Hi everyone just finished restoring my model 45 reel mower and have decided to start on restoring the matching edger. There seems to be little Info on restoring these edgers so any help would be greatly appreciated. My main question is where to start tearing it down from, it doesn't seem as straight forward as other edgers with just removing the 4 engine mount bolts and undoing a belt. Just wondering if I can undo the engine mount bolts and the pulley mecanism comes out with the engine? Or is there a better way to tackle this.
Also interested in a bit of history with this series edger, I did get off track with CyberJack on this edger in another post but was wondering what the original colour scheme was for this series. The top part of the handlebars are green but have white paint underneath, my research seems to show this earlier series with the Kirby engine having white handle bars and the later series having a Briggs engine had green handle bar. Would mine be a cross over model or has someone painted it green, for those who haven't seen my other threads on my restorations I like to restore everything to the correct period detail right down to a bolt.
Looking to get this finished before the start of this year's new lawn season so stay tuned and I will post updates as I go along.
B.B all that talking about paint has got me on a high.
I guess the fumes have gotten to you haven't they ? LOL !!
Not quite sure any of us will be able to clarify this issue, but you may be correct that they were painted white and then some handles were old finished stock and then had to be re-finished to suit the new livery that SB changed to.
Must admit that edgers are of no real interest to me personally as they are really out of date machines for the modern garden where units like the single wheel Atom Edgers are streets ahead and me personally I use a straight shaft Line Trimmer free hand. Not everyone's cup of tea I might add as it requires a rather steady hand but those older style Tilt a Cut type machines were designed for the lawns of the 1960's where you had concrete all around the edges for the machine to run on. We've now moved away from this type of landscaping and thus the machines are obsolete in the general domain.
I also feel that the Model 38 has become and overnight must have partner to a Model 45 owner simply because of the 45's rockstar status. The other item that's had a demand created is the optional edger attachment that can be fitted on the 45 and after most new owners fitted it and attempted to use it quickly found out it was a suicide piece of kit only to be removed and tossed aside within 10 seconds.
I'm not trying to discourage you from doing this project but simply warning you that they ain't all what they're cracked up to be.
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.
The top part of the handlebars are green but have white paint underneath, my research seems to show this earlier series with the Kirby engine having white handle bars and the later series having a Briggs engine had green handle bar.
Well, I prepared to help clarify this issue.! Best evidence suggests that Kirby powered edgers had white handlebars. Green handle bars appeared with the Briggs powered machines. At this time the handlebar lever lifter was removed as a feature.
Quote
Must admit that edgers are of no real interest to me personally as they are really out of date machines for the modern garden
Hello Glo Mod BB This is not my view at all. For most applications, line trimmers are hegemonic in the modern era. They do a good job - and are flexible in application.
But, Bladed edgers still remain relevant and are sold as such. It's a niche market, sure.
Some modern, domestic, gardens can still use these, particularly with the move to geometric conformity, a hark back to formal gardens of yesteryear. Classic designs are enduring.
The bladed edgers of older times will deliver much cleaner cuts in straight lines. This is why they still have a commercial market today.
I love Scott Bonnar's offering 'flexible wire blades' as an option. This was a poor challenge to the emerging line trimmers of the mid 1970s. We know which technology won out there ...
Bladed edgers are not obsolete, but there is great ignorance out there. So ... not an out-of-date machine to me, but one largely misunderstood by many. That's a pity.
Bonn Scott, you know your stuff. If this is a user, use it for clean, crisp, straight edges.
If your yard does not use pathway designs then preserve this machine as a historical talking point.
The Model 38 is a great machine, with useful relevance today. Please keep us informed.
I agree CyberJack, there is still a place for edgers like the 38. I have ended up with 2 Victa TaC's and 2 Alroh imps, and they go well around the straight traditional edges (in this case a garden designed in 1987). I also have a Ryobi expand-it stick edger which is good
The lawn shape was made by my grandmother (now 90) and reflects the traditional thinking - dead straight edges. They had a kidney shaped garden bed in the first house they built in the early 50's, but the subsequent houses all had straight edges. They entered in all the local garden shows, so everything had to be perfect.
From what I can piece together, Pop at one point bought a SB edger to complement a 45 - used it once then went back to the traditional wheel edger and half moon edger.
Personally, the problem I have is the back lawn is surrounded by slabs which are no longer a perfect line - meaning I have to use a line trimmer. I use a straight shaft homelite with the gearbox turned 90 degrees. And if I take one chunk out of the lawn, I won't hear the end of it for weeks .
Pair that with the uproar caused by the non-resistor plug in a victa causing interference to the TV whilst Bold and Beautiful was on, and how I left the fuel tap on whilst finding another plug and killed a good patch of lawn through the needle leaking - those caused real issues.
The Jims man who does our lawn and the next door neighbours is a menace with his snipper , I had to get him to stop snipping our edges but he continues to do next door even after the woman next door paid him a couple of years ago to replace the soil around the edges after both she and my wife fell over in the grooves he cuts around all the edges. He is retiring at the end of this year so we will just grin and bear it.
