts) either the voltage is low at the solenoid's activation terminal due to faulty wiring or starter switch, or the solenoid is faulty. Faulty solenoid is the least common of the possibile causes.

It is very common on elderly ride-on mowers to find that the wiring has been raped and pillaged by a previous owner. We usually describe this type of alteration as "tenant's improvements" by a previous owner. The best thing to do in such cases is to get a wiring diagram and restore the wiring to its original state. The alternative is to fix each "improvement" in turn as the malfunctions it is causing become evident. Hence, once you have checked the battery capacity and the high current connections as described above, I suggest you take a general look for dodgy wiring.