The Mower Bench

[Sawchip]

Not sure what the official setting is Simon, I tend not to reat too many instructions!

But I always set it at 1.5 turns out and then fine tune with the engine running.

Im not far off then....i stupidly !! forgot to do it up and count the turns after cracking off the cap.

[Sawchip]

Not sure what the official setting is Simon, I tend not to reat too many instructions!

But I always set it at 1.5 turns out and then fine tune with the engine running.

 

1.5 is where it stayed in the end after i loosened up the carb and set the jet then slid the ally restricter back on. Tuning on a IZY while running is not practical due to not being able to get to the top of the screw with all the obstructions. First carb iv needed to get that factory set and caped jet out to bring a IZY mower back to A1 running...hope its the blooming last.

[GardenKit]

Good result Simon

I always just cut the limiter tag off the mixture screw before undoing it for carb cleaning. Then set for 1.5 turns. It is actually quite easy to tune whilst running with a long shank screwdriver slid gently in from the rear of the air filter and just edging past the crankcase breather. Long flat head screwdriver for mixture and cross head for idle speed.

[Sawchip]

Good result Simon

I always just cut the limiter tag off the mixture screw before undoing it for carb cleaning. Then set for 1.5 turns. It is actually quite easy to tune whilst running with a long shank screwdriver slid gently in from the rear of the air filter and just edging past the crankcase breather. Long flat head screwdriver for mixture and cross head for idle speed.

I sniped the down tag without busting the Pilot screw (stupidly i went on to pull the ally bit of..needn't have bothered) ....If you do what Honda say then you brake the head off !!! and extract the stub with a rubber tube as a driver !! Yea ok...if you have another jet screw maybe.

I did try the long screw driver but admittedly after dislodging the breather tube and finding that lifting off the tank worked quicker than messing with the air box/carb to put it back ..i decided to do any movement to the screw from there if i needed . Il have a go on another some time but now i know 1.5 turns seems to be about spot with luck it will just be the idle screw needing movement ..that.. i could get at easy.

Edited April 27, 2017 by Sawchip

[Bonefishblues]

Morning mower gurus, I wonder if I could trouble you for your recommendations?

 

Firstly where I am at the moment. I have an Ibea 550 21" rear roller machine - one of the models with the "twist to go" arrangement. One like these, albeit not the exact model:

http://www.flextrading.dk/userfiles/File/Brugsanvisninger/Ibea/ib55095b.pdf

 

The TT system, and in particular the traction cable seems to be a particular weakness, so at the moment I have a 44kg push mower, which needs a new cable & a drive belt. I expect I'll pick up both and have a go at replacing them myself now there is a new Ibea UK dealer. I mean, what could go wrong

 

I am however turning my mind to the autumn/Winter sales in terms of picking up a new mower (the front of the alloy deck is also the worse for wear, caused by contact with one of our several trees , although because the inner deck's intact, it doesn't affect the mowing performance.

 

My lawns are pretty irregular in shape, so the longest mowing run I do is about 10 metres or so, and I need to make frequent turns and work around trees. The Ibea's rather unwieldy, so I'm thinking of dropping back to 19" for its replacement.

 

Question is, what to get? My thoughts are below (must be a roller model by the way):

 

Kaaz? The "default" quality machine, for sure, but downsides are it's pretty weighty, and also the drive system, even if I "baby" it by pushing to start and then letting drive come in sharply, would be likely to suffer in my mowing environment, I'd have thought.

Lawnflite? See above, as also Cobra etc.

New Mountfield/Atco hybrid deck? Don't know much about them tbh. How are they fairing in use?

Viking? Super warranty, seems light enough, could live with the looks, reputed to be good on wet grass. Plasticky, Briggs engine though?

Weibang? Great warranty, soooo (too) heavy.

Hayter. Nah.

Honda. Nah.

 

Welcome the thoughts of the experts. Am I on the right track, do you think, and am I overlooking anything significant?

[Tomtop]

I run John Deere r54 rvb (think) Great mower almost bullet proof can't fault them. Cheaper than Viking, Hayter, Weibang and a better mover. But saying all that I am going to start swapping them over to weibang once they put a clutch on there mowers. Yes they cost more but being that bit more heaver the cut and strip is that much better.

[Bonefishblues]

Their 47cm machines don't include a rear roller model, unfortunately. I also can't see unit weights anywhere on their site? Weibang just too heavy for me going forward in my garden.

Edited July 6, 2017 by Bonefishblues

[Bonefishblues]

Just a bump to see if there are other opinions to share?

[GardenKit]

Just a bump to see if there are other opinions to share?

You seem to have covered all the bases quite well. Any of the options will not let you down.

 

Personally, I would go with the KAAZ 48cm. The gearbox problem is nowhere near as bad as it is reported to be, just like anything else you only hear about the ones that have gone wrong. In any case, many other mowers will have had several gearboxes before a Kaaz one fails.

 

Gearboxes have been the Achilles heel of many roller mowers. JD, Hayter and Honda all suffer regular failure of their gearboxes when used heavily.

 

It was with this in mind that Mountfield have fitted a very heavy duty cone clutch in their SP505R V and SP555R V hybrid chassis roller mowers. Although these feature a galvanised steel deck as opposed to the aluminium Kaaz, they are pretty rugged machines and come much cheaper than the Kaaz. They also carry a fantastic 5year domestic warranty, so could well be worth a look.

 

You mentioned the lack of BBC on the Weibang, but in fact there is a Legacy 48 Pro BBC model. These are well built and carry a 5 yr domestic warranty (3yr PRO!!) but are incredibly weighty at 65.5kg.

 

John Deere did used to do a 47cm roller model but dropped it through lack of volume sales. We still sell their R43RVE and R43RS models which are incredibly good, but I keep clear of selling the weighty R54RKB into heavy users at the transmission just is not up to the job and repair costs can be high.

 

I replaced sales of the R47 and R54 models with Kaaz mowers which have proved fantastic.

 

I hope this may be of some help.

[Richard 1234]

Doesn't help your choice but I've been using the weibang pro mulcher this year and yes it's heavy for a mower without a roller or collection system but it leaves a great finish

 

 

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