The Old Lawnmower Club
Collection, Preservation and Display of Old Lawn Mowers
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Atco traction drive on with cutter handle

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WaterFairy Tue, 04/04/2017

Hi, first let me say I'm a mower newbie so please be kind...

Here is my problem, I have obtained an atco commodore b14e which cuts and runs well, but when I engage the cutter clutch the traction drive also engages. The deadmans handle is split in two the right hand piece clearly showing a picture of the cylinder. If I engage the cutter clutch the mower moves off smartly, if at this point I pull up the second part of the deadmans lever the mower seems to speed up.

my question is should I be able to engage the cutters without the traction drive, the manual and mower set up appear to indicate so but neither clearly state that fact.

Also with the engine off, there is considerable resistance from the rear roller when trying to push the mower is this part of the same problem?

Forums

wristpin Tue, 04/04/2017

This is getting a bit modern but.....

I'm assuming that your machine has a belt primary drive followed by chains to the clutch and rear roller.​ The cutter engagement lever pulled up by itself should do nothing unless the little red " cable grab" lever is engaged first.  With the cutter engaged lifting the traction drive lever ( sometimes referred to as a bale arm) should engage the forward drive and also keep the cutters engaged.

The speeding up may just be the engine governor reacting to the increased load of the traction drive being engaged but it should settle back down after the initial reaction. The drag when the traction drive is disengaged could be due to the drive engagement  cable being out of adjustment, rust or corrosion  on the clutch plate or even overnight chains.

Will help if you will take the side cover off and post an image.

 

 

WaterFairy Thu, 06/04/2017

Thanks Wristpin for taking the time to answer, sorry its new fangled stuff.

So I took the cover off to take a pic and noticed that the chains were swamped in grease, Being on holiday I thought Id have a tinker!! ( is this how it starts? ). Chains off and cleaned and still in full tinker mode I thought ' I'll just have a look at the clutch'. Packed full of grease and some Nubbin had adjusted it all the way to stop the slipping. So a scrape, a scrub in white spirit and a fettling of the adjusters and 'hey presto' all working as it should..

Now for a new project, A Ransomes, Anglia Mk V push mower rescued from a load about to be skipped..

Thanks again

wristpin Thu, 06/04/2017

Definitely a better class of skip!

The modern quip was not meant as a criticism but to suggest that it was near the modern end of my hands on knowledge .  The over oiled slipping clutch reminded me of a former customer with a mountainous garden  who insisted on mowing it with an earlier pre OPC Commodore . At winter service we would lube the chains and then wipe all the surplus oil off to ensure that none found its way to where it could cause a mid season issue.

hillsider Thu, 06/04/2017

Re the modern slant on things I don't wish to worry anyone here but a mower that dates from the mid seventies can be over 40 years old! This leads nicely on to the old argument of what constitutes an Old Lawnmower in regard to the Old Lawnmower Club a subject that I know has been discussed in the past.

I do see wristpins point of view though about some machines being more recent than our experience of actually working on them.