Mowing ..

[Rallye Sport]

Originally Posted by Tonz

so thats what that little pipe is for, on the deck? how effective is connecting a hose to that?
That gets confusing, because both the ones I am working with as soon as ya bum leaves the seat, the motor is killed.
Please explain how this all works.

The hose plugs work a treat, make sure you turn the blades on to throw the water around under the deck.

Pretty standard to have a dead man switch, good idea but can catch you out when your bum bounces off the seat when mowing the rough stuff.

[danzvtil]

Originally Posted by Tonz

so thats what that little pipe is for, on the deck? how effective is connecting a hose to that?
That gets confusing, because both the ones I am working with as soon as ya bum leaves the seat, the motor is killed.
Please explain how this all works.

-Disengage the blades, apply handbrake. (Both of these will cut the engine if your behind leaves the seat)
-Plug a running hose to the wash port.
-Get back in the seat, revs to max, engage blades for 30 sec or a min
-Squeaky clean deck and blades.
[edit] I also get the blower onto the top of the machine, the engine bay and top of deck to remove the clippings after each use. This keeps the belts clear of crap.

[Ben73]

Last week I was thinking about coming on here and praising my Ego equipment after I went full battery electric early this year.
However I started to mow my lawn last weekend and the mower died after 20 metres and said it was overheated. Tried all 3 batteries and also let the mower cool for 30 minutes and it still didn’t work.
I guess it couldn’t handle the 15c outside temperature.

Good job Ego. My dad bought me a cheap Aldi petrol mower 7 years ago that I treated badly and it never missed a beat. 6 uses of my Ego electric mower and it’s not working.
Awesome.
I have to say I did enjoy not having to worry about petrol, oil and all that other ICE stuff. Shame it was short lived.

[Tonz]

will be fun doing this considering 1 mower is about 5 years old and Id wager never been cleaned underneath, might take couple of goes to get this clean.

DFB FGXR6 you would have a stroke looking at the condition of this one.

[DFB FGXR6]

Originally Posted by Tonz

will be fun doing this considering 1 mower is about 5 years old and Id wager never been cleaned underneath, might take couple of goes to get this clean.

DFB FGXR6 you would have a stroke looking at the condition of this one.

Humor me!

[Citroënbender]

An acquaintance usually has a couple of ride-one in his workshop alongside the cars. From what I’ve seen, gross neglect stops most of them - people expect to start up and go, forever! Maybe sheltered with a couple of sheets of tin, maybe not even that.

[whitelion65]

Originally Posted by Tonz

will be fun doing this considering 1 mower is about 5 years old and Id wager never been cleaned underneath, might take couple of goes to get this clean.

DFB FGXR6 you would have a stroke looking at the condition of this one.

Well, if that’s the case, I’d drop the deeck, invert, and clean with a scraper, brush, pressure cleaner……whatever it takes.

Whilst it’s off, you can check blades, remove and sharpen, check the belts, clean up underneath….much easier without the deck.

Don’t be ashamed, mowers are a work-horse!

[DFB FGXR6]

Originally Posted by whitelion65

Well, if that’s the case, I’d drop the deeck, invert, and clean with a scraper, brush, pressure cleaner……whatever it takes.

Whilst it’s off, you can check blades, remove and sharpen, check the belts, clean up underneath….much easier without the deck.

Don’t be ashamed, mowers are a work-horse!

They cut better when they are clean.................that's my story and I'm sticking with it.

[Citroënbender]

That paint de-bonding on your masonry corner seems to be getting worse. (Apologies to RokWiz, I cannot correctly name this part.)

Or maybe the increasingly clean mowers are making it look so.

[Work Horse]

Originally Posted by whitelion65

Don’t be ashamed, mowers are a work-horse!

Hey I represent that statement!

[Tonz]

Originally Posted by Work Horse

Hey I represent that statement!

I see nothing, dont know what your talking about.

[Citroënbender]

I’m no DFB with the detailing, but Shirley this isn’t too bad? Blower tidy-up.

