Flymo Professional

[philip-s]

I have just acquired what I believe is a Flymo Professional, not seen one with with two rear wheels before. Does anyone have information on this machine such as age and the engine make, it says Cushaire on the cowling.

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[hdtrust]

Flymo’s were sold under various names, the one you have in the picture is a Flymo Contractor 52, 52 coming from the cutting width of the blade.
The engine should be an Aspera 122cc long life heavy duty, air cooled, third-port induction, loop scavenged two-stroke.
The one you are showing dates from the earliest 1975 – 1981
The engine speed is fixed at 3,300rpm, the carb has a diaphragm with a fixed jet and primer, don’t go pocking any wire into those jets, as you will ruin the engine!
They were sold by the lorry load to Councils for use on banks, I can remember quite clearly the wheels were great for travelling site to site, but that frame always got in the way on steep banks, times many we attached ropes to them, sending them down steep banks then pulling them back up on the rope and at the end of the day having arms the length of Orangutans!

[philip-s]

Many thanks for the detailed information.

[alan]

I would say it is a Contractor GT2 model with a 2-stroke 98cc JLO engine. The GT2s had 19″ (47cm) cutting decks, and were available from the late 1970s.

[alan]

Brochure picture, also has the Cushaire sticker on the cowl.

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[wristpin]

That one is Definitely a GT2 ( some badged Contractor) with a JLO engine which was available with or without the wheeled undercarriage . The original Flymo Domestic had an Aspera TA633 engine a metal fuel tank, fibre glass hood and an alloy impeller. Next came a similar machine , Aspera VA633, plastic tank and impeller and plastic (ABS?) hood. Then there was a similar machine with badged Professional with an Aspera VA633 and a blue hood , optional handle bar mounted snorkel air cleaner and optional undercarriage.
Then there were two yellow decked, Kirby Lauson engined machines 19” and 21” called Contractors ( I’ve got one of each!). Then there were various different variants with Tecumseh engines including the little 12” TL with the sweet running Kawasaki KT12 engine . I lost track of the variants after that and the days of the petrol hovers were fading away until the re-emergence of machines with Honda four-strokes – not true hovers needing undercarriages to float.
Flymo were masters of the mix and match so the above doesn’t claim to be exhaustive ,but is roughly what was available . One thing for sure is that when Flymo’s patents expired and several others, Atco, Allen, Templar etc, had a go at the hover market, no one else did it as well as Flymo.

[trusty220]

I agree, that engine is definitely a JLO which was made in Germany in various sizes. Some of the larger JLO’s had steel cable as recoil rope and they were always associated with high power, low weight and long life, being fitted to many commercial mowers from the continent such as Dori. Unfortunately the company closed down on the mid-Nineties so parts supply may be awkward.

The importer of the engines into the British Isles used to be Industrial Power Units (IPU) who are still in existence in West Bromwich. They also imported Dori mowers at the time and their Sales Manager told me that JLO (pronounced ILO) was Esperanto for “A Good Tool”. Not too sure how much fiction was involved with that story but it does sound feasible.

Something else that I remember from the Eighties with the GT2 Flymo was that the wheel kit was an option and came in a separate box. After a while I think they were left with large stocks of wheel kits and they came through as standard when you ordered a GT2.

[andyfrost]

You gents are spot on , it’s a JLO engine , and it DOESN’T have a diaphragm carb , JLO normally sourced their carbs from Bing , plenty of parts for these are available on the continent.

Andy

[wristpin]

Just to add to the jig saw, JLO were eventually acquired by Tecumseh! Quite a lot of their larger engines were to be found on generator / welder sets and at full chat really sang.
The Bing carbs on the GT2s were rather prone to throttle spindle / governor wear and I only used my last rebuild kit two or three years ago – might still have a spare spindle.

[philip-s]

The cutting width is 19 inch. I wondered about the cowling being apparently aluminium so it appears it is a GT2 JLO model. Now I just have to get it going, does it have the usual points and condenser under the flywheel?

[andyfrost]

Yes , from memory they are Bosch components

[wristpin]

Yes they were Bosch magnetos. There was a special tool that screwed into the centre of the flywheel to pull it off the crank. Annoyingly the points gap had to be set with the flywheel in place as the cam was part of it. The “ windows” in the flywheel provided to give access fot feeler gauge and screwdriver, never seemed to be in just the right place.
Back in the 80s we were servicing lots of contractor and golf course machines so to make the job easier I cut the centre from a scrap flywheel to provide a dummy cam before refitting the flywheel – still got the puller and my dummy cam.

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[wristpin]

I can remember the “ good tool “ story as well !
While on the JLO theme I can remember seeing at a show a Hayter 21 or Osprey fitted with a big vertical shaft JLO. Not sure whether it was an aftermarket conversion or a Hayter option for bank work.

[andyfrost]

You’re right Angus , I’ve seen the Hayter 21/osprey with the JLO engine.

Andy.

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