[vhgmcbuddy]

More help required. Having removed the engine I am having difficulty in removing the base plate to get at the crankshaft. I have removed 5 bolts and 2 locating pins and inserted a blade around 2/3rds of the base but it refuses to budge close to the cylinder block. Is there anything else I need to do before I do some irreparable damage? Do I need to take any precautions regarding upsetting the valves to piston timing?

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[vhgmcbuddy]

Dear Friends,

Am looking for a Howard Rotovator to hire and use, anyone with one, let me know

[vhgmcbuddy]

Thanks wrist pin. A utube video confirmed your suggestion of a puller. I knocked one up this afternoon without using any welding by placing a nut behind the friction plate and locking it on the long 8 mm bolt with a spanner as shown in my pics. The bolt head should be a hex. 8mm but it was all I had. It worked a treat. Next step, remove engine and get to crankshaft. The stay at home advice does have some benefits.

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[vhgmcbuddy]

And finally where will it end indeed!
Top this one!
I’m sure a lot have seen a certain Progress Tractor for sale recently,which I would say is definitely on the rare stakes.Some could say how do you price such a thing,others would say the Market as a habit of responding.
Tonight Mr Wallingfield has gone looking for tie straps,its just rather fortunet he holds import and Export licenses.The tractor is going to Malawi to be used by a Charity on their Farms!

[vhgmcbuddy]

Obviously not purchasing from the right place!
Toro agents,the best one is Direct Mowers,A Earnest Doe Company
I happen to run Toro’s in my business,they knock the spots off any Honda or Mountfield, and are far better priced than Hayter and yet Hayter is owned by them!
Regards
Andrew

[vhgmcbuddy]

I must admit it has crossed my mind to switch to a Wico A series mag, should the prices for overhaul be prohibitive. They seem to be very plentiful second hand, and I see from reading other posts that yourself and others have had some success repairing them! Would mean sacrificing some originality, but might be a more affordable route to get the machine running!

[vhgmcbuddy]

PS, if anyone has a type 50 (or any other simar, all comparisons welcome) handy I’d be really interested to see how the mag is mounted. Mine was bolted down by it’s baseplate onto studs in the top of the gearbox casting, but also has a face plate fitted as if for flange mounting, but this was not connected to anything… See photos in previous post!

[vhgmcbuddy]

So, things aren’t looking too good with regards to the magneto, popped the cover off to check the points today and was greeted by a rusty corroded mess.

Still can’t identify which Lucas magneto it actually is, even after hours of trawling through websites, which makes trying to find parts nigh on impossible. I have emailed several firms offering overhauls, looking forward to some eye-watering quotes after the weekend 😀

If any of you good people have an idea as to which mag this thing is I’d be super pleased to hear! As is so often the case when googling anything Villiers, amal, jap, Lucas etc there is an impenetrable mass of information pertaining only to motorcycles out there, everything else seems to fall through the cracks. Still, such is the joy of playing with this old stuff!

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[vhgmcbuddy]

Thanks to dorigny for your encouragement. I wondered why they fitted mudguards to some of them, I guess they prevented the branches from getting damaged by the wheels. It would have been interesting to hear more from the guy who’d worked on the Clearway development.
I used the machine in the eightees. As you said it was very good for rough grass, with the hydrostatic drive, and large wheels.
It had had a hard life before we got it, it belonged to a contractor, and was probably in constant use during the growing season.
After getting the engine running, I’ve not been able to get to the machine due to the lockdown. Fortunately I’d brought the old deck home, so I was able to order a laser cut steel disc etc, and get on with the deck fabrication.
I’ll post some more pictures when I get back to work on it.

[vhgmcbuddy]

Some pictures of the deck build.

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[vhgmcbuddy]

Any help with Last missing pages? How much there is total pages on Shop manual? I can then make complete PDFfile from complete manual. Now all pages are separate JPG.
I dont have anything after page 82

btw… If one person is so nice to help others, with manual… Not very nice that someone else tries to make business with that.. (I was asked money from manual, what roatovator have send free to that person…)

On my machine 1 coil missing, other I believe is broken… If there should be 2 One top, one at bottom.

[vhgmcbuddy]

I wasn’t going for an exact replica, the dimensions of the Howard were right, it had the low revs I’m after, but an engine like a Bradbury would be ideal, if I could find one

[vhgmcbuddy]

I did…

[vhgmcbuddy]

Hi Charlie thanks for the reply,
It seems only to have one forward gear with no lever to change gear, also its been in the family as long as I can remember, my families name is Brazier from Pattingham Staffordshire if that helps thanks for any information you find

[vhgmcbuddy]

Well I’ve cleaned it and tried to use it! I’ve got some lettuce, beetroot and turnips sowed quite a bit thicker than I’d have done by hand? Not sure if my expectations were a bit off? Also the seed doesn’t seem to drop uniformly and gets stuck in the hopper? I separated the hopper and smoothed the route with wire wool but the whole thing needs a thorough de rusting and maybe a coat of paint. Also I oiled the handles today which brought out the colour of the wood very nicely

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