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Collection, Preservation and Display of Old Lawn Mowers

Hayter 46 Autodrive

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Hello everyone. I’ve been lurking for a while but bought a new (well only 20 years old) mower at the weekend, and need help, so have taken the plunge.

My niece has been after a Hayter mower for a while, and I spotted a Hunter 46 Autodrive at a local machinery auction, bid on it, and got it. However when I took it out to the car I found the handles wouldn’t fold. One of the plastic thumbnuts was going round but the threaded insert wasn’t. No problem thought I, remove the handles from the deck, only four nuts, and I have my sockets in the car. Those “in the know” will realise my mistake, once the nut was off, one of the coach bolts shot down through the deck like a bullet and, after I got home, I found it was in a sort of  box cast into the deck, the bolt head had been holding a bracket attached to a heavy duty spring inside the box, which seems to take the weight off the height adjuster. It looks like the whole auto drive assembly will have to come off to get the bolt back in. I know the two “bearing caps” will have to come off to drop the unit, but what else?  Annoyingly, it had been in very good order, with the only faults being the thumbnut and a stuck drive belt tensioner, before I got my hands on it.
 

Forums

wristpin Tue, 04/10/2016

Been a long time but ........,The belt, the drive cable and , depending on the age of the machine the steady bracket from the transmission  to the back frame .

merryman Thu, 13/10/2016

I got round to working on the mower at the weekend. What an absolute pig of a job for such a simple fault! With everything from the “back end” loose, it still wouldn’t drop out. Although the parts book shows the height adjustment rod from front to back being two part, they are welded together, and the front wheel assembly has to come off followed by removal of one of those stupid self grip clips, before the rod can be lifted enough to allow the auto drive to drop away from the deck. Even then a lot of  prizing at the height lever is involved.  Re-fitting involved a lot of working blind, and both the deck height spring and clutch spring got stuck when I put the auto drive back, resulting in it having to come off again twice, before I finally got it right.  Anyway, with fresh oil and a sharpen, I took it to my niece on Sunday. Both my “big brother” and his son in law played happily with it for an hour or so, and were very pleased with the appearance, instant starting, and the way it cut the lawn.