OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions on Walk Behind Lawn Mower Frames Victa Lawn Mower Frames Victa Mayfair !! (1966) height adjuster problem

Someone may be familiar with the height adjuster on this old girl but I'm having problems getting it to hold any height adjustment. I twisted a piece of 3 X 25mm aluminium flat bar and drilled 2 holes to slip it over the catcher mount and this gives me two height adjustments (3 if I lift unit to full height and wedge the aluminium down lower onto the adjuster) but I'd really like to get the adjuster working properly.


OK, I shot out under the house and took some relevant photos to show what I'm talking about. Got to love digital photography and the convenience of having access to images on the spot.







Watch where you walk:



I removed the rivets and rear axle yesterday and removed the toothed adjuster plate (and handle, but left it attached to the axle). After removing the adjuster plate I rounded a piece of 12mm square steel slightly on one end and carefully tapped from the inside to compensate for wear in the adjuster plate rails and bring them up to hopefully near original height from the base but the teeth on the adjuster handle don't lock in.

The handle appears to have a spring steel plate supported by a steel plate and I'm guessing if I carefully bend the steel backing plate it should hold the teeth closer to the toothed rail base plate (slotted teeth).

Any ideas on getting this system to lock again?

I'm considering spending considerable time brazing over the original teeth on the base mounted plate to build up the teeth to original height but not only would it be time consuming and tedious, the brass would wear away easy with the lever teeth rubbing against them.

I guess I could always pull out the MIG welder and weld each one but again, tedious, time consuming and I risk burning the fine teeth away.

Would anyone know of a replacement assembly available anywhere?



Oh, here's a quick fix I did on the steel ramp/chute which directs the grass to the catcher (did I say quick?). Done with 3mm aluminium sheet and bolted on with a 4mm button head hex socket screw (Allen head) and nylock nut. The larger length rivets are easy enough to get but I'd already spent $12 on 100 to use 4 or 5 riveting the height adjuster plate back on, rivets I'll likely never use again. I wasn't spending $15 on a pack of 100 slightly longer ones for one rivet.

They will hold you are on the right path, cheap design that was never really going to work long term. If you remove the arm and rebend it so that the teeth are square or a bit over square with the quadrant with some tension on it it should hold and work ok