OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions on Walk Behind Lawn Mower Frames Reel Lawn Mowers, Atco & Villiers etc. MEY mowers. Why are they so costly?

I am intrigued about why some roller mowers are so highly priced even second hand. I would love to have a MEY mower in my collection. I live in Victoria and they being a Western Australia machine are rare in Victoria, and surprisingly, most mower shops have never heard of them.they are extremely well built and look to be hand made and not a production line manufacture job. Attached is a photo of one currntly for sale at $2600. New they are well above this price. I would like to know what the gears setup looks like underneath the side cover. Does anyone have a photo.

Hello ballarinelawns

MEY was the commercial version of the Alroh residential machines.
As a commercial mower, it was fitted with more expensive componentry:-
- a true dual clutch for independent reel and roller drive
- a split roller with differential
- front roller with bearings
- heavy duty construction

MEY closed shop last year so there will be an issue with spares.
Under the chain cover one will find just sprockets and chains, as
the clutches are mounted on deck.

Hope this helps.
--------------------------
Jack

I attach a MEH operator manual below:-

They are chain drive.
Here's a pic from the 26TC Parts List:




MEY Equipment [who also made the Alroh domestic reel mower at the time] went belly-up in late 2014. So new ones aren't available, but a crowd called 'Specialised Mower Parts' in Palmyra, WA is starting to offer some parts for them.

For a current WA production machine, you might want to look at the Dwyer & Felton/Mowmaster range. These are also well thought of by the WA lawn contractors.

All of these heavy-duty contractor grade reel mowers will tend to hold their value, as new ones are very exy and secondhand ones are fairly rare, especially over this side of Oz.

The WA 'lawnie' scene is very different to the eastern states; reel mowers seem to be standard equipment for the Sandgropers. Indeed, the LMCA of WA has a couple of 'emergency hire' reel mowers available for their members.

Whereas it's very rare for an eastern states lawnie to offer reel mowing, except for specialists who do tennis courts.

There's an MEY 24" on Gumtree east of Melbourne just now - can't send you a PM, so here 'tis.

Thanks. Ive noticed that one...im always looking on gumtree. Wants $1500. Not many buyers at that price in victoria. He would probably get in the 2's in WA. Its being sold thru a mower shop. Good buy but not for me at the moment.

I have to ask, why would people in WA pay more for them than people in the eastern states, are their lawns different or is there some other reason

Well Norm,
I don't think it's just 'people', i.e. the average punter, who will be willing to shell out for a machine of this build quality. More the pro or semi-pro users - contractors, and clubs who have greens/pitches to maintain, would be most likely.

See my comments above about the WA 'lawnie' [contractor] scene.

The story circulates over there, that Jim Penman had to do a very fast revised version of his franchisee manual, after Jim's Mowing moved in on WA. Franchisees offering rotary mowing only services weren't in the hunt, as quickly became apparent.

Thanks Gadge, I did read your earlier post but I only started to think about it when the mention was made that it would sell for a better price in WA. Is the grass they have over there different, meaning the reel mower cuts it better?

G'day Norm & Gadge

I think Gadge has called it right with the WA scene.
For whatever reason, WA has retained its acceptance of the reel mower.
In part this must go to the State's historical affluence. As such,
prices will be higher in that State.

The MEY was the commercial version of the residential Alroh.
It's a heavy duty reel mower designed for every-day work.

I guess this is about social norms rather than grass types...
such is the diversity within this vast continent.

A great question.
----------------------
Jack

Having visited WA a few times when my brother was living there, it may be that most of the lawns are sown into a sandy soil, and the rotary vs reel may be that the reel mowers aren't so tough on the grass being cut? Just a thought. :-)

Hello All

I hope this will help.

The oldest manufacturers of cylinder (reel) mowers in WA are Dwyer&Felton (D&F) - now MowMaster (1948), Alroh (1951) and later M.E.Y. (~1985). Only MowMaster mowers are still manufactured. Up until the popularisation of rotary mowers (by Victa), cylinder mowers were the only mowers readily available to groundskeepers and some homeowners with British made mowers generally used in Perth.

In 1962 Perth hosted the Commonwealth/Empire Games and in the lead-up many world-class sporting surfaces (then all grass) had to be prepared. Preference was given to locally manufactured machines and this gave a real impetus to the local manufacturers (particularly Alroh) both for the demand for the games but also then exposing most of the population of Perth to how their lawn could really look. Not to be underestimated was the showmanship of Allan Hair (Allan Robin Hair = Al Ro H = Alroh) who rarely missed an opportunity to illustrate the merits of his mowers both for the quality of the job and for their robustness.

They were never cheap and found favour in the more prosperous river suburbs and natural competitiveness between homeowners meant that noone could compromise on their lawn (and I mean noone - using anything other than a cylinder mower was never considered because of the poorer finish). Every municipal body, sporting field (bowls, croquet, golf, tennis, football, athletics, schools ), and commercial operators (particularly hotels - wherever they had grounds to maintain - the first Alroh was built for the Peninsula Hotel) had cylinder mowers.

Cylinder (the UK term - mostly used in WA, versus "reel" - the US term) mowers are preferred by contractors because they are faster to mow with less passes (26" being the more-or-less standard cutting width - although many are 28"), they do a better job (the cut can't be better), and there is less down time (no blades to change or maintain).

