OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums General Discussion Forum Off Topics Sad News for Scott Bonnar, Rover, Alroh and MEY

Hi to all ODK members and guests,
News came to hand late last week that MTD (owners of the Rover Mowers brand) that the Rover 45 will definitely not be re-manufactured owing to the prohibitive costs of the jigs, dies and tooling that would be required.

What this means to the members of ODK, is that spare parts will no longer be made for Scott Bonnar and Rover 45's.
Some spare parts are already not available, and some are becoming harder to get, as supplies dry up.

Because of the incredible amount of Scotties (and to a lesser extent Rovers) out there being carefully maintained, someone, somewhere, hopefully will decide to explore the possibility of tooling up (most probably off-shore) to make spares for our precious machines.

Still reeling (no pun intended) from that news, I was informed by Global moderator CyberJack that MEY, who have been an Australian Manufacturer of quality cylinder mowers for many years, including Alroh, that from August 2014, they are no longer in business, and for the present most parts are no longer available, including bottom blades.
Sad news all round, for Australian manufacturing.....

Goddmorning Deejay,
Sad news re MTD and the SB 45's but I guess the writing has been on the wall for a while now.
I have it on good authourity ( and being from the West) that the good folks from D & F (Dwyer & Felton)/ Mowmaster, the manufacturers of quality commercial cylinder mowers and edgers here in Perth have a limited stock of MEY parts including bottom blades. I have personally purchased 2 bottom blades from them in the past couple of months.
Their pnone number if required is 08 93622755.
Hope this assists some members.
Regards Ricardo123

Hi guys

Very sad news.

Routinely at the golf course the boss throws me catalogues for various parts suppliers that supply aftermarket parts for Scott Bonnar mowers and plenty others as they are pretty widely used still. Most of them are small turf specialised engineering mobs.

I will have a look through the stacks of suppliers catalogues we have and I will post up any that are relevant. I'm very certain I should be able to post up some names of suppliers.

Hopefully that might help anyone.

Cheers guys

We might as well start with the aftermarket wholesale majors then, Stens/Bynorm and Roy Gripske & Sons [GA Spares].

The most recent online Bynorm catalogue I can find is 2012; p.26-29 for SB parts: http://emags.newlitho.com.au/?bynorm/new-products/may2012

GA Spares' website is http://www.gaspares.com.au - a keyword search on 'scott' brings up their SB parts.

Don't know what the situation would be with further supply of MEY/Alroh parts.
It would depend on whether their receiver/manager has found a buyer for their parts stocks and/or Intellectual Property [component/design drawings, special tooling etc.]. Or whether these are going/gone to the scrappies/landfill...

The MEY Equipment Farcebook page has a receiver contact name/number at KPMG, if anyone wants to follow that up.

Thankfully I only restore Victa...

Nothing worse than a company you rely on disbanding parts and Machines...

I think you will find, as with Victa an array of parts will me made offshore if demand really does exist.

As far as I was aware some people were already manufacturing some parts, and may expand also to meet demand...

Im certain also that SH parts will increase in value as well as the Machines. This may be both good and bad...The good being more people may keep them instead of scrapping or putting them out on the hard rubbish. Also more parts may become available by way of wrecking.
The bad may be that costs increase just as the old Victa parts have.

But with most things as popular as SB 45, Im certain some will start to remanufacture privately or offshore, just like many big brands before.

Sad yes, but where theres interest, there is a market!

And just like all the Early Victas, just about every part has been replicated at one time or another:)

Anyways just tryin to make the situation seem less dire:)

Also This will only help to increase peoples repair skills to achieve their restorations. ..:(

They never would have reproduced a SB45 mower, these days people are after cheap and nasty, a 45 reel mower is neither and in my opinion MTD is.

Hi All,

Aren't most of the SB 45 parts already being produced offshore that are being sold via the seller "ceteparts" on eBay ?

cheers,
BB

Hi BB,
No one knows for sure where Ceteparts (eBay resellers) have procured their parts from....There is a thought that they grabbed a heap of spares from Rover before the takeover by MTD and Rover subsequently went down the gurgler...

