Westwood T1200 Mower Saga

[Onoff]

As I've run out of blast medium here I asked and was quoted locally, £50 to soda blast his piddly little gearbox. FFS!

So I approached the shot blasting and painting outfit that the first company I worked for in 1983 used to used to paint our machines.

Chap down there will do me a 25kg bag of crushed glass shot shotblast media for £20. I'm going to take 2. Should have thought of them first!

Off topic I know but back in 2016 I had them shot blast, zinc flame spray and 2 pack paint the astronomy pier I designed and built for my brother:

 

[Onoff]

Can I use ordinary soda crystals as a blasting medium in my cheap as chips Aldi/Lidl gun like this. Not got anything else and wanted to do a bit more on this gearbox:

 

[ranchero]

Can I use ordinary soda crystals as a blasting medium in my cheap as chips Aldi/Lidl gun like this. Not got anything else and wanted to do a bit more on this gearbox:

View attachment 231889

should keep it clean

 

[Dcal]

I need to get this wheel off the axle and the orange pulley off the gearbox:

View attachment 231158

I've tried MAPP gas on the pulley as per this video:

No dice. I think the gearbox in the video is larger than mine. No way can I get a bit of 4x2 in there! (Pretty sure in the video he whacks his finger at about 6.10 in...ouch!)

Tried a bfo gear puller on the pulley...it just started bending the pulley.

Going to try supporting the pulley on solid steel bars sat on metal builders stands rather than my plastic saw horses.

As for the wheel, that's equally stuck. Filled up the well with citric acid solution which has at least derusted the end of the shaft.

I was given a similar mower before lockdown (well one with the same axle)
It is a non-runner and I haven’t got around to looking at it yet.

Went to cut the grass today and had two punctures on my MTD.
One front, one back but the back tyre is scrap with a huge split.
They could well be the original tyres as they are very dozed and were made in the USA.

Anyway the rear tyres on the other ride on are the same size so I thought I could just change the wheels but of course they are different.
I removed one of the wheels and changed over the tyres.

The other rear wheel had different ideas and was stuck fast so this is how I went about removing it.



Turned down a washer so it fitted over the central bush of the wheel.




Welded it on with 2.5 rods. I gave it a full run at 90 amps to get heat into the wheel but in hindsight it didn’t need as much weld or heat.
I then gripped the washer with a puller and pulled it off.
It let go fairly easily but I had to keep adding spacers until the wheel was completely off the axle.






So far so straight forward and the intention was to turn the washer off on with my lathe after removal.

Couple of issues, first I melted the edge of the wheel centre when welding so I had to build it back up with more weld, second a Boxford isn't really big enough for a 9 inch wheel and I don’t have the correct tooling that will reach into the dish of the wheel.



I do have a mag slugger adapter with a MT2 shank and a big slugger bit so I used that to get the most of it off.




I then turned the remainder down with the only thing I had that would reach, a cheap 10mm RH holder that just reached if I had it held with one tightening screw.








Far from ideal but it got the job done.
A washer with the correct outside diameter could be just welded and left in place as it could be used to keep the hub cap on.
It would also help with getting the wheel off in the future but as I have a lathe I thought I'd use it.

 

[Turbo]

I was given a similar mower before lockdown (well one with the same axle)
It is a non-runner and I haven’t got around to looking at it yet.

Went to cut the grass today and had two punctures on my MTD.
One front, one back but the back tyre is scrap with a huge split.
They could well be the original tyres as they are very dozed and were made in the USA.

Anyway the rear tyres on the other ride on are the same size so I thought I could just change the wheels but of course they are different.
I removed one of the wheels and changed over the tyres.

The other rear wheel had different ideas and was stuck fast so this is how I went about removing it.

View attachment 233921

Turned down a washer so it fitted over the central bush of the wheel.

View attachment 233922


Welded it on with 2.5 rods. I gave it a full run at 90 amps to get heat into the wheel but in hindsight it didn’t need as much weld or heat.
I then gripped the washer with a puller and pulled it off.
It let go fairly easily but I had to keep adding spacers until the wheel was completely off the axle.

View attachment 233924

View attachment 233925


So far so straight forward and the intention was to turn the washer off on with my lathe after removal.

Couple of issues, first I melted the edge of the wheel centre when welding so I had to build it back up with more weld, second a Boxford isn't really big enough for a 9 inch wheel and I don’t have the correct tooling that will reach into the dish of the wheel.

View attachment 233926

I do have a mag slugger adapter with a MT2 shank and a big slugger bit so I used that to get the most of it off.

View attachment 233927


I then turned the remainder down with the only thing I had that would reach, a cheap 10mm RH holder that just reached if I had it held with one tightening screw.


View attachment 233928


View attachment 233929


Far from ideal but it got the job done.
A washer with the correct outside diameter could be just welded and left in place as it could be used to keep the hub cap on.
It would also help with getting the wheel off in the future but as I have a lathe I thought I'd use it.

Get yourself a bottle of OKO puncture sealant & split it between all 4 tyres - end of any punctures!
https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/2003370275...MIqqmqj8jf6QIVh-5RCh1AognLEAQYBSABEgJAVfD_BwE

Also when you are servicing it annually slide off the back wheels & cover the axle in copaslip.

 

[Onoff]

My mower is a goer!

Transplanted the gearbox from the donor mower. Some blind holes needed tapping M10 as it was mounted different.