Because of the historic use of cylinder mowers and the excellent examples of well maintained turf regularly seen by Perth residents (Perth's Kings Park is a showplace of turf with huge annual traffic as well, then there is the obvious examples of golfcourses) a Perth homeowner would turn away any contractor that turned up with a rotary mower to mow a showpiece lawn.

The sandier soils of Perth are relevant in that the fluted blades of rotary mowers (fluted in order to throw clippings away from the blades - and in to a catcher if used)cause an updraft and this fanning sucks up sand and damages the lawn by sandblasting it. It also shortens the life of the rotary mower deck (this is why rotary mowers decks have a short life in WA).

The is no argument that different varieties of lawn respond better to different mowers. All grass is cut better with cylinder mowers. Bernhard & Co (makers of cylinder grinders) used to have a great explanatory video about this.

Probably enough for the moment! The reason = historic circumstance meets commercial reality.

Hello SMP

A warm welcome to these forums.

This is absolutely priceless information about the WA scene.
The problem with recording the history of these firms is the lack
of information on them.

I know that Dwyer & Felton operated from Beaufort Street, Inglewood,
but I have no photos of their mowers. They appear to have been
in the Atco style. Do you know what they named their mowers?

It sounds like Allan Hair was a real showman. It's a pity MEY and
Alroh closed shop, but it is fantastic to See Mowmaster survive.
I note their residential mowers (18" & 22") have dual clutches and
present as being of superb quality. http://www.mowmaster.com.au/

A note on terminology
Yes, 'Cylinder' is the most-favoured UK term nowadays; 'reel' for the
North Americans. That was not always the case, with UK manufacturers
calling these mowers 'cylinder', 'reel' 'beater' 'drum' and 'spirals'
before WWII. I have argued in favour of 'reel' for two reasons: it avoids
confusion with other 'cylinder' components, and it pays a nice homage
to the initial invention - from the textile industry.

Thank you again for the nice summary in answering the question. It was a
combination of historical circumstance and commercial reality.

-----------------------
Jack

Am i missing something? $5500 is not much money for a machine that could make you $700 a day (in Perth) for 15 years is it?

I recently bough a lathe to make mey parts. It was only $3500 but could potentially make me a lot of money. MEY bought a new lathe for $500000 not long before it went bust. Now thats a lot of money.

Id imagine there are some contractors that would pay over $30000 for a nice new Hilux ute which do the same job as a beat up 20 year old rodeo.

I think the discussion regarding the use of reels in the eastern states is interesting. I would of thought sydney would be perfect for them as its a similar climate to Perth. the only diffenrece is the mindset of contractors. The soil type is irrelevant. It doesn't matter if its sand or clay or basalt.You mow the grass on top of it. It sometimes dosent even matter if the yard if particularly sandy as the mower goes over the top of it.Little ant hills are a bitch though.There is buffalo here and buffalo over there (i assume). As well as couch and the other types of green grass that is grown in front of someones house.As far as i know (thats not much) sydney contractors charge about twice as much as us in perth. Imagine if they had 30 inch MEY mowers. They could almost do twice as many lawns in a day.Using a rotary is like using a broom instead of a blower. Of course you'll save money with a broom. Ive seen cheap ones on gumtree for $2.50.

Specialised mower parts - or SMP for short - is run by Richard Keaney, who is the previous owner of MEY.

Hi Linc,

I went to that auction, the one in Bayswater I think? That was a Okuma cnc lathe and it sold for around $45k with a whole bunch of tooling and cutters. Ross's still have the catalogue listed on their website. They had quite a few sharpened cylinder reels in a big rack ready for use, except I didn't have the money at the time to snap them up. It was a massive auction, with a big turn out.

$700 a day, I'm moving to Bondy country

That's a good point there.
I have argued that the West's continuing interest in reels is historical.

The rotary revolution of the 1950s (and beyond) has some interesting facts.
For one, I estimate that about 50% of all Australian rotary makes were made
in Sydney and its surrounds. The next most influential state was Victoria,
then Queensland and South Australia.

In other words, the Eastern States came under a vigorous campaign
to make the rotary prominent and the the reel marginal. Perhaps there
is an argument that the West's isolation (and wealth) has kept or
prolonged the reels' acceptance.

An interesting topic.
-------------------------
Jack

Jack I don't know if it is just me but I don't think Victorians care that much about their lawns, I think maybe 20 years or so ago they might have but I'm sure that around that time very strict water restrictions were enforced and most lawns died and it was easy to pick the ones who were breaking the law. From then on I feel most in Melbourne have grass out front that they mow but I don't see manicured lawns in the areas I visit. Could be wrong

G'day Norm

I totally agree, and a perceptive point mate.

Every thing about the early rotary suited our lifestyle.
Merv didn't choose the cutting width by accident. He wanted a machine
wider than the largest (average) size reel mower. He knew the rotary
had key benefits - would cut closer to edges; would cut in reverse;
would cut much higher grasses (when one couldn't be bothered), and they
had much lower maintenance costs.

In other words,he recognised the average punter was not interested in
a 'manicured' lawn. The 'chore' of mowing could be achieved quicker
and cheaper with a rotary.

That attitude, combined with water availability must have spelt the end
of the desirability of the manicured lawn.

Those damn Victorians!
-----------------------------
Jack