OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Finding and Swapping Rare Finds & Donations Eric Anderson Mower

Thanks for the insights Gadge. Very valuable. I'm learning all the time thanks to experienced hands like you (and Jack, and Grumpy, and...)

I suppose comparing the Honda and Kirby/Lauson is like comparing grandpa with the kids- they're from different eras. Taken in context of their era I'm guessing the Kirby/Lauson were seen as good engines.

And I avoid E10 (or E-anything, for that matter) fuel altogether.

This Kirby manual is about to sell on ebay might be a bit late to show you Seller also has some Turner manuals which seem pretty good!

Good one, thanks Kye. I've missed it but will look out for a relist. Didn't realise that existed or someone would post it- should have searched!

But I was distracted in the meantime by ('tis mine now!)...
the following on Ebay:
which should cover some older engines for me. This older one's just getting a bit difficult to find now.

May also get the Series 2 version (book No 426, now under Haynes) which covers newer engines (but leaves out the Kirby, Lauson, etc) including the Suzuki on my Father's Rover.

Bought another book too... starting a collection! Maybe I'll start a thread about it...maybe help me and others too on what to use as reference material.

Thanks again for the thought Kye.

All Good Partrick! I will look out for more Kirby things for you around the place. I have been thinking about putting new Kirby engines on these 2 bases so i will look out for parts and manuals, If not the Ambassador will become a parts mower for my New Victa Viceroy !

My Victa Ambassador and i think a Pace Prestige?


Thanks For Reading!
Kye.

Hi Kye,

Just found the following thread on rebuilding Kirbys. I think this is a horizontal version of the rotary mower verticals (hence H prefix). The work is excellent, the write up more so and the photos a technical work of art. It's really difficult to photgraph shiny metal with a flash and he does it superbly. The thread almost makes a manual redundant.

Even Grumpy was impressed.

See it here: Kirby H4-4A engine rebuild

Cheers,

A very good read Patrick! The insides look the same so i think your right about the Horizontal stuff. Something i only just realized, my kirby didn't have the timing cam or magneto, just had a flywheel with 2 bolts underneath, no wonder the guy couldn't get it running!

Hi guys,

just had a quick further look at the mower. I intend getting the motor off, have sprayed the blade boss with penetrant. As it spins anticlockwise (from the blades) looking from under the mower, A real newbie question: Which way to undo the bolt? I always get confused by this...

Also:
Just measured the wheels, the front are 6", the rears are 7" (and different side-to-side). Should they be even, i.e. all 6" give the fronts are (I assume) original, or is it normal for mowers to have a different diameter front to rear? I think there may be a slight tilt up front-to-rear.

All are wobbly, I think are 1/2" axle diameter, held on by circlips, should be easy to remove, caps just clip off in centre (so fronts may not be original). Why are replacement wheels so expensive? I'll be up for $80+ for 4 plastic new ones. (might try metal in the meantime, seem cheaper from Bunnings).


Might raise certain WHS/OHS issues too, given my daughter will want to ride around in it!

Long term plan: IF the engine can be resurrected and IF the base can be rewelded I'll look towards a (maybe not quite original) restoration.

Main engine worries are the massacred starter mechanism, internal engine damage and also some chipped cooling fins.

Oh, I've worked on the imaging of the Lauson engine plates, will post info later here/Kye's other thread.

Cheers,

It will be a standard RH thread (so anti-clockwise).
[righty tighty; lefty loosie ]

All but a few mowers used same size wheels in the 1950s.
A couple of companies were bold, realizing the advantages
of large rear wheels. Carter and Turner and Supa-swift had
larger rear wheels in the late fifties. Other would follow,
and larger wheels would be used on more expensive models.

On the Eric chassis I do believe the wheels were all the same diameter.
Your front wheels are genuine Turner 'Delrin' (Du Pont) wheels.
The rear ones are not - in my view. Here is a photo of your
chassis on a Turner at the Royal Perth Show, 1961.



I think the whole spare parts industry is controlled by big wheelers,
and, today, it is cheaper to replace a whole mower than buy one or
two key parts. However, Turner wheels do appear on eBay from time to time.

Best of luck
-------------------
Jack

Hi again Patrick
The wheels on the front seem to be the same as the wheels in the advertisements, so i would say they are originals. Sadly finding the exact same type of wheels will be super hard. Perhaps some Villager wheels may match, or at least fit in more.