I myself am an edger person, I currently use a Rover edge runner as my daily machine to do all my edges. I currently have a square15m X 12m straight edge along a paved patio and a concrete runway boat ramp in the backyard I'm also doing a new double 12m long concrete driveway in the front yard next month. I'm not a fan of lots of designed edges or noks that are time consuming or hard to reach. My lawn is about 1"- 2" above the concrete so it looks nice when done and creates a nice border around the concrete. I can't do the edges with my brush cutter as I got a Honda gx35 handlebar type so turning it on its side is difficult to do all those edges plus my medical condition doesn't allow me to use my arms in that position reason why I have handle bars with a full harness.
I only picked up the model 38 mainly because it had the Kirby engine and thought it was cheap enough for parts in case i needed them for my 45, the only downfalls I can see with using the 38 edger is that it's a right sided blade so I would have to run it the opposite direction to the Rover and that it doesn't seem to have an increment height adjuster instead having just all the way up or down. If I do decide to do this one up I can't see me spending the $$$ I did on the 45 for it instead maybe just cleaning it up and giving it a quick paint job (the financial advisor has already given me the look of death). I know it runs so this is my plan I don't want to be tearing the engine down and having to source rings gaskets and that damn pto seal again. I still have plenty of hammer paint left over from the 45 restoration so maybe $50.00 worth of engine enamel and my time and passion which is priceless.
Weather I use it after that or it sits next to the 45 as a matching pidgion pair is yet to be decided. these restorations are now becoming more of a hobby for something to do as well as helps with my theropy which is more satisfying than building a plastic or dicast model kit you buy from a hobby store that sits on a shelf collecting dust and has no purpose.
Thanks wce Hoping the 45 will straighten it out next season, I have been using the old Rover Rancher ride on which doesn't have much of a variable height adjustment and leaves tyre tracks.
That tree in the middle if I'm correct is one of those species that has to be cut back to the knuckles each season to stay manageable ?
I had one in my previous properties and had it not been for the fact my mother and I planted it next to the garage as a memory tree for my father it would've been ripped out years earlier. It was always a full days work cutting everything back and then snipping it all into smaller pieces so it would all fit in to 4 green waste bins. If it wasn't cut back it would turn into an absolute monster.
Is this much the same scenario for you BS ?
I also must concur with member wce that it's a magic location you're situated in.
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.
Just an update on my previous post earlier on in this thread.
I have not in any way suggested that these edgers are totally obsolete as there will always be some one that finds it suitable. My comments were a generalisation of how the current industry views them.
ATM many newbies are getting caught up with anything that has the Scott Bonnar name on it and feel that there's plenty of cash to be made out anything with the SB logo on it...............Wrong !!.......... that's a false ideology as plenty are getting their fingers burnt thinking this way.
I've watched plenty of newbies that have paid well over the odds for a Model 33 or Model 40 etc. thinking that they've bought something that will retain a huge value and could be easily flipped for a substantial profit and as such the Model 38 edger has fallen into this category. So I ask why does a Victa "Tilta a Cut" fetch bugger all (generally under $100) while many Model 38's are being flipped at $200 plus at the moment ???? it's simple. ........it's the Scott Bonnar flippin' craze that's running riot atm. A couple of years ago you couldn't get $20 for a 38. You be the judge.
Regardless of any Historical significance the Model 38 which will certainly suit some users and I don't dispute that, but as Admin CJ suggested in his post above, it most certainly is a "niche market" product for it's intended use as a tool and thus it's significance isn't reflected by many current gardeners ownership. Why don't most Lawn Contractors keep them in their trailers ??
Now as far as line trimmers are concerned there are good operators and then there are just very BAD operators. As previously mentioned I use my McCulloch straight shaft free hand and I dig no holes or trenches whatsoever and my edges appear as if I used a blade edger. I guess it's all about the operator blaming the tool I've always said. As Norm showed us above in that photo, the Jim's bloke is just a bad operator and it's just about making a quick buck with no effort or skill at all.
Truly the Australian way I've always said.
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.
Just on that debate of edgers I think Tyler summed it up with his pops experience that all yards are different and some lawns are not edger friendly. Prior to my current medical history I had a privately owned commercial lawn mowing business and 95% of edges were done with the brush cutter purely for the fact that it was quicker and at the end of the day most people weren't obsessed with their grass that if the edge was a bit out it dident matter ( the fact that the edge was done was a plus) the only time a push edger came out was when a lawn edge hadent been done in 20 years and grew 1foot over the concrete that you couldn't find an edge, once the edge was carved the next time would be done with the brush cutter. I think you will also find in the old days everyone had the old thick Buffalo lawn which was impossible to cut and thatched 4" above the concrete and needed these concrete cutter style blades to maintain the edge. Landscaping back then was also very clean and tidy with very open spaces where as today people want to be different and create caos to stand out and out do the neighbour next door.
I have never used an atom style edger but I can see the benifit in them with all the new fancy swayed edges and driveways, you definately couldn't do a nice edge with a push edger as you would chip half the concrete away hence why Tylers pop went back to his wheel edger.
