Turbo Twister

Too busy with work! Although it looks like we will be closing down again after this week due to our council pulling the plug on the job! We were in this week after getting the green light but they changed their minds, so I can finally finish the trailer and get back to working on the mower.

Only seeing this now! For some reason, even though notifications are turned on for this thread, I don't get any when someone posts! The replacement suspension unit arrived late last week and I eventually ordered bolts to mount them, I also got bolts to refix the several parts I removed from the mower deck. Haha, the deadline is, and always will be "2 months time" if anyone asks! Forgot to add, the new tow hitch also came yesterday, it will only be used for towing the mower or dads little trailer (now that it can actually be hitched on the bike). The tail of it is removable which will be handy.

3 hitch points welded on and a few previously welded parts done again with bigger rods I found. Now the waiting game for all the parts and paint to show up.. I'm going to completely redo the rear wheels so they are independent of eachother, but again, I have to wait until the parts show up for that to take course.

I found some steel suitable for the draw bar, so I'm in the process of making that up, along with the swinging points that the mower end will bolt to. It will be free to swing up/downwards without the top link, but the top link should stop any free movement when attached to the hitch and mower, thus eliminating any friction between the mower deck and ground. I've designed the hitch bolting point in such a way that I can fold the hitch up vertical for when it's in storage or back of the van, although I doubt it and the bike will fit in together. I spent the last 2 hours making up 3 brackets for the 3 different cutting positions when towing, I still have to figure out if I can push the mower aswell but I might leave that idea until the engine is in place and working. Next job is to weld on the 3 mounting brackets I made up.

This is something like what I'm trying to achieve with the rear axle, but in a slightly different way.

Yeah, I thought that myself, maybe it's just part of a 3 point linkage? Interesting setup all the same.

Quick update on parts.. I found an image of the blades and from that, I found a site selling all genuine parts for this particular brand of mower. So far I have purchased the following: 8x blades, 4 left swing, 4 right swing, 6 are genuine blades, the other 2 are spurious. A complete toothed pulley to replace the half missing one on the drive shaft side. 4 new blade screws (the allen key heads are worn/damaged on the 4 I have). Warning stickers for curious fingers. A few unusual washers and some spacers. Hopefully will have the parts late next week or early the week after!

I've been quite busy yesterday and today, I was trying to figure out the rear wheel setup and I mocked up what I think will work for me. As it's only a mock up nothing is permanent. The threaded bar will be replaced with an adjustable short top link with built in bearings, I had to figure out the clearances with the axle I made first. I will also use a top link on the drawbar to adjust the height of the deck front and back, this will attach to the top of the drawbar with a quick release pin and clip. I intend to make the hitch removable also. I spent a good few hours looking for parts last night and found out there are 3 different blade lengths for 4 different decks, a 36, 38, 40 and 42 inch deck. As it turns out, mine is the 38inch deck and it takes the 5.5 inch long blades. I dont have many photos of what I've done so far as I had the phone plugged into the radio most of the time. I have run out of etch primer and running low on steel, so I am going to order the few parts I CAN get, and put the project on hold until i can get the remaining gear to finish the project. I will have to get the engine before I do much more so I can make up brackets to sit it on and work the adjustable top links around it. I will have 3 hitch points for mowing, left, right and centre, depending on the run of the land. I will get some photos tomorrow of the painted items for your interest..

Is that PTO driven Fish? Looks like a shaft running into the back of the bike??

I got the shaft out, broke the nut again and lost my patience with it so I got a big ball pein hammer and took out my anger on it, got the bugger out! I'll cut the flattened threaded part off and drill for a new bolt another day.. I then sealed the bottom of the deck with a rust seal (same stuff I used on the quad last year). I found it hard to weld the inside of both patches due to the thin steel wall on the original deck, so I have used metal isopon here to smooth off the inside, I'll wet sand it tomorrow when it has set. Final job for today will be cleaning the driving drum and maybe get a coat of etch primer on it. I have also started cleaning up the sprocket cover.

I enjoy giving myself hardship!😂🤦‍♂️

Attempt number 3 on that snapped bolt on the top of the driving drum shaft..I shaped the top of the threaded part and welded another nut on, but I'm letting it cool for longer this time. Between yesterday evening and this morning I spent about 4 hours cleaning the paint off most of the upper side of deck, cut out the worn parts at the rear side and patched and welded new plates on. I then used metal Isopon to fill in a lot of the surface pithing before sanding it flat. Going to attempt getting the drum off a second time so keep you posted later..

Some more work getting done today, I have a problem though... The first drum i was able to hammer out the shaft of it from above, it took about 20 minutes to beat out through the bearing housing. The second one won't move at all. The bolt on top of the pin is also snapped off. I welded a nut on twice and it broke off twice, then I tried the heat cool method but still no joy. Are there any other ways to get either of these out? I can bore the bolt out if neccessary but I need to get the drum off the deck first.. The central bearings although a bit rusty, are in good shape do I'll just clean and reuse them.

