Atco 14 inch

[darmic1]

Thats it exactly, the garage is integral to the house, its warm, carpeted and often a nicer place to be when the 2 kids are kicking off!
As for thumbs, this left one has been crushed, sliced, burnt and now drilled. Thankfully feeling less sore this evening! Its not until you try to do buttons and shoe laces that you realise just how useful they are! I used to work with a chap who’s big toe was used to replace his thumb which was removed on a table saw!!! That is not something I wish to add to my list of injuries.

[vhgmcbuddy]

some times I can be a little childish,but I must ask, did your work mates new thumb ever smell sweaty ?

[darmic1]

I never asked for a sniff!!!

[darmic1]

One thing I’ve pondered today is the actual model of this mower. Having looked at the old mower club site I’m sure its a 14″ light Atco? Not actually able to work on it today, but I have looked around for spares. One of the bearings on the cylinder is broken, have seen some replacement ball races on the net but not sure of the size or if they come with the ally housing or not. Will maybe have a look tomorrow at removing the damaged one from the end of the cylinder and get some measurements.

[wristpin]

Have sent you a pm. This may apply to your machine but the parts list is not dated.

Attachments:

1. Atco-2-stroke-cutting-cylinder-assy0001.pdf

[vhgmcbuddy]

Got a feeling the model was a B14.

[wristpin]

Is this the type of bearing you need? Thought that they weren’t introduced until considerably later.

Attachments:

1. 

[darmic1]

Hi Angus, No, its not that type of bearing after all. It did look like those on initial strip down as one had fallen out, hence my original post suggesting bicycle type. They are in fact these and are stamped either RLS or RL5 and “made in England” still in the housing……

Attachments:

1. 

[darmic1]

Have made a bit more progress today. Have stripped the engine right down to the crank and casing. Cleaned all the parts and its now ready for reassembling, once I’ve got the new parts. Made a call to Meetens today to order new spark plug, lead and carb overhaul kit. Also asked about a set of engine gaskets, but have been told they are no longer available and will need to make my own. A job for tomorrow maybe?

Attachments:

1. 

[darmic1]

Todays progress was to make the gaskets for the crank case and the barrel. All made and ready. Next was to remove the remaining old bearings from the roller and the cylinder. These came off fairly easy and I took them to my bearing supplier for identification. He confirmed them to be RL5’s, a double race, self aligning bearing, not something which is kept in stock these days. 4 phone calls later and it wasn’t looking good for the old Atco. He then phoned an importer/distributor who it seems holds the entire UK stock of these bearings. The downside is they are £10 each and I need 5 of them, still, they are decent quality and not cheap chinese rubbish. They should be here in a week.

[andyfrost]

Darren , they are still available on that well known auction site , by the way your parts went in yesterdays post.

Andy.

[hillsider]

A bit late to help in this case but here is the company that I have used few times, enter your bearing number in the search box on their site to see the bearing that you are looking for.

http://simplybearings.co.uk/shop/

[darmic1]

Thanks Andy, thats brilliant. Re the bearings, my vernier has stopped working, changed the battery? Dead! Couldnt measure them and these guys were really helpful last time I needed bearings and seals for the Gem….. Thanks Ray, if I could identify them…… cheers!

[darmic1]

Afternoon folks……. The trip to the Powder coaters has thrown up a question regarding the colour. We had both the BS and RAL colour swatches, but were unable to find a good match. Did Atco have their own colour mixed or did they use something already available? The closest we could find was a Mid Brunswick Green. The machine has been painted at some point in its life and I would like to get this back to the original colour. Picture 8 on page 1 shows the original colour behind the chain case and on the inside. The colour is more Olive green than the later darker, greener, green! Any ideas???

[vhgmcbuddy]

Hi Darren,
Sorry I can’t help but will be pleased to hear if others can as I have had a similar experience, ending up with me mixing my own.
Whilst most of my old aquisitions have been predminently the Darker Green I have ahd some that look like the original showing bright Green however these were mid 60’s models not as old as yours.

[Author]

Posts