OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Restoring, Customising and Modifying Reel-Type Mowers Scott Bonnar 45 restoration

Hi,
I just got this 45 cheap as it doesn't run but looked ok. After reading other posts on this forum I have decided to take it apart, have it sharpened, give it new paint and reassemble replacing any worn parts. I have got a new Briggs and Stratton 3.5 to go on. Just wanted to ask if anybody can see any other problems I might have from the photos. I will get more photos of the chain and sprockets once I take it apart. (Will the pulley for the edger come of with a 3 jaw puller?) Also wondering if anybody can identify how old it is given its had a quick repaint at some stage and I think that is also a replacement engine at some stage. Cheers

Hello Elton

A warm welcome to these forums.

I'm sure Mod BB and members will contribute shortly.
No, the engine is a replacement from the 1980s.

To answer one question now.
The pulley will be screwed on. See:-
https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=58163
[I suggest you do not re-fit the pulley. Return to standard spec.]

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

Hi Elton and Mod CJ,

Well this one most certainly isn't the worst machine I've seen, rather it's quite good in fact.

We can not date your machine as as it was originally fitted with a Kirby power plant and never a Briggs & Stratton. Sadly none of the numbers on your unit correlate back to a build date, but from my own knowledge yours would be a late 1972 machine.

Now your next issue you're going to have is fitting another engine onto it as it has the series 1 handle bars on it and as such the later Briggs engines will not fit as they will clash with the right hand side of the handle bars. Your machine is in fact an early Series 2 that was originally fitted with the Kirby HK25 Engine that had the forward facing petrol tank. When SB swapped over to the Briggs line up of engines in 1976 they modified the handle bars so that the 3 HP engine with the large rear mounted fuel tank could be fitted.

You might have to get a set of handle bar adapters so as to fit a later model Briggs. There are many other engines that you could fit that wouldn't clash with your original handle bars. eg. varies model Honda's etc.

Your rails under the engine look rather good with from what I can see as there is no evidence of rail fatigue and cracking, something the Series 2 machines nearly all suffered from.

The reel is still serviceable but as I can't see the bed knife I can't comment on that. If you tip the mower backwards and take a shot of the reel and bed knife contact area I can then pass on better judgement.

I note that the original throttle cable and control is missing due to the engine replacement and as such with this current engine you have to adjust the speed directly on the engine which can be a real pain when you need more grunt in a hurry, especially in a hilly garden.

All in all it looks to be a rather good machine that could easily be renovated into a superb mower.

Cheers,
BB.

PS As CyberJack suggested, I to would remove the edger pulley and throw it aside as they are one of the most lethal things that was ever fitted to a Scotty. Definitely wouldn't pass today's OH&S regulations that's for sure.

Thanks for the replies and welcoming me to the forum.
I have found a lot of information on other restorations I have read on the forum so I shouldn't have too many questions, but will keep putting up photos of my progress. I have taken some more photos of the blade area and chains. A lot of the bearings seem to have a bit of play so while it is apart I will replace all the bearings. The frame around the engine looks really good with no cracks. Happy to read the reel is still serviceable as this was the only part that concerned me a little bit. Yes, I wont put the edger back on (It did come complete with the mower. The pulley doesn't seem to want to unscrew from the clutch shaft, but I will see what I can do. Apart from that,





the machine had a lot of oil and grease over it so it has been easy to take apart so far.

Hi Elton....... John ??????


That's got a great Bed knife, so that's a huge cost saving. See if there is any free play in the bearings of the reel by grabbing it (of course not while running)and moving it vertically back and forth. If nothing then I would adjust the reel to the contact method and see how things go. No need to spend money that's not needed to be spent.

Cheers,
BB.

Hi BB,

Yes I was born in that era so I am pretty that is where my name came from. Well I did the reassemble yesterday afternoon. Everything looks pretty good from all the grease and oil over it I think whe I first picked it up. The reel bearings had a bit of up and down movement and the rear roller bearings are really bad. Also the bearing for the clutch shaft in the little housing pretty much fell apart, so I am looking at all new bearings. Everything else should clean up nicely. I am going to replace both bits of cork while its apart. Can I ask what is best to glue them on with? So now just the big clean up, paint and reassemble over the coming weeks

I just noticed I typed reassemble instead of disassemble. Ha Ha

Hi Reginal Dwight,

I thought that you had it back together way to fast LOL !

