Victa Lawnmower repairs

[Daddles]

My old Victa has let me down.
I've resisted reaching for the matches.

Actually, it wasn't a great drama ... so I've made it one

I broke the pull rope. :eek: It parted at the knot on the starter pulley. So I pulled the top off. Cleaned out a couple of centuries worth of dried grass, then lost a screw. Found the screw and had a long, hard worry about replacing said pull rope. Couldn't see how it would work so tied it on as I thought best and reassembled.

The flamin' pull rope won't retract. It'll spring back a little but only by one turn of the flywheel.

I managed to get the old girl started by leaving the top cover off and rewinding the rope by hand. Got her hot. Refitted the top cover, and started her, then mowed the lawn with the rope hanging loose (coz it won't retract). So, of course, I managed to get the rope under the mower whereupon it chopped a good foot off the rope and destroyed that nifty little plastic handle.

So, I need some more rope - I'm tempted to use what I've got but she can be a brute to start so I'd like a full pull.

I need a new handle - but could use a lump of wood.

THEN,

How do you fit that rope so that it retracts? :confused:

Grumps
Richard
I'm renting so I can't install green concrete

[Ashore]

Richard
as you didn't disassemble the spring and it was wotking till knot broke you my find that you have to wind the pully backwards first to tension the spring
also if she's a bugger to start go to super cheep and get a can of airo start a
little spray in the air intake may solve a lot of your pulling problems
Pitty about the green concrete, I did and now cut mine with a wipper snipper the son in law inhereted the victa



The trouble with life is there's no background music.

[Daddles]

Richard
as you didn't disassemble the spring and it was wotking till knot broke you my find that you have to wind the pully backwards first to tension the spring

I tried that and it didn't seem to do anything. Every rotation, the pully reaches a point where there's a clunk and that's it.

As for the hard starting, that's possibly because I'm using up some old outboard fuel with some extra oil added. Either the fuel's gone stale or I'm adding too much oil or both. Or it could just be grumpy old Victa's disease.

Thanks for the thought. Love the signature about background music. I'm going fishing this arvo, trouble is, I'm taking a four year old and three 12 year olds :eek:

Richard

[aussiecolector]

Not sure what you've done to your mower. sort of sounds like the spring needs winding up a bit but not if it's clunking.

Now that you've started on stale petrol I'll have my say. This watery stuff they are trying to pass off as petrol these days should be banned. It only keeps for about four months at best and you can half that if you mix two-stroke oil with it or if air or light can get to it. Then bacteria lives in it, if you dont spend another couple of cents a litre on adatives that should allready be in it, and cloges every thing up.

[Ashore]

I tried that and it didn't seem to do anything. Every rotation, the pully reaches a point where there's a clunk and that's it.

Richard

That will proberly be the throw out paul that engages to turn the motor and disengage when running.

Then try turning it in the uther direction while holding the blades still to tension the spring.

or dissasemble the next level you may have to tension by hand can't remember ( it has been 15 years since i did any work on a victa)

If the fuel has gone off it should change colour and you will get some water in the bottom and sometimes a smell , if this has happened wash the container out Very Well or get a new container .






The trouble with life is there's no background music.

[Daddles]

That will proberly be the throw out paul that engages to turn the motor and disengage when running.

Then try turning it in the uther direction while holding the blades still to tension the spring.

or dissasemble the next level you may have to tension by hand can't remember ( it has been 15 years since i did any work on a victa)

If the fuel has gone off it should change colour and you will get some water in the bottom and sometimes a smell , if this has happened wash the container out Very Well or get a new container .






The trouble with life is there's no background music.

Thanks mate. I'll give that a go tomorrow. I've just spent half an hour repairing a fishing reel ... and it still works now that it's re-assembled. :eek: I'm off now to an appointment with some Bream. Stuff the lawns.