As it turns out, there was a mix up with the suspension units that came for my trailer, I got two units for the same side of the trailer, ( I didn't cop it until I had them both greased and hubs assembled). Long story short, they took the wrong one back this morning and dropped out the opposite side. I still can't fit them as I cannot purchase bolts due to CV19.. grrr!!

Yeah, I had a good look at that page yesterday, some interesting stuff there to look at. I'm gonna draw up a few ideas and maybe template them in timber first to see what works best for my own needs. No shortage of timber here between the garage and shed.

The blades would have been 5 and a half inches long for those of you wondering. I'm working in our garden today while the weather is good, will get back to this later today maybe..

I have too much time on my hands these days Fish, have to get it done! I don't follow with the free hub you're on about? I just named the two blades as they are opposite angled to the blades on the other drum?

It's a chilly afternoon! I only went out for about 2 hours today, I couldn't warm up at all (I ended up on the phone for nearly an hour with a friend). What I did do though was I took apart the drum I removed yesterday and cleaned up all the parts. It turned out to be in pretty good shape, with the exception of one of the parts being quite badly corroded, I might be able to repair or replace it though. I removed the blades which are in tatters but the bolts are in good condition and just needed cleaning. It appears from the original paint marks that the drums did run 4 blades at one point. The bolts that mount the blades are flush with the blade so nothing to catch on rocks etc.. although I fear if a rock was sticking up it would just strike the blade! As you can see the blades are well worn out, I marked them so I know which drum the new blades will go on. I painted one of the washers and the main drum itself with etch primer but the wind was picking up so I'm back inside the cosy home now! More to do tomorrow weather permitting. What do you think of using these wheels? Are they a bit small or would they work? The tyre is about 8 inches tall I think and they are rated to around 100kg each..

I couldn't tell you what direction the donor engine rotates, I'll have to wait and see I guess. I agree, 4 blades sounds better to me too, less engine strain. I have a friend south of me about 2.5 hours drive, he has about 140 acres of farmland and about 120 acres of forestry. He said come down when it's done and you can top all my fields lol I'm sure my boss wouldn't mind me mowing some of his land, he has about 40 acres only a few miles drive from me. As for pulling speed, I guess that would depend on the height of cut, thickness of grass, wet or dry etc? I will just have to figure it out as I go. Terrain will dictate it somewhat too I guess. I want to see it up and running before my 30th birthday in early May so I'll push hard to get it sorted before then. I just hope delivery service isn't delayed too much with the Covid 19..

1993 appears to be the closest match to the deck I have. It's the only year that has the 4x plastic wheels attached, so this would make it one of the last of its type for that era! And I thought 1998 was old enough with the quad! Manual for this in link below: https://help.gardentractorspares.co.uk/help/wts/st3/1993.pdf

I think the way the belt works is it goes around the drive belt, then twists over that centre bearing to the opposite side of the far sprocket so that they rotate opposite directions to throw the grass evenly out the rear chute. They would have to be dialed in so that the blades from both drums don't clash. I would think this is a bit trickier to do if it had 8 blades attached. The guy I spoke to earlier who has a donor engine said I would have to fit a tensioner pulley between the engine and final drive, so that when I start the engine from a stop, the drums don't rotate until I release a tensioner pulley. I would think the best way of fitting this is with a spring that you can lock when untensioned and just release it to engage cutting mode?

It's good to have followers to bounce information off!😁 considering my bike is almost fully complete along with my trailer, I had to find something else to do with myself (apart from the carpentry). I had a quick look at the 2nd link you posted last, wow there are so many variants of that mower haha! I'll have to hop on the laptop later and suss out which models/years had this exact deck and I can accurately get parts for my own off a parts diagram. I have given up for today, my face is filthy and everything around me is red/orange in colour lol ! I would love to find out the original paint colour, although I'll probably end up painting it all black like my trailer. I did manage to clean the bearing housing and get 2 coats of etch primer on it. I'll update you with more progress on Monday, going to take the day off tomorrow🙈

These are the blades I have, although they're in a lot better condition haha! Thanks for the link!

Forgot to mention that the 4x bearings that sit opposite eachother at both pulleys are also seized. Can someone tell me the purpose of them? Is it to stop the belt from jumping off the sprocket?

@_Wilson_™ the deck was incorrectly advertised as a 36inch deck, its actually a 42inch deck, this might help your search. I couldn't find much on a 36inch deck either but when I changed the search to 42 inch, I got lots of results. I have been busy cleaning the paint off the top and sides, aswell as cutting off the old mounting points..I found a few rusty holes around the outfeed chute area, this is kind of expected I guess! While the deck was upside down I tested the bearings of both drums by using a battery drill and wire brush. The free wheel drum bearings seem to be perfect, and look like they could have been replaced in the last few years. The driving drum however is quite stiff and doesn't take much to stop it spinning. I then had some fun removing the free wheeling drum (belt driven by the other drum). I had to hammer a section of 1 inch box steel over the washer that holds the shaft in place. This turned out to be too big when I got down to the top bearing so a trolley Jack handle was sacrificed! The results so far..