[wristpin]

I had no reason to query the 7HP suggestion so was surprised to see 5HP on the attached brochure. Guess that it refers to an early version and that the GTS model designation accounts for the 7. When you find a suitable blower housing just make sure that it is “correct” for the engine or, if not , blank out the Model, Type and Code digits stamped into it, to avoid confusion if ordering parts in the future.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/s8sf5s8i77gm8tu/Merry%20Tiller%20Brochure0001.pdf?dl=0

[wristpin]

Cam shaft drives on cultivators were used to give a half speed reverse and involved a lever system that disengaged the crankshaft drive main belt and allowed the engagement of reverse . Anyone who has used a forward only Cultivator and has had to manhandle it out of a corner, will appreciate the extra cost and complication of that reverse option.
Assuming that the Clinton is in the same position as the more usual Briggs I have a chart with the various belt sizes. – somewhere !

[wristpin]

Although it may have a Clinton engine I would suspect that the chassis was made by someone else. Unfortunately your image quality is not good enough to aid identification .

[wristpin]

When I knew JT Lowe they were in Wimborne, Dorset and I believe that they ended up being bought by Flymo / Husqvarna.

[wristpin]

The other mower is a mtd. With 5hp briggs engine

MTD / Lawnflite – the same thing in the UK

[wristpin]

Not relevant to the original post but the ride on under the tarp in the background is a Lawnflite 504 or 506. I’ve plenty of info on those !

[wristpin]

Only ever seen Ginge side wheel push mowers! However, from the shape of the air cleaner the engine looks like a Tecumseh / Tecnamotor; I guess around 5HP. There’s no listing for them in the May 2012 Garden Machinery Price Guide – the last that I had before retirement.

EDIT
Should have looked here first.
Vhttps://vhgmc.co.uk/forums/topic/ginge-mower-info-please/

Ginge mowers and tools

[wristpin]

Somehow I thought this was a flail mower but it’s a cylinder.

What, even after my posted image shows a cutting cylinder?
The early machines were the standard verge mowers used by local authorities . The cylinder could be swapped for a rotary deck but there was never a flail head. Ransomes did make a pedestrian flail , a lump of a machine on twin wheels. We had one that we lent out to tame overgrown gardens before customers burnt out the belts of their new ride-on mower, but it’s work capacity never quite lived up to its looks.
After one user managed to wind several meters of wire netting around the flail and another hit a can of paint hidden in the long grass and covered both himself and the machine in white emulsion we decided that it wasn’t worth the bother and put it back into the next auction.

[wristpin]

I’m guessing that yours will be the modern version as per my images. I think that there are parts and ops manuals on line but if you draw a blank I can scan mine.

[wristpin]

Wonderful machines and as you say, very capable – so long as you don’t mind walking or nearly trotting when in high gear! We used to buy them ex-local authority in the 1980s and they all found good homes – then no one wanted to walk anymore!
The attached scan is for a JAP engined one that predates even the MAG but the chassis was more or less the same. May be the Kub engined one had an updated chassis? If yours is similar to this one, I can do you a scan of a parts manual, but it’s possible that you have a really modern one, The Vergecutter 76 ! I did a front end overhaul and sharpen on one of those a couple of years ago – heavy going for an old b****r!
I’ve got a 76 ops manual and parts list but not yet scanned. Let me know if that’s what you need.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1rjo6u2s0lxhvch/Ransomes%20reel%20cutter%20multimower0001.pdf?dl=0

or

Attachments:

1. 
2. 

[wristpin]

This may be of use. The engine shown is the earlier JAP but the chassis should be very similar to yours.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/2d24h0qoe5uzlrk/Ransomes%20Mastiff%20Operators%20manual0001.pdf?dl=0

[wristpin]

I’ve bought and sold many Mastiffs over the years and was buying ex local authority MAG engined ones in the early eighties and also looked after a couple of even earlier ones with JAP crank start engines. I’ve never seen a broken centrifugal clutch spring but they do weaken over the years and the very expensive clutch centre spigot bush can wear allowing the drum to drop a fraction and bind on the back plate, preventing clean disengagement. If you clean the carb’ and can drop the tick over rpm a wee bit the clanging should go away.
Good advice re the trailing clutch shoes: get it wrong and they will grab and snatch on engagement. Definitely stick with the MAG if you can – the machine was designed around the slow idling characteristics of the JAP and MAG engines! All sorts of clutch / gear engagement issues ensued when people re-engined them with engines that demanded a higher tick over speed to avoid bogging down when the throttle was opened.
Re the parking brake. A small drum at the right hand end of the rear roller (landroll) . Don’t go mad with the grease gun at that end of the roller shaft or you will fill it up! On the subject of grease, Ransomes actually specified the use of heavy oil and not grease for their cylinder mowers. In case you haven’t discovered it there is an oil filler plug in the centre rear roller section that allows lubrication of the centre differential gears. A shaped dip stick was supplied to check the level and avoid overfilling.

[wristpin]

Re my earlier post on paint – please read un-faded, not unfazed !!!

[wristpin]

That question crops up quite often but I’ve yet to see a definitive answer. One issue is that back in the day when Atco service branches offered a full winter service it included a strip and repaint. That repaint would, I suspect, be the green that was in use at the time; not necessarily the one that it left the factory with.
If you are happy with the unfazed green from inside the chain case or under a handle bar grip, get an automotive paint supplier to scan it and make some up.

[wristpin]

Another Anzani guard pattern required !
I’m in need of a pattern for the belt guard on my Anzani Powermow. To cover the twin belts from the top shaft down to the cutting cylinder. Not difficult to make a guard but I would like to get it correct.

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