[Tonz]

Salt damp ?

[danzvtil]

My baller property is being redeveloped, with the lawn area cut down, new access to the lawn will be though a pool area. There will not be wide enough access to keep the husky TC138T rider on the property. Ive suggested to the owner that we get a self propelled pushy to do the lawn ongoing. Which brings me to a dilemma, do I offer to buy the ride on from him? Its just over 12 months old with 50hrs, Ive serviced it all myself. Decisions, decisions.......

[DFB FGXR6]

Originally Posted by danzvtil

My baller property is being redeveloped, with the lawn area cut down, new access to the lawn will be though a pool area. There will not be wide enough access to keep the husky TC138T rider on the property. Ive suggested to the owner that we get a self propelled pushy to do the lawn ongoing. Which brings me to a dilemma, do I offer to buy the ride on from him? Its just over 12 months old with 50hrs, Ive serviced it all myself. Decisions, decisions.......

What self-propelled pushy are you looking at?

[danzvtil]

Originally Posted by DFB FGXR6

What self-propelled pushy are you looking at?

Dunno yet, it’s early days. I’ll hit you up when I’m ready to look

[DFB FGXR6]

I posted this in my gardening thread, but it belongs here as well -

New Mower Day!!!!



I’m very lucky that I can write off my mower addiction as a business expense. The “reason” for this machine is to have a reliable light duty mower for the cooler months of the year. The un-official "reason"? I just wanted a mower with electric start. However, this was not a straightforward purchase.

As always, I am king of the spec’s, I have no problem cross checking multiple models in an attempt to make a well-informed purchase. When I go to buy, I know EXACTLY what I want and usually know more than the salesman. I looked at Masport, Bushranger and Victa’s offering for electric start lawn mowers.

Bushrangers offering is a smaller 18’’ cut with the 150cc Briggs engine. This chassis is the old Rover deck, one I have had before and did not like. It’s smaller cut reduces efficiency too.

https://bushrangerpe.com.au/browse-p...ey-start-mower



Masport offered both 140cc 18” and 150cc 19” steel chassis models. I have had a 19’’ Masport before and was less than impressed with the lack of durability. The 190cc 850-Series Briggs engine was transplanted to another mower in the end and the deck was basically scrap after less than a year. As such, I did not feel very confident about another Masport.

https://masport.com.au/outdoor-garde...rated-instart-
https://masport.com.au/outdoor-garde...combo-instart-





12-18 months ago, Victa offered several models with electric start, however they now only sell a 140cc 18’’ model. I could probably deal with the smaller cut, but not the small engine……. I like a big donk!

https://www.victa.com/au/en_au/produ...ter-mower.html



I’m a Victa boy to the core though, they just seem to have given me the best results over the years. This then led me to searching for those now discontinued models, in particular the Corvette 500 with the 150cc engine, and the Mustang 750iS with the larger 163cc engine.





My local dealer who I have purchased many, many machines from over the years could not get me one, nor was there any future models in the pipeline according to the Victa rep. I then started trawling the internet and found a dealer offering both for sale. Knowing these were discontinued lines, I emailed the seller asking if these were in stock and was told yes, both were in stock. Great! I placed my order for a Corvette 500 with In-Start and waited. And waited, and waited…………………

I ended up phoning the seller a week later asking what was the statis of my order, only to be told that the mower was on back order. To me, that sounded very strange, how can a product be on back order when it’s been discontinued? More to the point, I was told hours earlier that it was in stock! An email or phone call would have been helpful. I then changed my order to the Mustang 750iS and was told an updated invoice would be emailed to me so I could pay the balance and organise shipping. Again, I waited, and waited and waited. Five days after that, I phoned and asked what is going on with my order, only to be told that he forgot to send out the email, and that he would get right on it. Another day passed, where I finally received a phone call and an updated invoice. I paid the balance and the dam thing arrived today, 23 days after the order was placed.

