10 replies to this topic

[maryquant]

Not sure if this thread will interest anyone, but thought I may as well add it.

 

When we moved out to the middle of nowhere we under-estimated our current flymos capabilities. So after some bargain hunting and last second bidding we managed to find a ride on mower that would fit in the back of our 7-seater and went downsarf to pick it up.

 

 

Its nothing massive or industrial but is perfect for doing all the tight corners around our yard and car park so for £80 i thought it was a bit of a bargain.

 

The first thing to fix was the deck though which had completely rotted through,

 

 

 

I wanted to use steel but had neither steel, a welder, or experience at the time so instead opted to use fibreglass as a temporary repair to just get it on the lawns and cutting.

 

We also took the rear collection brackets off as I much prefer leaving cut grass down - its better for the lawn. My brother took it for a test spin...

 

 

At the end of the summer we knew all its niggles which are mainly:

 

• Rust creeping into chassis and main panels.


• Wiring is a bit dodgy and new starter solenoid needed.


• Battery is old and useless


• No easy way to charge the battery


• No tow-ball which would be useful.


• Slow punctures on all tyres


• The colour scheme could be improved.


• I argued for batmobile-eque styling but settled for a Mini Mower "Designer" which i guess is fitting.


• It needs headlights and a rear light

So the strip down began.

 

Rear body came off with a few bolts, and the tank removed.

 

 

With the body out of the way I started trying to remove the rear wheels, these are going to be cleaned up resprayed and have inner tubes fitting until I can afford a new set of turf-tyres. Getting them off the axles wasn't easy though, they have rusted along the length and whilst the O/S came straight off the N/S needed bashing, pulling, levering, shocking and eventually a carefully placed hydraulic jack to get it to shift. So the rim is a little bent around the edges but that should come out with a careful beating.

 

 

 

You can see the state of the axles here, not sure on the best way to treat and remove the rust

 

 

Its starting to look a little lighter now though

 

The next part is to get the orange platform seperated from the chassis which means taking all the steering components out first... Ill give that a go this week but since I didnt have a tyre bead breaker I improvised with a bench vice.

 

Finally got the cruddy tyre off

 

 

Which left a lot of gunk on the inside of the rim

 

 

 

Hopefully these will wire wheel clean and get repainted before fitting tubes and then the old tyres as a temp measure.

 

 

Will keep this updated as I do more, but must get it done my march at the latest.

Edited by maryquant, 25 January 2015 - 01:28 AM.

[Ben_O]

Well i am interested!

 

I modified a similar mower years ago for my Nephews to race around in.

 

They loved it!

 

Ben

[MrBounce]

What a fantastic rebuild thread. Totally different from the norm. Love it!

[maryquant]

Well i am interested!

 

I modified a similar mower years ago for my Nephews to race around in.

 

They loved it!

 

Ben

 

That's cool, this one is quite quick in 5th if you don't run the blades - be nice to get a bit more power out of it though to race round the garden :)

 

What a fantastic rebuild thread. Totally different from the norm. Love it!

 

Thanks, hopefully this wont take as long as the car has

[maryquant]

Not much productive done today, just loads of fiddly stuff that takes way longer than it should.

 

Had to figure out this lot to get the deck off again...

 

 

The fibreglass repairs held up quite well this summer, so I may just cut out the really bumpy stuff and do the same again...

 

Removed the foam bumper, there to protect me during any high speed collisions with conifers.

 

There is a grub screw in the collar around the steering column which has rounded, and seized, so i'm thinking best way would be to drill it out and re-tap for a larger one? Without the collar off I cant get the rest of the body apart (my aim here is to get the orange deck away for painting)

 

 

Then started to clean up this wheel with Strypit paint remover, you can see how bad the edge was from hitting it off the axle, should really replace it but thought I would have a go at fixing.

 

Couple of coats and a wire wheel and its getting there

 

Started to pull out the edging again, its going to need more work with a hammer but don't want to annoy the neighbor at night :)

 

 

Looks better will need a lot more work before im happy with it - this is the inside of the wheel though so it wont be seen.

 

Oh, couldn't resist a mock up...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ben_O]

A couple of well aimed clouts with a hammer and curved dolly will straighten that wheel up a treat!

 

Nice going

[brad-the-bear]

this is great!!!!

[sonikk4]

Something different, quite like it.

[MR J]

This is great :)

 

I rebuilt a Honda Mower a couple of years ago, it had an alloy deck that all corroded, wet grass must be nasty stuff!! I reinforced the inside with steel plating and glassed over the outside to tidy it up.

 

 

[Anthony30]

I think the big question is, which did you buy first, the house or the lawn mower.  

[maryquant]

 

Thanks, hopefully this wont take as long as the car has

 

 

Famous last words eh. Life conspires to get in my way when it comes to projects I enjoy - I have been suitably punished though as having to do the lawns with a push along will teach me to get stuff done quicker!

 

I managed to get the mower 90% dismantled, particularly difficult was the steering column as the lock nut at the top had rustwelded itself together. This needed to come off though as it prevents the main panel coming away. Opted in the end for removing the mechanism beneath the mower and lifting the entire column out. That should be fun when it comes to reassembly.

 

The orange paint is bulletproof - I don't know what they make it out of but I have thrown everything at it over the last few weeks. Paint Stripper, Expensive paint stripper, wire brushes, wire wheels, flap discs, nylon brush wheels, da sanders. A combination of all of these things and days worth of noise eventually got some of the paint off.

 

 

Getting into some of the  nooks was very difficult, especially with grinder sized tools.

 

 

And the surface rust is pretty bad. I had wanted to clean it all up, get back to good steel, replace where needed but I think im going a  bit over the top with what was essentially a £80 mower. So im switching from unreasonable finish quality to 'just-about-doable-on-a-budget-quickly'

 

 

Eventually it looked reasonable, the underside looks the same.

 

 

Kurust - I know its not great, but it can't hurt right?

 

 

Knocked up a temp spray booth to get some primer on it before my work was undone again.

 

 

Couple of coats of zinc primer - 

 

I might add some filler to a few areas and smooth it out (the visible surface at least) before paint. 

I am planning to spend a lot of this week on various parts of this project so will keep updating.