Replacing bearings isn't that cheap but wait until you get a price for the self aligning bearing from the end of the transfer shaft inside that housing. I hope you are sitting comfortably. This bearing is not your standard type of bearing as it allows the transfer shaft to be able to oscillate slightly due to engine / chassis vibration and also clutch movement.

In actual fact those bearings are quite prone to, and are nearly designed to fall apart if not handled very carefully during disassembly, but they can be put back together again and reused. The rest of the normal bearings on the reel and rollers are just standard chuck outs. You'll probably find that the reel bearings are the original open type units and not the sealed type. Replace them all with nylon sealed units. Bearing Number RSL5 for the reel which you should pay no more than $8.00 each for. Don't get sucked in for some that are being flogged on the internet for around $28 a pair.

Just looking at your photo's of the drive train, there certainly is some moderate wear on all the sprockets but depending on your cost restraints they will survive for a while yet. What I'm saying is I've seen much worse and they were still going. When it gets into sprocket replacement it requires deep pockets as the chains must also be replaced at the same time. Ouch ! Have you priced a cutter sprocket lately ? generally over $100.

Have you decided what to do regarding the engine ?

As far as re-gluing the cork, use contact adhesive.

Cheers,
BB.

PS. Love the foundry you're running in the background there, is it that cold already where you are ?

Hi Elton,

I am in the same ship as you, trying to get a 45 into a good state of repair. I am going quite steadily, getting good advice along the way from the help here, but a lot of it comes down to intuition and research when repairing things by yourself (unless you have prior training/skills).

Sourcing bearings is easy. Here in Perth you have BSC, CBC or Statewide Bearings etc. I got all my NSK bearings for under $60, except the rear roller types. Purchasing those is really goanna sting, if you find any for less than $30 each please let me know - I still haven't heard back about them yet.

The self aligning bearing is not hard to come by (and fairly priced - I paid $15), you'll probably find it at any one of those shops mentioned, assuming I have purchased the correct one. If you do go for a self aligning bearing you will need a v-ring seal and rubber washer to stop dirt getting into the bearing, as the bearing is unsealed to allow axial movement. My 17" 45 came with a standard bearing from the factory. The seal was damaged due to movement in the shaft and the bearing no longer spins freely.

Here is a list of bearings required:
RLS5-2RS (LJ5/8) - reel x2
6204VV (20x47x14) - large spocket x1
6003VV (17x35x10) - small spocket x1

6202VV (15x35x11) - for housing x1
or
1202 (15x35x11) - self aligning

Rollers???

Some exciting bearing pics, to help with identification...








Good luck mending your 45! BB, in Perth you get used to so many summer days in the high thirties, streaks of fourties that when the temperature hits sub 20's the woolly doonas come out and people fire up the wood burners! Early mornings way down south of Perth are extremely chilly too.

Hi,

Thank you very much for the replies. I was thinking of taking the old bearings to a bearing shop like statewide bearings and get a quote for them that way. Thanks for giving me a list of part numbers. Very helpful. Thanks for the info on the transfer shaft bearing. One of those little things you don't really know about unless somebody tells you.

The chains and sprockets I was going to leave for a while yet as I only have a fairly small yard to mow when its all done. I am going to go with a new 3.5 Briggs for the motor as its about half the price of a Honda and should be more than adequate for my needs.

I was quoted $60 to sharpen the reel and blade at Sanderson engineering which I think sounds quite reasonable. all going to plan should be up and running in about 3 weeks hopefully.

Thanks again for all the information and I could have probably bought a good runner, but this should be a lot more fun.

Hi,

Thanks again for the info so far. I was able to get the main parts cleaned and sanded yesterday. Still have the reel to clean up as well as the clutch and handlebars. Just scrubbing all the oily bits up in some kero to clean. I think I will paint it a meadow green colour I found in Rust-oleum 2x enamel at Bunnings. Going to paint the reel red, with the handlebars and rollers black in the same paint.

Hi Elton,

Sanderson Engineering is fairly close to me, $60 to sharpen the reel and bottom blade sounds too good to miss! Hope to get the same deal if I go there, except I need a new bottom blade too... Something heavy duty, like at least 5mm thick.

When it comes time to clean the clutch, pull it apart and check to make sure the keyways are not damaged. You can look at the key that sits in the PTO shaft to give you an idea of what condition the clutch will be in.

The SB45 seems to chew through the engine side clutch half consistently. This is probably a combination of a design fault, use of a cotter pin and the way the clutch engages. The clutch has two speeds, stop and go. And a lot of sideway force is applied to the key when the clutch is suddenly engaged. I am not sure if moving the lever very slowly would stop it from jolting like this. Perhaps the cork might wear our faster.