Changed over the gear select lever atop the box as different lengths.

The then found the pto tensioner belt pulley had worn seized and worn through:

Back to the donor and retrieved a rusted to Hell metal version. A couple of days in the citric acid barrel saw everything a bit cleaner. Drilled out the 3 spots holding the pulley halves together. One half is perfect, the other a bit shot. I put it back together with M4 rivnuts and some random screws I "turned down".....with a file, on the pillar drill. New bearing was a fiver.

At least it gets SWMBO out of the house now and she can cut the lawn!

Grass box needs some tlc sometime.

 

[Dcal]

Get yourself a bottle of OKO puncture sealant & split it between all 4 tyres - end of any punctures!
https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/2003370275...MIqqmqj8jf6QIVh-5RCh1AognLEAQYBSABEgJAVfD_BwE

Also when you are servicing it annually slide off the back wheels & cover the axle in copaslip.

Thanks @Turbo one of my next questions was did anyone know of a good puncture sealant. I’ll get some of this ordered.
Does it work on tubes as well?
The donner tyres are tubeless and I converted the rear but I need to buy new front tyres and get them on.

I had tubeless valves but I don't have the proper tubeless valve fitting tool but I was able to use a valve tap and a claw hammer to fit them.
I used my hydraulic press to break the beads.

 

[badabec]

Hello, I don't use the grass box on my Mountfield, I've hung a sheet of ply from the grass box hooks. Since doing that, the lawn (?) has improved, much less moss. There is a proper attachment but I'm too cheap to buy one.

 

[Turbo]

Thanks @Turbo one of my next questions was did anyone know of a good puncture sealant. I’ll get some of this ordered.
Does it work on tubes as well?
The donner tyres are tubeless and I converted the rear but I need to buy new front tyres and get them on.

I had tubeless valves but I don't have the proper tubeless valve fitting tool but I was able to use a valve tap and a claw hammer to fit them.
I used my hydraulic press to break the beads.

View attachment 233962

It works on tractors which normally have tubes.

I was able to buy it locally from a motor factors a lot cheaper than that online price, maybe worth looking around.

If you go to the mower & find a flat wheel (like I did last week) you blow the wheel up, find the puncture, position the wheel with the puncture at the bottom & watch the sealant do it's thing! No messing around stripping tyres off rims.

 

[Dcal]

Thanks @Turbo I've a lot of hawthorn hedges so it's a constant battle.

There was no getting away from stripping these off though.



They owe me nothing.

I do need to buy a set, but very few of the online sellers I've found will post to NI.
Anyone know of a good seller that will post to the whole of the UK?

 

[Onoff]

I'm going to try filling the cracks in my tyres with C-tech CT1 and see how it holds up.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Anyone know of a good seller that will post to the whole of the UK?

Not sure of your size(s), but this lot any good?

https://www.blackcircles.com/garages/uk/northern-ireland

 

[Dcal]

Not sure of your size(s), but this lot any good?

https://www.blackcircles.com/garages/uk/northern-ireland

Thanks slim, I use them a lot and find them very good and they charge the same to all corners of the Empire.
Don't thnk they do the sizes I need (18 x 9.5 and 15 x 6.00) but will give them a try.

 

[Turbo]

Thanks @Turbo I've a lot of hawthorn hedges so it's a constant battle.

There was no getting away from stripping these off though.

View attachment 234316

They owe me nothing.

I do need to buy a set, but very few of the online sellers I've found will post to NI.
Anyone know of a good seller that will post to the whole of the UK?

Any decent tyre depot will keep them or can order them in.

 

[rtcosic]

Off topic I know but back in 2016 I had them shot blast, zinc flame spray and 2 pack paint the astronomy pier I designed and built for my brother:

That sounds like long life protection. How is it standing up to the elements 4 years later?
Any idea how flame spray compares to traditional hot dip galvanising is one had to pay for it?

(Yes I could contact local suppliers, but I have no base line cost to know if I'm being quoted 'go away' prices for either service)

 

[Onoff]

That sounds like long life protection. How is it standing up to the elements 4 years later?
Any idea how flame spray compares to traditional hot dip galvanising is one had to pay for it?

(Yes I could contact local suppliers, but I have no base line cost to know if I'm being quoted 'go away' prices for either service)

Zinc flame spraying. It's good but relies imo on good preparation. Shot blasting to Swedish Standard SA2.5 for a start. There's stuff I've put on roofs 30 years ago that was zinc flame sprayed and powder coated that still looks new. Some stuff like cranes are just too big for a galvanising tank even if double dipping.

Shop around, get 3 quotes.

To do the piers 3 components was £125+VAT

Grit blast
Zinc metal spray
One coat epoxy zinc phosphate
One coat 2 pack gloss

 

[Onoff]

Recovered the dead mower battery!

Showing 4V, it'd appear to charge but drop straight down again the first time you tried to use it.

Cleaned it with a bicarbonate of soda solution about 10% bicarb. That reacts & cleans all the crap off the plates. Rinsed. Then filled with 12% Epsom salt solution and trickle charged for 24 hours. Up to about 13V and has started the mower no problem half a dozen times. That's with the Epsom salt solution still in and no "real" acid.

 

[angellonewolf]

could you take to a battery place to refill it ?

 

[Onoff]

could you take to a battery place to refill it ?

Could do but I've a litre of new acid anyway and I'll strain some of the old stuff to make it up.