Personally, I have tried to research Ceteparts...but to no avail....they (as a company) are an enigma....no info except for the eBay connection..But, it is worth looking into...If they are manufacturing parts for our precious machines off-shore...then that is great for us...our SB's can soldier on regardless...if not....

Hi DeeJay,

The eBay seller "ceteparts" have changed their name to "opeparts" in the last week or so. I have written to them seeing if I can get any sensible answers which would give us a better idea as to what our situation is as far as parts availability for the future.

I do feel though that most of these bits are being remanufactured in China, BTW where does the ODK shop get their stock from ?

Cheers,
BB

Hi DeeJay and all ODK Members,

I've just received a reply back from "opeparts" (formerly "ceteparts") which are the major Scott Bonnar parts seller on eBay and the following is what I got back just a few moments ago.


Hi there

Some are still OEM rover

Most are remanufactured items, the distributor is in Australia, however I can't pin point the origin of the part.

All reels are made in Australia, as are the catchers.

MTD who bought rover have advised no more parts will be made by them, so I guess the tooling will be sold to someone abroad.

On the other hand, the quality of each item is equivalent to oem, and I use these parts day in / day out on the repairs I do.




So this pretty much suggests what I suspected and that is we aren't going to have any major issues for quite some time with parts for our Model 45's, all other models are basically history as there isn't much of a demand and as such no one is going to invest money without a substantial return.

Cheers,
BB.

Hi BB, ODK members and Guests,
Great investigative work there mate....Well done!
That is good news for the SB Model 45 aficionados, but no so great for our members restoring vintage machines.

Thanks BB, for keeping us updated.

Hi Guys,

Here is a follow up as to what this seller is doing and as such there should be no issues for the full range of 45's.

Just out of interest whoever had spares for the Supercut, Model 33 and 40 ?


anyway here's the latest response I just received half an our ago.


Hi,

There won't be a problem with accessing of parts, at least the consumable pieces.

Frames / handle bars / chain cases will be a problem for the time being.

There is a large wholesaler in QLD, and according to their parts department, if I keep ordering in the quantities I do, they won't have a problem in supplying.

Another wholesaler is in Melbourne, and they fill in the gaps.

There used to be a seller in mid VIC, but he's closed up shop now, so I'm looking into filling that void.

I also have another independent suppler in QLD who makes catchers, deflectors and currently we are in production of new reels in 17" with a 12 blade currently available and 6 blade not to far off.

( I shall be listing the 12 blade very shortly ).

We are looking to expand into 17" 8 blade reel (not the one I already have on my listings) + a 10 blade reel too.

Once that is all produced, we will filter into the 14" and 20" reels in all combinations mentioned.

I hope that covers all bases, we have a huge following of the 45's in Sydney, so there's always a need to keep parts supply in action.


I hope this properly clarifies our current issues with the full line up of Model 45's in the foreseeable future.


Cheers,
BB.

So true but that is the world today. I worked for Scott Bonnar in Holland Street Thebarton from February 1973 until I was transferred to Sydney in May of 1980. Before going to Sydney I was in purchasing and was a product factory chaser for the new 590, followed by the Diplomat 430 with cutter clutch and edger attachment. I also was foreman for the industrial production line that produced the model 17 Supercut, the model 65, the model 14 gang mower and the famous Model 30 Queen mower the model 23 Scarifier, all at the young age of 23/24.I was trainee works manager.
I left Rover Scott Bonnar in 1985 and worked for Masport for a short time before joining Victa where we celebrated the 5 millionth mower being produced.I was insrutmental in donating the whole of the Victa collection to the Power House museum in Sydney in 1996 where all materials including most model ever made including the original "Peach Tin" are kept. At Victa we also sold UK manufactured Ransomes and I attended their 200 year celebration in London, what an event. For the last 15 years + I have been with Jacobsen who have also had a proud history. It has been an honor and privilege to be part of this great industry.

Hello ppmorrison

Welcome to these forums. I hope they offer some interest to you.
I am astounded at your work history!

Any information you choose to share with us will be valuable for the record.

Too much history has been lost and the ODK History Forum will endeavour to save as
much as possible. You have worked for Australian and American employers, and you have
had the UK mower Ransomes' experience. Amazing!

Cheers and thanks.
-----------------------------
JACK.