Cheers
Richard

[adrian]

Thanks mate. I'll give that a go tomorrow. I've just spent half an hour repairing a fishing reel ... and it still works now that it's re-assembled. :eek: I'm off now to an appointment with some Bream. Stuff the lawns.

Cheers
Richard

I can see what your problem is but I'll let you work it out for yourself.
A word of warning though...................get ready to duck when the sinker comes back at a hundred miles an hour.

[Optimark]

In the very early sixties I was apprenticed as a gardener and we had Victa lawnmowers for grasscutting. They were quite reliable, but, all of them eventually stuffed up their wind-up or rope re-wind assemblies, depending on the model.

The solution the boss came up with still works today and is simple and cheap.

Remove the entire starter assembly and bolt on a rope pully wheel. They go straight on, or at worst, require a resizing adaptor. From then on you'll need a good piece of rope with a knot at one end and a small T bar piece of timber at the other for your hand.

Happy pulling!

Mick.

[adrian]

I tried that and it didn't seem to do anything. Every rotation, the pully reaches a point where there's a clunk and that's it.
Richard

I remember having a similar problem with a mower. The reel that holds the rope has a slot that grips a 'u' shaped bend at the end of the spring. If the spring fails at that point you may need a new spring because it's difficult to bend that stuff without weakening it. I can't remember whether I replaced the spring or just cut the end off and bent it again.
It sounds like you have a similar problem at one end of the spring or the other.

[kiwigeo]

Im reminded of a very funny scene from a Paul Newman movie...think it was called "Blaze". It was all about a southern USA polie and a stripper.

Anyway in this scene he gives up yanking away on the start cord of his mower, storms inside, returns with his double barrelled shottie and puts two shots through the mower.

[TrevorOwen]

My old Victa has let me down.

Richard
You must never say that about a Victa. I recently stopped my Victa because it was chugging to a halt by itself and blowing smoke. I then tried to start and found that the engine had siezed. I let it cool a while and then found that I could just turn the blade plate by hand. I then continued to turn a couple of turns and felt that there might yet be hope for the old girl after all. So I decide to give her her third oil change in 30 years, and behold not a drop came out. No wonder she got hot! I then proceeded to fill her up with fresh oil and did a few more hand turns before resorting back to the pull cord. Alas, after many pulls, and a cleaned spark plug, she came back to life and is now running as good as ever. God bless Victa.
I definately won't be treating my woodwork tools like that. In fact I have now gone mad on maintenance, particularly rust prevention.
By the way, the Victa now has a new air filter so that the old girl, like me, can breath easier also.

Regards from Adelaide
Trevor

[Ashore]

Ah!!! trevor a 4 stroke victa a mighty piece of engineering but I fear daddles is but a 2 stroke and when they are siezed they are siezed good.


Im reminded of a very funny scene from a Paul Newman movie...think it was called "Blaze". It was all about a southern USA polie and a stripper.

It was indeed Blaze , never trust a man who says trust me, one of the funniest scenes i have ever seen in a movie


as for the spring breaking, i think it may just be the rope not the spring
and as for heating and bending spring steel this is not a good engineering practise as you then have face center cubic steel next to body center cubie ( it changes under heat) you may get embrittlement and the life of the spring at point of bending reduced to only very few uses if it survives the first strain at all

[kiwigeo]

My old Victa has let me down.
I've resisted reaching for the matches.

A lighted match might be another way of getting old Gerty running again. Empty a can of Aero start (="start ya bastard") into the carb......apply the lighted match and RUN!!

[Iain]

Empty a can of Aero start (="start ya bastard") into the carb

This practise extends the stroke...................................by about 10 metres :eek:

[vsquizz]

Hey Daddles, chuck the ropes and pull all the frog poo off the top of the mower so the big nut on the crank is exposed. Find socket to fit and driver piece for the biggest electric drill you own. Engage the the drill in righty-tighty direction and start the bastard. Works every time on my cranky petrol mixer.

BTW; make sure the socket is not too tight on the nut otherwise.....


Cheers