OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Finding and Swapping Idle Chatter Masport catchers

I hate having to do this but I am going to have to start cutting up a pile of very good condition Masport catchers because I never come across Masport mowers that have a good Briggs motor on them. Pity but that is the way it goes I guess. Rover catchers are hard to come by and usually the screen is missing / damaged but the Masports are always in good condition, but the mowers are junked.

Hi Norm,

I must admit that the Masport's are generally much better mowers than the Victa's. They are far better designed apart from those awful toothed washers that hold their wheels on. That's where I prefer the Victa's, and that's where it stops for me.

You have to admit though that the Masport catchers are far bigger and better than their Victa counterparts.

I'm just looking for a good set of wheels for my Masport as they just use the simple technology of a plastic wheel slipped over a steel axle and no bearings at all, thus my Masport has flogged out axle holes that could be re-bushed to be good again on my scalping machine.

Cheers,
BB.

Hi BB,
Yes the Masport mowers are well made, just let down by Briggs motors although the Quantam motors are a lot better. Another thing I find is that the wheels are usually pretty trashed as well. Only mowers I get these days with as new wheels are Lawn Beeles and the many little Chondas , Gardenline, Westco etc that people buy then find they are too small to be bothered with or they can't get them started, usually because the choke doesn't fully close. Nice looking wheels but I don't know how long they would last doing real mowing

You could always Hondarise them from a knackered Honda base? At least the axles alike should accept wheels from other mower brands. I have a set of Sanlis that I have successfully adapted to fit on Victas and they feel more substantial that the lightly constructed plastic fantastics Victa have been pumping out since 1975.

First you've got to find a knackered Honda that's being sold for a not so ridiculous price as even those sell for much more than they should.

And they keep telling me times are tough................yeah right !

I have only ever come across 3 Hondas and they were all just suitable for the spares pile, they have done a million miles

Hi all, just new to the forum and came across these posts. Have tears running down my face seeing the date of the first post -
I have just redirected a Masport mower on its way to landfill sans catcher!

This Masport has a quantum b&s, without primer bulb feature, engine code says '92 production date. The body is an alum. silver 600 and has a made in AUS label on it, but unfortunately the mower serial # appears to only have been put on the body as a small paper label, long since illegible - but I'm guessing its about a '94 build going by any online manuals I've been able to find. Chrome handle is uniformly rust brown now, but oherwise mower is in fair condition given our humid climate - some of the fastening hardware still has visible zinc passsivation present.

Took my long suffering wife on a refuge transfer station shop trawl last weekend to find a catcher and ended up with 2 from 2 different dumps for $5 each and both the same vintage single piece shiny plastic build with the riveted metal plate at the mower attachment point. The one I've decided to keep has an '88 moulding label, so its probably from an earlier model, but I like its sturdy one piece construction and it still carries a lot of shine to the finish on the upper half of the body, which I am amazed with given its age.Even the raised Masport logo on each side of the body is in near pristine condition.

Given that I scored this beauty at the Noosa, QLD landfill I'd summise it's been sitting quietly in a retirees garage, well covered and protected, just waiting for the day we were going to meet, while a contractor took care of the lawn work, or it was a "just in case" hold on after moving into an apartment with sea views and no lawn.

So comforting to be amongst kindred spirits here!

Hello Mr Smith
Oh the pain, the terrible pain!

I loved your nicely written story on saving a Masport.
Mason & Porter are a sort of icon equivalent to our Victa.

I guess most folk here hate waste.
But without a clear momentum to design repairable products
at affordable prices - we are all lost in space.

These Masports were quality lawnmowers and Masport certainly had
alloy designing and casting experience spanning over a century.
Their products were designed to be repaired.

I hope, someday, a YouTube channel will be devoted to Mower Rescue.
This would be so environmentally correct in our saving this planet.
[Maybe with that schmaltzy background music one gets on animal rescues].

Many thanks for saving another
--------------------------
Jack

Greetings all,

And a warm welcome to the ODK Forums, Dr Z. , from a fellow Masport owner [~2001 Maxicatch 550 alloy deck]

For sure, chromed handle finishes are not long-lived, in a tropical coastal environment. My 550 has black paint handle finish, with a 'soft grip' sleeve over the 'hand grip area' top part.


The 1992 engine YoM makes it a USA-made engine, which is a good thing - production of Briggs' side valve engines moved to China ca 2002, with the usual initial QC/QA problems that go with Chinese factories.

Your mention of the term 'passivation' sparks my professional interest here; does it reveal an acquaintance with corrosion chemistry?

My own 'past life' background in that field is in the offshore oil and gas industry; 6+ years with Baker Hughes' then Baker Petrolite Oilfield Chemicals division.

As BH at that time had 8 operating divisions, I used to say that I was with the 'oilfield chemicals tentacle' of the Baker Hughes octopus.