I can’t understand how a business can set up a very comprehensive website for the sale of high dollar items and not have appropriate inventory systems or provide adequate communication to customers. Just not good enough. It's also against consumer law to represent a product for sale when it's not in stock or will never be in stock. I would name and shame, but I want to make sure my new mower is running correctly before that, so if you want to know what business sold me this machine, shoot me a PM.

So, the machine itself. Because this was an online sale, I needed to do the final assembly which included putting the catcher together, attaching the throttle lever and adding oil and fuel.













As mentioned, this is a 19’’ cut Victa Mustang 750 with In-Start. The Mustang name has generally referred to alloy chassis models and represents the upper end of the Victa line-up. This is the fifth one of these I have had, all with varying engines- 190cc B&S Quantum XTS 60, 161cc B&S DOV, 190cc B&S OHV 850-Series, 160cc Powertorque 2-Stroke and now this 163cc B&S 750iS.

This is the first new-generation OHV Briggs and Stratton engine I have owned. This series is different to the 190cc 850 OHV engines, think of those as “Big Blocks”, and different again to the 161cc DOV engines. These newer OHV models are made in 125cc, 140cc, 150cc and 163cc and replaced the ancient side-valve engines in 148cc, 158cc and 190cc capacities.



The key feature for me is the electric start, or what Briggs and Stratton refer to as In-Start. Electric start mowers of old had bulky batteries sitting at the back of the deck, adding weight and were an inconvenience to charge. Briggs and Stratton’s solution is pretty clever, integrating a standard looking lithium-ion battery into the starter housing on top of the engine. A full charge takes an hour and will offer a claimed 75 starts, a ten-minute charge offering 20 starts. Each mower fitted with one of these In-Start engines comes with one 10.8V 1.45Ah battery and a matching charger. Starting is as simple as flipping the cover and pushing the button.











While my initial choice was for the Corvette with it’s lighter steel chassis, this Mustang has a more powerful engine and more rugged alloy base without much compromise in weight. It also comes with a mulching blade disk and plug, not that I will be using it as such.

Now the question is, do I go ahead and polish and wax it?

[DFB FGXR6]

Using this machine yesterday, it started miss-firing, which is pretty normal for this particular engine now. After stepping off it to attend to something and letting it idle, the thing started to stumble. When I got back on and throttled it back up it just didn't sound right and had no stamina despite revving up fine. I could also smell unburnt fuel, so clearly a cylinder wasn't pulling its weight.

Pulled the plugs and this is what greeted me from the right-hand bank -





I have mentioned before that this machine is slowly dying, the right cylinder in particular is clearly the one burning through oil. Another Kohler living up to its reputation then.

Cleaned both plugs and it's running again..........for now.

[John 13]

Victa Tornado, TTS 2226AB (2011 make). I have acquired two engine-drive assemblies and one straight shaft trimmer head. Both engines have a reasonable spark. Cleaned out carburettors, particlarly the fine mesh carby input filters. (lots of gunk upstream side) Replaced one primer pump bulb and used a Ryobi tank pickup filter, engine starts and appears to run OK. Clutch mechanicals and output housing, unlike Ryobi BQ rubbish are robust and predominately metal. likely the unit is made in Japan.
This unit has attracted a lot of bad reports on internet. Has anyone out there had/have experience with this machine.

[danzvtil]

Did a winter service on my machines today, and soaked all the foam or gauze air cleaners on fuel, geez, you dont realize how much crap they hold that you cant see.
I also bought a new stihl backpack sprayer(again) if fell out of the van and snapped the trigger and wand in 2 places, replacement= $130. New unit complete=$170 :/

[Citroënbender]

Thanks to DFB, I’ve got sucked into watching Tim the Mower Man on YT (iMac screen, so it’s televisual luxury).

The cat watches intently and tries to swat him as he walks across the lawns.

Originally Posted by danzvtil

I also bought a new stihl backpack sprayer(again) if fell out of the van and snapped the trigger and wand in 2 places, replacement= $130. New unit complete=$170 :/

SG51, right? Do you think it’s fixable with non-genuine parts?