A centifugal clutch in its place would go a long way in protecting the PTO shaft, clutch drive shaft and bearings from damage. It would also allow for progessive engagement of the drive shaft without any sudden jolt. Clutch shoes also slip a bit, allowing engine RPMs to increase before the clutch applies all the torque.

Here are some photos of the clutch issues I have with my 17" and 14" respectively (both cotter pin types). Also my new 3/4" clutch half with holes for grub screws.

Original 17"

Half way along the keyway is very damaged. The ribs are very thin.

Original 14"

The keyway is moderately damaged. The key can still be secured from the other side to the midpont, without any play.

Aftermarket 3/4"

Poor milling of the keyway. Keyway is not centred in the rib and being closer to one edge makes it weaker. The hole for the grub screw is off centre and not perpendicular to the keyway. The ribs are only moderately thicker but there are no longer any fillets and the centre ring is also thinner.

Sorry if I went a bit off track there. Not sure about enamel, it can chip and peel if the parts are not thoroughly cleaned and degreased. I am probably going to go with a powdercoat finish for durability.

Hi xhall,

I'm not sure why you would want to go with powder coating as this topic has been discussed many times over on the ODK Forums and there is conclusive proof that it's not good on lawn mowers due to its hygroscopic properties which induces rust and that's why all the Rover made units suffer from massive corrosion so predominantly. Actually look at most lawnmowers of today that have steel bases and you'll see that most turn into rust buckets very soon after being put into service. All of them are powder coated due to ease of production and no other reason.

Cheers,
BB

Hi BB,

For hardened steel powder coating shouldn't be a problem? I see that a lot of folks on here have powder coated their reel. Painting the chassis myself is a good way to save some money (if done correctly) and from what I have heard the hammertone green is a very robust finish. Also, I own a spray gun and compressor but no booth.

BTW what do you think about galvanising the front and rear rollers? Don't think anyone has tried that yet. The only problem I can forsee, is perhaps cracks appearing in the cast iron after being heated in the molten pool, which would be disastrous.

Thanks

xhall

Cast iron is generally rust resistant, they made water mains out of it for years, one off galvanizing costs are expensive, most places have a min charge figure, can't say I have ever seen cast galvanized, could be wrong, but I would thing a good coat of silver paint would probably do the job

Hi xhall and Norm,

Norm is correct in saying that doing one off jobs is expensive. Here in Adelaide Korvest have a minimum charge of $80 and thus why I don't get things done. If you knew someone with an account it could be slipped in with the rest of their stuff.

Doing the front roller, yes, but the rear roller no as you'll end up with molten dags left all over the circuital machined areas.

Honestly, I'd leave the rear roller bare as they look OK like that, remember this would be a working mower and not a display piece won't it ? If you must paint it then a good gloss black looks rather smart, but remember the high spots will wear off really quickly leaving the black in the recessed sections intact and that won't look too out of place. The Kermit Green Rovers had their rollers coloured green at the Brisbane Factory and most of those look disgusting nowadays.


For xhall,

as I mentioned previously the Rovers are all turning into rust buckets while many of the Hammertone painted SB's from the 1960's still look brilliant in many cases. Painting will come out with a far more durable finish in the long run and will look superb if you get the correct colour custom mixed, something you can't do with powder coating. The Reel can also be painted in brilliant signal red and again look superb. Remember it's a working tool and no matter what finish you use it will degrade over time if not properly maintained.

Cheers,
BB.

Hi all,

Got some painting done today. Still have the chain cover deflector and handlebars to sort out. I have all the new parts I needed now so its coming along. Thanks for the pictures of how bad the clutch housing can be. This one is still quite good so I will keep it for a bit longer, but I will upgrade it to the grub screw type later. I stripped the reel back and painted it red. Its at the sharpeners now. The plan is to start assembly and finish painting next weekend, so hopefully its up and running in a couple of weeks.

a great read and a top job so far there sir elton . should look amazing when its up n running again .

Dave

Hello Sir Elton and all,

I agree with Dave - a great read so far, and what great work!
That colour green seems very nice indeed.

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

Hi all,

Have to agree with the above comments. The black rear roller will look great fitted on the machine and the newer "sloper" style Briggs will mean that no adapter plates will be required to fit the original handle bar assembly.

A good read guaranteed.

Cheers,
BB.

PS. It's really good to see an unmolested twin rail chassis as they are rapidly becoming a rarity.