As wce said what a magic location I'm in, this property and the one next door have been in my family for 53 years and has seen 5 generations and you guessed it it's all square edges and old thick Buffalo. Sometimes simple and clean is easier and better than having a maze of a yard plus who's yard do I have to out do with what's maintenance free beyond my yard.
Don't get me started on that tree it's a sore point. If I had my way it would be gone. My great uncle planted this Mullbury tree in the early 90's purely because his sister my grandmother had an established Mullbury tree in her yard next door and everyone would sit under it in summer keeping cool while all us kids went for a swim. This tree eventually vent rouge and grew out over the adjoining two fences and was eventually cut to nothing however it grows mad and needs to be done every year. We cut it right back to the thick trunks last August when it dropped all its leaves and this is the result 8months later. It will need doing again this fall or else it becomes a massive job. It looks nice when it's like this but if left to next summer it will be twice as big, the fact that I can't do these kind of jobs anymore wishes it was gone however I'm not inline to the throne yet to make that decision.
Forget about the green bins we have 2 and it does nothing we have to book 2 curb side council clean up one for each property to get rid of it. Damn nightmare.
Everything you've said brings back all those bad memories of the task that had to be undertaken every Autumn. I let it go one year and said never again. They are truly monsters in every way shape and form.
Cheers, BB.
PS. Ah those old Buffalo and Concrete back yards of the 1960's, I remember those when you could turn a car and caravan attached around in them.
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.
We're rather lucky here as we can take as much green waste as we want to our Council's "Enviro Care Sunday" on the 2nd and last Sunday of each month totally free of charge.
They then use it to make mulch out of and sell it to other Councils etc.
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.
We are kind of lucky here as our council allows us to book 6 curbside clean ups anytime of year greens or rubbish. We get 12 cause of the 2 properties so we could book a double clean up if he have heaps or average 1 a month between the 2 houses. But the tip charges something like $80.00-$100.00 a tonne.
Most Councils have aborted regular pre-dated days where you could put as much garbage out as you wanted and they'd just go down each street cleaning up the mess that was left behind by Second hand trawlers that scattered stuff all over the place making each street looking like a bomb site. Most have now swapped over to the pre-booking system which works out so much better for everyone except the trawlers I guess.
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.
Ok so here's the first progress. Got up early this morning and torn the little 38 down in 1.5 hours except the engine which I will do once I sort the base, I hate having bits everywhere getting mixed up and lost.
I'm going to run through a few photos because there really isn't any reference of these edges being pulled apart or restored. Thanks CyberJack for that parts diagram it really helped, so I'm going to post it up here for easy reference. The guard cover comes off with 3 bolts exposing the blade belt and puley mechanism, I recommend removing the blade and the pulleys before removing the mechanism off the engine. I did it the other way around and had to clamp it in a vice to remove the pulleys, depending how rusty or locked up it is you may have to do it how I did involving the mech off the engine and clamp it in a vice. First pulley has a grub screw in the belt track so losen that then undo the bolt in the middle that connects to the PTO shaft on the engine, it should slide out with a keyway once the 4 bolts are removed from the side of the engine. Second pulley on the blade side is a bit more difficult and may need to be clamped in a vice. I clamped the pulley in the vice then clamped the blade boss with a pair of multigrips on the outer edge of the shaft and used a long bar on the multigrips to crack the thread free, you can then knock the shaft pin out from the pulley side giving you access to the bearings in the mechanism of you chose to replace them. You could also try clamping the blade boss in the vice and use the little hole in the pulley track to undo the thread but mine was so tight it was bending the screw driver as that was the only thing big enough to stick in the hole, like I said I had to use a bar to crack the thread free.
There really isn't much to it, it looks complicated but once you get your head around how everything is connected it's easy so hopefully this post makes it a bit easier for anyone else as I was a bit hesitant before I started. The rest is straight forward
A little more info for reference the 3 main bearings in the belt setup are 6003RS. These bearings are a common model and you can pick up a set of 2 for $5.00 on fleabay. Original Japanese Koyo are also available for $9.00 each plus $20.00 postage from the U.K. 2 are located in the blade section and 1 in the tensioner. When I knocked the bearing out of the tensioner it was so wedged that the 2 small tac welds cracked which were barley even welded to the support bracket so I had to weld it back on. That tension bearing seems to be a bad design even though it's a sealed bearing the cup the bearing sits in which the belt runs on gets burried with dirt.
Would you have the complete exploded view parts diagram with the numbered description and part numbers list, I would like to check a few things that may be missing or incorrectly installed. I have noticed someone has replaced the leaver mechanism mounting bolts on the side of the engine with tension bolts that are way to long and put the nut on the inside of the head bolt as a locking nut, there's also a couple of other bolts missing which I'm hoping the description list will indicate the bolt size so I can run it up to my local fastener shop.
. 
![[Linked Image]](https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/forum/images/jack/icon_attached.jpg){kind=icon}
