Vintage Horticultural and Garden Machinery Club

Keeping the wheel on might make life easier in the sense that the wheel isn’t wobbling all over the place. You might lose some oil out of your oil bath air filter, but as long as you check the crankcase oil and air filter oil after you’ve finished I can’t see why it would be a problem.

They’re not particularly difficult to change if you can change a wheelbarrow tyre. If you’re not used to changing small tyres then it’s probably more challenging.

When I’ve done it before I’ve put some scrap timber under the chassis at the engine end to support it (push down on the handles to lift up the front end, put some wood underneath and…[Read more]

Thanks Alan, yes it had a 48″ deck so I’m sure it was the W16. I’ve not seen one for years!

Many thanks

I would agree that it’s a replacement engine. Probably not uncommon that another engine was grafted on to keep the machine working.

Alan – seeing the pictures reminds me of a Westfield I drove in the late 80s. It had the angular deck and a twin cylinder, electric start Briggs engine. I seem to recall it being badged as a Westwood Gazelle. Was the…[Read more]

I would agree with the statement above about the cost increase being small when considered over the course of a year. Costs everywhere are rising and it’s no suprise that club subscriptions need to rise, too.
Personally, I don’t feel that moving to an online only publication would be a good move. There may be others who are very happy to read the…[Read more]

The idea of guaranteeing outcomes with plants is a modern one created by retailers in recent years and I fully agree that suppliers would not have guaranteed outcomes in the period from which this tag originates.

The guarantee being referred to here is purely about being true to type – i.e. of the variety being advertised in the catalogue.

On…[Read more]

I would agree with Charlie and Alan that it seems unlikely it was attached to a machine.

My money would be on this tag being attached to a tree purchased from a nursery in the dormant season. The stamped ES50 would be the catalogue reference for the tree that is being guaranteed to be as per the catalogue specification. The gardener would plant…[Read more]

Thank you. Quite possibly – it’s definitely something cobbled together from various bits, but I was hoping someone would recognise some part of it so it could be put to another use. I don’t really want to scrap it, but it’s rusty, bent and not much use to me so it can sit here for a while longer until I eventually scrap it!

Pictures added

This looks like one of the plastic Chinese fuel pumps available on a well known auction site. I can’t advise which fuel pump is correct for your engine, but it should be possible to test if the pump is working by manually using the lever while it’s not fitted to your machine.

If possible, I’d recommend getting the original fuel pump back from the…[Read more]

If you can’t find somewhere local there are a couple of companies advertising on eBay if you search for ‘cylinder grinding service’

There’s no picture visible, but it sounds like a bout marker to me. Fitted to the top of an implement and marking a line in the soil so that you have a line to work to when returning down the other side of the row on your next pass

My electric iron won’t be powerful enough to get it hot – I’d probably use a mapp torch that I’ve used for soldering copper pipe

Thanks Chris, I’d been thinking I would mig weld some tabs on, but it doesn’t need the strength of a weld and soldering would allow me to use a lot less heat so that’s probably the way to go. I’ve never soldered steel before, but I can’t imagine it’s any different to soldering copper

Thanks Charlie – I hadn’t tried them, but have now been in touch and they can’t find a supplier of these parts. I assume there isn’t a great deal of demand for these parts nowadays and it’s no longer worth making them.

I’ll have to get creative and make something

Good to hear that it’s cutting well.

How long did it take you to cut 4 acres? Interested to know how fast they are compared to more modern equipment

You’re right to be sceptical that it would weigh two tons! An MG40 weighs about the same as an MG6 and slightly more than an MG5. I haven’t got the weight written down anywhere (can’t find it in the book), but it’s certainly less than a ton.

Either search on an auction site for ‘coal tar creosote’ or visit a local agricultural supplier