Patrick, I was trying to not say this so i wouldn't upset you, but in my opinion i think this mower is too rare to make into a trolley, it is so far the only EA we have found (although there must be more out there). I'm sure there will be more mower bases out there to turn into a go cart, some much more common. If i was i would get the parts i needed, add them on and leave it, perhaps doing a full restoration later. As it is it looks very very good as it is.

But, no matter what you do, i hope it all works well!
Thanks for reading!
Kye

Hi all,

yes Kye I realise it's a rare mower brand (if not type). I'm not going to destroy it so don't worry. In the meantime I'm going to do a bit of learning with it. Sorry I didn't pick a 'common' type for you! If I can't do it justice I'll hand it off to someone who can.

The photo Gadge directed us to was instructive. I was wondering why the Eric Anderson had a much better lower half to the engine plate and it didn't change when I degreased it (unlike the previous, see the link in Gadge's post)- The lower half is a template sticker over the original plate.

I've taken some more photos (below) in different light and was able to see more letters from the original half. You can also see the peeling edge of the sticker around the right rivet with some remnant red ink/paint. I 'enhanced' the photo and can confirm it is similar to what was said before, no doubt a standard plate you've all seen before:

LAUSON
(4?) STROKE PETROL ENGINE
MADE IN AUSTRALIA UNDER LICENCE
MODEL No SERIAL No
Model No, Serial No,
Instructions etc.

The sticker leads me to wonder what was written underneath? There's no change of oil company recommendation from Gadge's photo link, so unless the plate itself had a different info/company then likely someone has changed the oil specs/info. The sticker also appears to be there in Cyberjack's 1961 photo above. Or maybe they were just updating a set of older plates to a newer spec. Either way, the recommended oil is a SAE 40 instead of previously SAE 30 (unless the sticker had been removed sometime before Gadge's linked photo...).



Cheers,

I wonder if anybody ever followed those storage instructions, not to many I would think

I think sean does, even with a illegible instruction plate! His serial no is reasonably close to mine too, about 7000 earlier.

I haven't oiled because there's not much point with mine currently. Given the cylinder is on its side will slowly rotating the engine through satisfactorily distribute the oil to the 'high' (top) parts of the cylinder walls (if my cylinder moved)?

Newbie questions, I know!

Thanks,

Patrick, you wouldn't believe it, but i have a spare Turner wheel, the only problem is, i'm so far away from you! I seem to have all the stuff you need, Kirby parts and wheels!
sorry for the bad pic, not sure if it matches but its a Turner


Thanks For Reading!
Kye.

Hi Kye thanks for the thoughts once again!

In the meantime if mine's totally dead I was thinking of you- a Kirby w/o the ignition I think you said, well I think mine's still got the magneto at least... can't have thrown the piston without a spark! Have to try the spark and see.

And if both ours are cactus we might be shipping bits to sean yet...

I think your EA is still fixable Patrick, but its up to you what your going to do with it! My kirby had a stuffed crank case, it had chips and cracks in it, it was also missing the engine cover and fuel tank, it was just a broken flywheel, broken crankcase and the insides of a 4 stroke kirby on top of a Victa chassis.

Jack,

Just wondering:

In the background of your photo of the Turner at the Royal Perth Show 1961 does the mower on its side show the original base plate for the Eric Anderson/Turner?

Thanks,

I think that is another Turner, your EA doesn't have that point on the front.

Hi Patrick and Kye

Yep, I believe so. The Turner F61 base = Eric.
Note the rear safety skirt. This base did not have a font safety skirt.
[rear of mower is the LH side in photo]



p.s. It may be that the bladeholder was changed because it was
too difficult to obtain Turner blades. (Turner stopped mower manufacturing
in 1969). Eric would have had a long, active life after that.

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

Quite possibly. Although Bragg/Jetfast and some SupaSwift models continued to use the Turner blade/disc design, after Turner's exit.

The Turner type blades are still made though; GA Spares have them.

Note that these blades mount on top of the disc, not underneath as Eric now has.

It looks like Turner was an early adopter of the combination fluted cutting blade, which Victa only introduced in their 1968-9 season models, along with the P/No 9-210 blade disc [9-252 was the assembly with 9-263 combo blades].

Turner had filed a patent for a fluted cutting blade in 1961, which may have had some influence on that...