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Collection, Preservation and Display of Old Lawn Mowers

New Suffolk mower - with a few issues

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Hi there,

I purchased a suffolk mower just over a week ago.  It has a 14" blade width, and was sold as a Suffolk Punch, but there are no markings on it to indicate whether a Punch or a Colt.  Would be keen to understand what it is, and also its age.

The engine runs really well, but I have struggled with two clutches - as a result of everything being 'engaged', when it ran, it wanted to run away from me at pace.

The hand lever adjusted the belt on the engine side of the mower, to apply tension to the belt, but this was not required, as the belt was always under tension.  I have removed the belt, and will source a replacement; my hope is that this was the wrong belt, and the correct belt will remedy this issue

The centrifugal clutch was always engaged - I removed the clutch from the drum, by releasing the enging bolts, and the clutch pads (?) have clearly been replaced.  One was loose, and so I removed it - the other appears to be too big, and hence why the clutch is always engaged.

For now, my questions are around replacement parts, and where I can best source:

  1. A new drive belt?
  2. Is it possible to replace the pads?  or am I looking at a new clutch mechanism? The springs appear tight, but I have no idea what to compare them to!!
  3. As can be seen from the photo, a new air filter is probably needed..

Thanks for any help - I am new to old mowers, and keen to get this running well.  I will move on to finessing the cutting mechanism and tinkering wtih the engine in due course, but if I can have the clutches working, that would be a good start.

Many thanks

Jon

 

 

 

Forums

wristpin Mon, 07/09/2020

Most parts for older Suffolk’s can be bought from Jon Cruse at the Hailsham  Mower Centre.  Jon probably has clutch shoe  linings and will also  sell you the correct rivets. Have a look at  Redleader’ s extensive Suffolk restoration diary on this forum. Just about everything that you will need to know.