[charlie]

Dave, the BMB Plowmate has two forward and one reverse gear. Not sure about axle, it may have independant clutches for steering, dont think it has a differential.

[charlie]

Interesting. One possible explanation is the gearbox has been replaced at some time with one taken from a Colwood motor hoe, made by Dashwood.

[charlie]

Good to see the Jetcut in use. If you take the old belt to a belt supplier they will be able to match it to a new one. If you do a google search for belt suppliers in your area or look in yellow pages you should find one.

[charlie]

Phil, I have had a look in manual for Jetcut and all it gives in parts list is J24 vee belt, no dimensions.

[charlie]

An alternative to using loctite would be to have the collar a tight fit, then heat it before fitting and let it shrink onto shaft a bit like fitting metal tyres on wooden wagon wheels.

[charlie]

Keith, I use Plus Gas penetrating oil, original WD40 is not that good as a penetrating oil, although they do now make a specific penetrating oil. A bit of gentle heat might help.

[charlie]

It might be worth doing some research at MERL Reading, they have engineering drawings for Mayfield I believe along with other records and literature.

[charlie]

That is an interesting fact, I wonder what the connection was, or it could simply be the registered address.

[charlie]

Everything is back together, time for a test run/hoe.

[charlie]

Gearbox was tight, so I stripped it down and found one bearing was tight from lack of use, now all turns nice and easily. Below are a couple of photos of final drive to wheels and associated clutch, looks to be some good solid engineering.

Attachments:

1. 
2. 

[charlie]

An online search of MERL archive has revealed they have a leaflet for the Commando Hoe, something to look at and copy next time I visit.

[charlie]

A search of British newspaper archive revealed an article dated December 1949 that shows the Commando Hoe exhibited at Smithfield Show. Associated photo shows a machine the same as mine.

Attachments:

1. BL_0001858_19491228_011_0012.pdf

[charlie]

After giving carb and magneto a good clean and replacing perished HT lead the engine now runs. New throttle cable made. Now to checkout gearbox and how clutches are supposed to work. Clutch to disengage hoe drive does not seem to work.

[charlie]

Sean, many thanks for copying the photo etc. The machine in the photo is the same as mine except for slightly different wheels.

[charlie]

Reading through ’70 Years of Garden Machinery’ by Brian Bell, it looks as if your rotavator is an early Mountfield M1. These first appeared in 1962 and were fitted with the Kirby Lauson engine, later models had Briggs & Stratton engines.

[Author]

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