The Old Lawnmower Club
Collection, Preservation and Display of Old Lawn Mowers
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Colt 3a

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paul_a Fri, 10/06/2016

Hi all, just acquired a Colt 3a for my latest project.  Engine runs and all clutches work but there is a problem with the rear roller, it has collapsed on the dog side and it looks like it has been bounced down kerbs as it has flat spots all around.

Are the rear rollers the same on all 12" models or do I have to find one off a 3a?  

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wristpin Sat, 11/06/2016

As far as I know all the versions of the original "cast iron" chassis Colt used the same roller.

Back in the day we used to repair a lot of rollers. If the shaft had come loose or torn a an oversized hole in the end of the drum it would sometimes need a "repair washer" cut from a bit of mild steel sheet to re-find the centre and reinforce the torn area. Badly dented or rollers with a split centre seam were re skinned with a thin mild steel skin courtesy of the shop foreman of a  near by company who made heating and ventilating ducting . He would roll them from scrap material in exchange for some beer tokens.

We would hold them in place with a couple of over size Jubilee worm drive clips, trim the ends to leave a mall gap, run a bead of weld down the gap so that when it cooled it pulled the ends together tight on the drum  - job done!

paul_a Sat, 11/06/2016

Thanks Wristpin, will keep an eye out for a roller/donor mower on fleabay.  Just waiting for the S2 cylinder to be ground and it can go back together, I can start on the 3a then.

paul_a Sun, 19/06/2016

Drove 200 miles only to find the Colt I'd gone to buy wasn't a Colt at all.   Picked it up anyway as it had the exhaust I needed on it.  The thing has a 14" cylinder/roller but has the 3 clutch array, could it be an early Punch?  Pic to follow.

wristpin Sun, 19/06/2016

Afraid that it's the hazard of buying from a seller who genuinely doesn't really know what the are selling or is just a wheeler dealer and can't be bothered. One only has to flick through the bay of evil to find plenty of mowers mis described  by make and model let alone the " very rare" .

On the other hand I did an eighty mile round trip for a 17" Punch that turned out to be  Punch Professional - far rarer and of more interest!

I was going to bid on a Colt at an live auction on Friday  with you in mind but at the last minute the auctioneer rolled it together with another lot and wrong footed me a bit.

There will be another. Post the pic of what you got anyway.

wristpin Sun, 19/06/2016

It's a MkVII Punch. Looks to have been cared for, good original front rollers and an original pattern exhaust muffler.

Given a proper clutch instead of Suffolk's centrifugal one it would have been a better machine than the Super Punches etc that followed it . Possibly became a victim of the "to expensive to manufacture" syndrome.