OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Restoring, Customising and Modifying Victa Walk-Behind Rotary Mowers victa blade

Hi guys ,I have a old victa mower used for years but know what the the flywheel under wont get tight enough to stop it breaking loose.
it is letting go on stopping the mower ,how do I stop this is there a easy way.
Cheers graham I have photos if needed

Lose the flat round washer, the one with the round inner NOT the one with cut outs on the right. I suspect the washer is preventing the blade boss being clamped tightly enough....

Clean up the mating surfaces of the boss, plate and lock washer. Sit it on the bench, place the blade plate on the boss. Put the lock washer on and see if the tangs of the boss protrude past the lock washer. If so, the nut will tighten on the boss before it locks in , and make the plate spin. You can lightly linish the tangs down until they are just under the washer.
But Don't take too much off. If it necessary to do so then the plate will be too worn/ thin and be dangerous to fit, as I suspect it is and should really be replaced

The other washer should not need to be used as stated previously.

Fit a new lock nut and tension it up.

Hello Graham22, Dieselboy, Blue and members,

I think Blue has, as always, given good advice here.
I just want to clarify the purpose of the L.H. washer in the photo.

It's not a washer! It's a seal protector that goes above the boss.
If it is loose on the crankshaft, throw it away.
These alloy protectors were introduced to prevent grass wrapping around the
crankshaft and destroying the seal, thus preventing the scavenging of the fuel mix.

From a service point of view, the Belleville lock washer appears to be un-servicable,
in that it has lost its coned-disc springing properties, and should be replaced.
There also appears to be some damage to the blade holder centre.

Hope this helps.
-----------------------------
JACK.

Yup, but there are some tricks to that. Hand tightening isn't sufficient; if you don't have a power impact wrench available, there is an alternative, that we used before these were widespread:

In the absence of a rattle gun, another way that nearly always works, is to use a long 1" AF ring spanner. 'Angled' type is better than 'cranked', but both will work.

With the mower turned on its side, use the toe of your boot to hold the spanner on the nut. Hold the blade disc edge tightly with one hand [gloves help], and hit the spanner hard with a steel hammer. About a 32oz ball peen hammer usually works best.

In rural areas, it wasn't grass that chewed out the bottom seals on Victas. It was bits of hay band left lying around [often also used for tying up garden plants to stakes, on farms]! The worst cases resulted in the seal spinning in its seat, and chewing out the seat. When this occurred, we'd glue a new seal in with epoxy resin, and warn the owner to clean up hay band from their lawn.

If they did not, it was going to be a full stripdown and bottom half crankcase replacement for their mower, if it happened again.

Yep, your Spot on with the Seal Protector Jack:)

Well noted the lock washer has lost its curve and tension ability. .

But The thing that I found strange was the blade plate is clearly worn on both mating surfaces, but the mating surface of the boss remains rusty. I would have expected both surfaces to show signs of friction wear. It would have to be so loose that the weight of the plate kept it off the boss surface. But if this was the case, then he would have noticed his arm being ripped off when he tried to start it....hmmm.

Yes, that's odd.

I wonder whether the boss was also loose.

Graham22 has tried to contact me by putting a comment in my profile.
Graham22, if you can read this, place a reply here or look for the
little envelope next to 'My Stuff' on the menu bar. Select 'messages'

---------------------------------
JACK.

The only situation I can think of that would give rise to this wear pattern, is if the assembly order had been got completely wrong. With the lock washer installed against the boss, above the blade disc...

Yes! This is exactly what I was thinking Gadge:)

Would explain this and the fact it may have become loose....

BUT again, the washer is square, the wear marks are round.

Simple fix, but not enough explaination of its fitted order.

Its all good as the answers to correct it have been supplied:)

That's brilliant Gadge!
[and Blue for the observation about the boss]

After Magic Catcher, I have learnt some valuable lessons about
how we assume prior knowledge that may not be there.

Graham22 has twice left comments on my profile, trying to contact me.
I have tried PM, and have sent a message to his personal email.

In the meantime here is the sequence:
- 83 - alloy grass and hay band protector (flush against oil seal with lip downwards).
- 84 - solid taper boss
- blade holder with blade flutes facing upwards
- 85 new Belleville washer
- 86 locknut



All very interesting.
-------------------------------------
JACK.

Lols....Square lock washer, Im going Crazy! I had the later Square washer in my head. NM

Again,if the ROUND lock washer was under the plate, it too would be worn...

Ahhh Im out ...lols . I cant make sense of something Normally so straight forward:).

Hi mate the large blade holder some call it the flywheel,assemble large disc then a round or square lock washer then nut what other way can it be fitted graham

Hello Graham22

The issue discussed was whether the Belleville washer was placed above the blade holder
rather than below it.

In any case, the view is that the washer should be replaced.
Is this making sense to you?

---------------------------------------
JACK.

Yes, that is the correct assembly sequence. But we think that your machine may have been formerly assembled incorrectly here. Note also, that the lock washer has to be fitted the right way up - it is so marked.