[danzvtil]

Originally Posted by Citroënbender

The cat watches intently and tries to swat him as he walks across the lawns.


SG51, right? Do you think it’s fixable with non-genuine parts?

Yeah, Im sure they exist somewhere, when I find them, Ill run one as a spare. The lawn game is funny, in 18months, ive ended up with pretty much 2 of everything.

[DFB FGXR6]

Originally Posted by danzvtil

Yeah, Im sure they exist somewhere, when I find them, Ill run one as a spare. The lawn game is funny, in 18months, ive ended up with pretty much 2 of everything.

Excluding my insane mower buying habits, I have found the same thing. Having two of everything is not a bad thing really, it allows you to have a backup should one machine need unexpected maintenance. You can then also spread the load over two machines. I also found that having extra equipment handy for when I would occasionally have someone helping me.

[danzvtil]

Been putting off purchasing a pole chainsaw for a few months, but the job list for one keeps growing.
Went to my mower shop to order husqvarna 530iPT5 battery powered telescopic chainsaw, but he had one in stock! The guy said the batteries for those are unobtainium at the moment, lucky I’ve got the 9AH already.
Got it home and “trimmed” a tree, which turned into filling a whole cage trailer of greenwaste!

[DFB FGXR6]

Originally Posted by danzvtil

Been putting off purchasing a pole chainsaw for a few months, but the job list for one keeps growing.
Went to my mower shop to order husqvarna 530iPT5 battery powered telescopic chainsaw, but he had one in stock! The guy said the batteries for those are unobtainium at the moment, lucky I’ve got the 9AH already.
Got it home and “trimmed” a tree, which turned into filling a whole cage trailer of greenwaste!

Nice choice!

How do you find it for balance? I have only used a petrol pole saw and it was pretty uncomfortable to use. Is the chain speed variable or single speed?

And yes I know that situation, a quick "I'll just do this little thing" turns into a massive "project".

[danzvtil]

Originally Posted by DFB FGXR6

Nice choice!

How do you find it for balance? I have only used a petrol pole saw and it was pretty uncomfortable to use. Is the chain speed variable or single speed?

And yes I know that situation, a quick "I'll just do this little thing" turns into a massive "project".

Balance is good, with the heavy 9AH battery, the cutting end wants to go up in the air which is what you want. It would be crap with a 2 stroke hanging off the bottom.
Trigger is variable, and it sounds analogue, like the motor and gears are made of metal. The motor casings and brackets are all metal.
The only fault I can find is, the cutting head can’t be adjusted for angle, which would be handy, branches aren’t always 90deg to the ground.

[Citroënbender]

Starting to feel I need a smaller (less than 20” bar) chainsaw to abuse. Lust object = Stihl climbing saw, practical aspiration = DIY refurb on older (probably US made) saw. Thinking Husky, Dolmar, McCulloch, Echo etc.

[Citroënbender]

Gumtree listing 1298396269 - any thoughts? Had an older Pro-Mac before, albeit pre-OHS era with no chain brake or anti-vibration. Seemed simple and well-built.

[danzvtil]

Originally Posted by danzvtil

Been putting off purchasing a pole chainsaw for a few months, but the job list for one keeps growing.
Went to my mower shop to order husqvarna 530iPT5 battery powered telescopic chainsaw, but he had one in stock! The guy said the batteries for those are unobtainium at the moment, lucky I’ve got the 9AH already.
Got it home and “trimmed” a tree, which turned into filling a whole cage trailer of greenwaste!

First major job today, used it on and off all day, barely used 2 bars of battery, when you run it for a while, a cooling fan in the battery housing runs to keep it cool:mind blown!

[Citroënbender]

Well, I managed to haggle a small discount on the Pro Mac. It’s now in the boot of my car.

Everything the seller said about its condition was truthful, it’s definitely a low mileage unit with no moisture damage (eg damp storage or left in rain), compression is like new. Starter lazy to rewind, and of course the carb issues. Happy bunny here.