[trusty220]

The last company to own the Nickerson Turfmaster brand was Joe Turner Equipment at King’s Coughton, Warwickshire. It may be worth a call, but I doubt that they have anything left these days.

[trusty220]

You really do need to remove the flywheel to check the key hasn’t sheared. The keys are made of aluminium so that they can shear if the engine encounters a shock loading (like the mower blades hitting a brick); if the key was of the more usual steel type the shock loading would cause the flywheel to crack instead.

If you find that the key has sheared don’t be tempted tp replace it with a steel one- the proper aluminium ones are cheap enough and readily available.

[trusty220]

We used to have a special tool (I think it was for Suffolk lawnmower engines) that was designed to oscillate to help with lapping-in valves. The end of it was a screwdriver blade to engage the slot in the valve head, and the whole thing looked like a hand drill; the only difference was that when you turned the handle the output shaft would turn backwards and forwards. Very frustrating if you tried to drill a hole with it!

No doubt somebody on this forum will have had one. At least you know what the slot is for now!
Best of luck with it.

Oh- by the way, many engines on “our” machines have a larger exhaust valve than on the inlet. They also have a different valve spring made of thicker wire. This is to help cool the exhaust valve and transfer heat to the crankcase because the exhaust valve doesn’t have the cool air flowing over it that the inlet valve does. Please don’t mix the springs up (if they are different) otherwise you’ll have running problems that are difficult to diagnose.

[trusty220]

MAG was a company based in (I think) Switzerland- any more than that I don’t know, other than they were bought out by Kubota in the late 1980’s and some of the cross-over Kubota GS series engines were labelled “Kubota MAG” for a while.

The timing on these engines was a lot easier than most because the coil/condensor/contact breaker assembly was all mounted together on a common stator plate, I think it was made by Bosch. The stator could only be moved a few degrees one way or the other and it was normally marked with a chisel point once bench set in the factory, so you could take it off and put it back with certainty that you would get it right. Points gap was 15 thou.

Sometimes we used to find the end snapped off the valves on these engines, so check both ends thoroughly. Some valves used to “neck” and the head would come off whilst others would have a horseshoe collet to retain the valve spring and the end of the stem would snap off.

Good luck, they aren’t as bad as a lot of engines!

[trusty220]

It used to be the stablemate of the Ransomes Motor Triple. You can see this from the design of the cutter head, which is a single cutting unit off the Motor Triple. The MAG engined version was sold into the 1980’s and was a very good grasscutter, well-balanced and easy to use, and would cut everything in front of it and leave a tidy finish. Most local authorities in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s would have a fleet of them because they were simple to maintain and pretty indestructible.

[trusty220]

I can second that, Alan. Since I wrote the book on the Trusty I have had many calls from people with Trusty machinery- more to add to the Trusty Register so that it builds up into an accurate picture of the surviving machines and their distribution around the World.

Many people don’t realise that these horticultural machines were exported to all parts of the British Commonwealth as well as parts of the World that had seen the worst fighting in the war; the UNRRA was set up after the war to get countries back into food production to feed their populations, and “our” machinery played a large part in this.

What we need is more books about “our” machinery; we all collect information to satisfy our own curiosity, but what happens to it? It may get passed on by word of mouth, but it is far better to put it into writing so that it is there for future generations.

[trusty220]

You can dismantle most of the machine with a pair of 9/16″ spanners (most of the bolts are 3/8 UNF). You certainly need 9/16 to adjust the cylinders, so two of those are a must.

The roll pins in the “walking sticks” either side of the seat used to go regularly and we used to replace them with Spirol Pins (I think that was the trade name). They were made from spring steel sheet rolled around four or five times into a spiral and used to be a little more flexible than the normal roll pins. A pin punch and a hammer are essential for this job.

Otherwise, a pair of pliers, duct tape, welder and elastoplast would be a good move! Oh, and a book of swear words that are in common usage!

[trusty220]

It sounds like the cutter clutch is slipping; this may be because the cutters are out of adjustment or the clutch plates and springs may be worn.

You are obviously attending to the on-cut adjustment, so if this does not cure it then you will have to remove the cutter clutch assembly. To do this you have to remove the four 3/8 UNF bolts holding the bracket onto the side frame. Take off the belts as well, and then the whole assembly should pull off the shaft. I say “should”, but quite often an older one would be seized onto the drive shaft so you have to get a large pry bar and use a bit of excessive force.

Once you have the assembly removed the only way to start dismantling is to put the end of the tapered key (holding the pulley on) in a vice and smack the end of the centre shaft with a brass drift to separate them. You should then be able to take the pulley off the shaft; the next part is to release the locking ring on the bearing and remove the bracket from the shaft. The clutch can then be slid off the shaft.

To dismantle the clutch assembly there used to be a special tool which compressed the three clutch pins so that the snap rings can be removed, then when the tension is released the clutch comes apart easily.

We always used to replace the pins, springs and snap rings when servicing the clutch. The “ears” on the outer plates used to burr over, and we always used to file these burrs off before re-assembly.

That should cure your problem. If you need parts I understand Bartrums Mowers bought all of the old stock from Ransomes when they got rid of their obsolete Motor Triple spares.

Good luck.

[trusty220]

Do all of the cylinders stop at the same time, or is it just one or two?

One tip that I did pick up when I used to work on them full time was to always keep the cylinders adjusted so that they cut paper. If you have long “beards” of grass folded around the front of the bottom blades then that could be your problem.

These machines will cut extremely well but they are in constant need of adjustment.

[trusty220]

Very strange, and obviously an oversight. Wouldn’t you think somebody would be chasing it by now?

The only reason that I want to find out who sent this letter is so that I can thank them- I can just see the scene now, with someone at a rally complaining bitterly that they’ve sent some paperwork to me and I haven’t even had the courtesy to ring and thank them!

One day it will come to light, no doubt.

[trusty220]

It looks like they used to be located in King’s Heath, Birmingham in the 1950’s (which used to be part of Warwickshire before West Midlands became a county). One of their more famous products was the BarOMix cement mixer, and I know this was made in Alcester, Warwickshire up until about fifteen years ago when they went into receivership.

I haven’t seen a picture of their power barrow, though.

[trusty220]

The mystery deepens! Who is the phantom magazine collector???

[trusty220]

That makes me feel old- a Ransomes TurfTrac T21! I used to repair those in the 1980’s then drove them on demonstration when I became a salesman. They would climb some amazingly steep banks and we sold a lot to Severn Trent Water for mowing reservoir banks. The funniest thing that I ever heard about one was the boss’s son tried to do a demo and turned down a hillside with the deck raised- the whole machine nosed over onto the front mower deck, lifting the rear wheels completely off the ground. The rear wheels started rotating backwards, driven by the front wheels and the whole lot free-wheeled down to the bottom of the hill until the gradient eased and the back wheels came down again.

The boss’s son left me to do the demo’s after that! I think it took him a week to get the stains out of his trousers.

[trusty220]

I agree- the Norton Big Four which is an equivalent to the JAP 600 uses 3/8″ Before TDC as a starting point. Don’t try it with 1″ down the bore because it will be far too advanced and will cause a kick-back.

It’s only a thought, and I haven’t timed up a JAP 600, but is there a blanking plug in the head somewhere above the piston? There is on the Norton and it’s a great help when setting it up so that you don’t have to take the head off to do the measurement.

Best of luck with it.

[trusty220]

I’ll be putting up the stand on Friday and (hopefully) be there Saturday and Sunday.

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