Hi to all,
Im a newbie who needs bait of direction on which Scott Bonnar to buy.
I have narrowed the choice down to 2 refurbished units. One is a 17 inch machine that has be refurbished by the local mower shop and looks really nic and the other is a recent refurb of a 20 inch machine. Also looks great and the guy selling it claims to have replaced sprockets, chain, cork clutch and sharpened the reel and blade.
The reel question for me is, should I be looking at a 17 inch or a 20 inch mower? The mower shop owner says the 17 inch is better as it is smaller and a bit easier to use and store.
Can anyone please give me some feedback on whether to go for a 20 inch or 17 inch?
Many thanks.
17 or 20, well that question really rely's on the size and profile of your lawn area. Is it just a smaller flat rectangle or a substantially larger area with no curves etc.
Once you've explained that I'll be able to give you some advice.
Also are these machines the early Solid Decks or the later Series II twin railer versions of the Model 45 ?
Cheers, BB.
I live a 24 Hour lifestyle, but every now and again I seem to fall asleep, well at least that's what my wife tells me.
Thanks for your reply BB.
The machine is a Series II twin railer. The mower number is 06482 and model 450589. The code on the B&S engine is 91202 0227 01 960816FA.
My lawn areas are approx 100m2 x 2. Fairly rectangular with a couple of obstacles.
I would value any feedback or advice you have, even if it is in hindsight.
Thanks,
Evan
Hi Evan, The 17" is easier to use and better on the corners also riders better if the lawn isn't perfectly flat also lighter for the wife to use the 20" tends to dig in if the lawn isn't perfectly flat better for big lawns I use a 20" on my lawn cost is another factor if you buy the twin rail model check that the rails are not cracked at the engine bolt holes you can buy a good refurbished 17" for $650 20" for $800 if you want to talk I'm in Mandurah 0427449033 Cheers Ken
I'll have to say that I wouldn't have recommended the 20 inch in Series II guise that's for sure.
20 inch in Solid Deck, absolutely, but the twin railer was just far too unstable as the width allows for too much flex within the chassis, which in turn leads to poor blade alignment and premature wear of the reel and bed knife. They also had their reel bearing size reduced down to a RLS5 so as to streamline them to the other size machines being made side by side at the time.
Everyone around Australia is looking for the Solid Deck 20 inch machines and they are considered "ABSOLUTE GOLD". You can easily pay up to $1,000 for a good original Kirby powered example as there's not much work required to restore one back to an as new finish. It'll be basically all cosmetic work, but most of the later Series II twin railers will require the gusset repair method to be applied which if you don't have all the skills and facilities to do it yourself will become a rather costly exercise.
In saying the above though, if you get a twin railer and have it correctly repaired with much longer gussets inserted under the rails then this will stiffen up the chassis considerably and make it a much more feesable machine in the long term than it was when originally manufactured.
The 20 inch twin railers were discontinued due to falling sales in the late 1970's and also I'd say their design flaws which were quickly revealed by many mower shops as they would've been presented rather frequently for much the same issues, thus many have found their way to scrap years ago with totally failed rails.
Cheers, BB.
I live a 24 Hour lifestyle, but every now and again I seem to fall asleep, well at least that's what my wife tells me.
Looking at the photo you've posted, I'm just wondering if you've also added a full engine base sized piece between the rails underneath the engine itself which would stiffen up the area that mostly cops it from the power plant ?
Cheers, BB.
I live a 24 Hour lifestyle, but every now and again I seem to fall asleep, well at least that's what my wife tells me.
hi ken you did a wonderful job on building new rails , looks very solid, scott bonnar tried to skimp and save a few dollars on each machine using pressed tin for rails . the twin rail was most likely more profitable in cost to manufacture , but a step backwards quality wise. you mower looks great cheers
Nice repair on the 20" Ken. I have cracks on my 20" also, but I am going to cut some 3mm thick 50mm X 50mm RHS to make the new rails. I will cut the RHS TO 50mm X 30mm X 10mm. I have opted for RHS as it has rolled corners which will be stronger then bent plate or angle iron.
Yes it got done by either the local council who were the first owners, or the owner before me who had owned it for the past 20 years.
Looks like the rails have totally failed, and then they have pulled the rails back together. Put some flat bar on the long sides of the front and back rail, then put some round bar on the inside of the side side of the rail.
I have to change them and will look at doing it in the next few days. I can now see why these 20" 45 twin rails are very prone to cracking with all the twist and vibration from the engine. You can really see this when you start an engine on the bench which isn't bolted down. It takes a lot of effort to stop the engine jumping and rocking about, so the 3mm pressed steel rails would just have too much give and flex in them.
This is why I am hoping the modified 3mm RHS will be more solid. I should have maybe gone for a slightly thicker RHS but I think it should be okay for a good few years anyway. I think I will also put some flat bar between the rails like KenW did, as that will brace the rails as well.
Sadly the 20 inch Series II machine was destined to fail from day one. There's just way too much span for the rails to flex over and thus as you have noticed the single piston engine just needs to be solidly secured down. The rails really required to be much thicker right from the start, but then I don't think SB anticipated that these machines would be around nearly 50 years later, so really they haven't done that bad really.
Have you seen the following two photos ?
I live a 24 Hour lifestyle, but every now and again I seem to fall asleep, well at least that's what my wife tells me.
Yes I checked out the photos from Mr.Jones thread a while ago when I first joined, he has done a nice neat repair and managed to keep the original rails. I also have a 17" twin rail which has some small rail cracks that haven't been touch yet, so I will try to repair them like Mr.Jones did. I just have to repair my 20" and swap them over.
