Atco Commodore B14 - Clutch Drive Shaft
Good evening, all,
First, thanks for the excellent forum - I've used your advice to good effect so far. Anyway, I've just bought an Atco Commodore B14. From what I understand, it appears to be a later version (with a belt + chains rather than all chains). The fella that sold it to me said it worked, but there was little power transfer to the roller/cylinder. This made me think - clutch.
But it started, yet the engine was hunting. After looking here, I inspected the carb:
quite a bit of gunk. So I cleaned it out, twice, and now the engine idles without hunting. One victory.
Behind the chain-guard, the chains seemed a little slack, the belt's upper sprocket looked back-to-front (?) - what are those suspect allen bolts?!?- and there seemed a bit of swarf here and there (not good):
Being far too green (mechanically) I adjusted the clutch plate (allen bolt on large sprocket) and the power transfer from the engine to both roller and cylinder was great....... BUT 2 cuts of the lawn - up once and back - and there were a few sparks from the housing. So I killed the power and opened up the housing.....
and the sproket+nut (and bit of shaft - now MUCH, MUCH thinner/tapered) had sheared off leaving only a tapered part of the clutch shaft poking though the bearing housing (with the suspect allen bolts). Interestingly, behind it was a brass sleeve:
No doubt, this was due to some for of awful misalignent over a prolonged period of time. ive had a look on ebay and can find a replacement B14 clutch drive shaft for £20. So I guess I need to fit this? It appears that the spring on the reverse side is partly broken, too:
Any ideas if this matters and, if so, where I can get one of these?
Is changing this clutch drive shaft a straight forward process?
Thanks, in advance. No doubt I'll have more Qs as this restoration process gets going.
Cheers,
Phill
Forums
Right, so I've partially
Right, so I've partially taken apart the clutch shaft. In doing so, one of the bearings was almost completely undone - upshot was its head had been nicely ground away on the shaft 
. Now it's tightened up
On removing the shaft, the broken spring fell out (!) and the effect of the misalignment is clearly obvious - rather like being turned down on a lathe!
The bearing housing was loose (tell-tale suspect bolts) and its bearing, if you can call it that, was oval in the middle and seized
I've removed the split pin, but can't quite see how to remove the shaft from its housing. Can anyone help, please?
So, with the shaft removed, I'm guessing I'll need the following parts to put it back together properly:
1. New Shaft
2. Spring
3. Bearing race
Can anyone help me with sourcing 2 & 3, please? Also, what goes on the sprocket side of the shaft? From the user's manual, I can only see a sprocket and nut, but I've got a bonus brass collar (see above).
Thanks in advance,
Phill
This may be of use but note
This may be of use but note the differences in the shaft between the 17/20 and the 14".
https://www.dropbox.com/s/mycfrxw4kemn0fq/Atco%20Commodore%20engine%20c…
If you've not already discovered it, the little slot head screw in the centre of the shaft in your last pic is, I believe, left hand thread.
The Gateshead Mower Centre is a possible source of parts as they bought up all the remaining parts stock when Bosch closed down the Atco/Suffolk/Qualcast operation at Stowmarket.
Wristpin - many thanks for
Wristpin - many thanks for both your replies and the PDF of the clutch. No, I hadn't realised that the screw was LH thread, but thanks for that - it would've been very painful otherwise.
I'll give the fellas in gateshead a call tomorrow regarding the spring and bearing.
From your PDF it looks to be as though the (mystery!) brass collar should actually be on the clutch-side (No 18 Adjusting Sleeve), but I'll have another shufties when the replacement parts arrive.
Thanks again,
Phill
Got offered one of these at
Got offered one of these at the weekend, looked in decent nick. Still got the bloke's number if you want it, Lake District.
Looks as though a collapsing
Looks as though a collapsing top shaft bearing may have allowed the chain case back plate to mill its way through the shaft . May be expatiated by an over tensioned belt which in turn may have resulted from the cutting cylinder being adjusted without the necessary readjustment of the belt.
I'll have a look later and see if I've got any relevant parts illustrations .