The Old Lawnmower Club
Collection, Preservation and Display of Old Lawn Mowers
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Ransomes auto certes and marquis

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DJM275 Wed, 30/09/2020

Hello

I have recently purchased two mowers, Ransomes Marquis and auto certes both with BSA sloper engines. 
 

I have found many useful posts about the Marquis and also for the Ransomes Mastiff which I am currently restoring. However I have not been able to find the same volume of information about the auto certes. One thing in particular I am trying to find is an operators manual and a workshop manual for the engine. 
 

Unfortunately both of them are missing the ID plates. From my reading I understand that there would an 'M' after the mk4 to indicate if it would have metric bearings. Is there any other way to identify if the bearings are metric or imperial or would measuring them be my best bet?

Any information would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you

 

 

 

 

Forums

wristpin Wed, 30/09/2020

With no ID plate you are probably right about measuring the bearings. On imperial machines the cutting cylinder,top shaft and clutch spigot bearings have a 5/8” inner diameter and on metric they are 15mm.

There are two distinct  generations of Auto Certes . On the early machines the cylinder drive dog clutch  is retained by a circlip and the driven half of the clutch screws onto the cylinder with a left hand thread in a similar manner to the sprocket on a Marquis. The later MK 3 Auto Certes has the clutch keyed to the shaft and retained with a nut.

F12 Sloper

https://www.dropbox.com/s/izjqq21tqdfthmj/Villiers%20F12%20Sloper%20eng…