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Collection, Preservation and Display of Old Lawn Mowers

greens zephyr 12" 8 blade manual push mower

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hi i recently purchased a greens zephyr 12" 8 blade manual push mower, its had a few nocks and bashes over the years on the grass collector, and the bolts that hold it all together vary from imperial to metric? and read on this site that it was standard with a single loop handle where mine has two plastic/ hard rubber handles but dose have the greens zephyr logo in them, also all of the grass collectors i have seen on the net shows the decal horizontal where mine is just under 45 degrees? the rollers are cast iron with horizontal lines, there is some surface rust on the rollers but al the grooves seem to be in good condition once wire brushed, the gear guard is made of aluminum and has had its fair share of meetings with edging bricks and has some deep gashes on the under side, in the inside no probs the gears and chain like new and also revealed  the original colour (which i need to source!) on the other side panel there is paint but faded over the years and has a bit of bubbling ,the cylinder had years and years of crud build up and quite alot of paint flaking off as well as a bit if surface rust also i can only remove one bearing as the otherone is really siezed on even after using a bit of heat. the other blade is screwed to a piece of aluminum that pushes the cuttings to the grass collector but the screws are flat head screws but are siezed and are nearly shearing the couple of times i have tried, so now the problems i would like advice on:-  (1) the cutting blade and how to remove it,  (2) how to get the second bearing off the cylinder, (3) should i replace all the bolts to imperial or metric? (4) what the best method to prepare for priming(i do have a tin of new anti oxidization primer) and painting? (5) should i sand blast or paint over the old paint on the cylinder? (6) where can i get the decal greens leeds & london? or should i trace and hand paint as this is not embossed just printed on.

many thanks ant

Forums

olcadmin Thu, 09/02/2012

Good questions Anthony. Some of the answers, especially regarding preparation and painting, can be found in the Mower Restoration section on this site.

We also produce a range of decals but sadly not for this machine at the moment. You are correct that the design on your machine is relatively easy to reproduce. If we had a good example to copy we'd be more than happy to produce some for you (and other members of course).

I'll leave answers to the other questions to members who are surely more qualified than me to provide decent engineering advice.

hillsider Thu, 09/02/2012

Hello,

Although not familiar with your model of mower I would be inclined to tackle the problems in the following way.

1. To remove the cutting blade apply some gentle heat evenly over the sole plate and the screw heads, hopefully this will help to release the seized screws, using an impact screwdriver would help. Do be careful to support the assembly carefully before using shock tactics though to avoid breaking the casting.

  An alternative method would be to carefully drill the centres of the securing screw heads to release the countersunk heads you then have the option of gripping the remains of the screws to try and wind them out or to continue drilling carefully to clear the threaded holes.

2. Check the remaining bearing to rule out the presence of a circlip fitted to the shaft, If you are certain that there are no locking devices fitted them it is possible that you may need to resort to using more heat and a good puller to get some tension applied. 

3. It would be preferable to retain the original threads where possible most imperial fasteners are available via the internet but it pays to look around to avoid paying too much for them. As a last resort you can swap to a metric thread if this is easier for you but only you can resolve that question.

4&5. Preparation for painting is really question of what you are prepared to do, shot blasting is a good way to remove old paint and corrosion but can be expensive and there are ways to achieve good results using less drastic methods. I prefer to use a combination of rotary brushes and flap wheels in a drill or a flap disc fitted to an angle grinder. But either way the end result usually reflects the preparation.

6. I don't know the answer to this one but I suspect there may be another member who does 

If other members have alternative solutions then hopefully you will be able to choose what suits you best.

Good luck

Ray

shailer2000 Thu, 09/02/2012

hi i will be doing a trace of the one on my grass collector, one of the problems is its been faded slightly due to cleaning the collector aswell as sun damage, from the trace i will be drawing a black and white copy with labels saying what colour is what and a full coulor version once i have done this i can send you or who ever makes the decals a copy so they could make the decals if this is what you need to make one?? many thanks anthony