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Collection, Preservation and Display of Old Lawn Mowers

My first push mower J.P. Minor Mk2

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Hi

I've just bought this off ebay, does anybody have and instruction manual for it at all please? Can anybody tell me the date it was made from the serial number 2J.G.XM 68?

What does the red knob do? What is the lever for on the right hand side just above the sticker? I've used the mower to cut the lawn which it did ok, but looks like the blades need sharpening, what's the best way of doing this?

Sorry for so many questions but i've only ever used and electric hover mower before.

 

Forums

Clive1997 Sun, 18/08/2019

Welcome to the forum & hopefully as a member of the club.

I do have a copy manual for the Minor 11in, but you will see under 'Mower Operating Manuals' on this site there is one for the Maxees that has similar adjusting knob for the Cutter Setting Stop, it simply parts the bottom blade from the cylinder blades when the mower is not in use & brings back together when you next mow. The stop would need to be adjusted if the cylinder is re-ground. On that subject you need to find a local mower service business to sharpen the cutting cylinder. 

As to the date of your mower, yes we can date these exactly to the month & year, I will flag up to a colleague who has the magic numbers to do this & in fact lives locally to you in Leicester, may also know where you can get the cylinder sharpened.

Hope that helps.

 

RansomesRob Mon, 19/08/2019

Hi Simon. With regard to you asking where you can get your JP Minor sharpened. I have a 1963 JP Mini Mower and a 1967 JP Maxees 3 both of which I have had serviced and sharpened by John Gregory at The Old Lawnmower Company who are based in Tring, Hertfordshire. John has also worked on a Ransomes Ajax and a Green's Zephyr that I had and I have always been more than pleased with the work carried out. I live in Shropshire so it is a two and half hour journey to Tring but my experience of the work done on my mowers makes the journey well worth while. The web site address is www.oldlawnmowers.co.uk should you wish to see what services they offer. Cheers. Rob 

Clive1997 Mon, 19/08/2019

Hello again

Have established your mower was made in July 1962 , the last year this model was produced.

SimonCox Mon, 19/08/2019

Thanks for the information, can anybody tell me how you remove the cylinder out of the mower?

Antbr123 Fri, 23/08/2019

To remove the cylinder blades you need to do the following

1.  Remove the LH side transmission cover to reveal to drive transmission.

2.  Slacken off the nut on the intermediate cog - (the middle oneof the three)

3.  Remove the chain link on the front drive chain and remove the chain

4.  Wedge a hammer handle in the cylinder blades and undo the 3/8" nut on the end of the cutter shaft. Keep.

5.  Carefully note the order of the washers behind the nut

6.  Prise off the small cog and note the spacer/collar (rounded edge faces towards the bearing.

7.  Remove the bearing housing bolts and housing complete with the bearing.

8.  On the RH side - remove the bearing housing domed cover cap.

9.  You should now be able to slide the cylinder blades out.

The serial number denotes that the mower was made in July 1962 and is the 68th produced in the month.  The X denotes it is a JP Minor 11" MK2 variant.  It is a later variant is can be identified by the following characteristics.

1.  Hash chequered pattern between the letters on the cast grass deflector

2.  Brown bakelite knob blade adjusting handle.

3.  Eccentric adjustment lever on the RH side - rather than a nut.

4.  Fluted cylinder blades.ages

 

If you have any issues - please reach out to me for assistance.  I speciallise in just JP mowers and already have 3 JP Minors of differing ages, including one exactly the same as your machine.

regards,

Tony (in Leicester)

SimonCox Sat, 24/08/2019

Many thanks Tony for the information, I will take apart towards the end of September, is there anywhere in Leicester to take the cylinder blades to get sharpened?

Antbr123 Mon, 26/08/2019

Hello Simon.

Three places come to mind.

1.  Wards Lawnmowers - 50 Pulman Road, Wigston.  You may need to wait a week or so as he is always very busy. Mower blades need to be stripped down of old paint and removed from the mower.  You can repaint before sharpening.  The correct colour is the same as the rest of the mower - not red as this is more modern trend/fashion.  JP never painted their blades red. Spray painting is best.

2.  JPM Services, Hinckley - Sketchley Meadows Industrial Estate. Mower blades need to be stripped down. Cost is £3 per inch. Turnaround within a week. You can repaint before sharpening.

3.  Oadby Lawnmower Repairs - 52C Londown Road, Oadby. Do not strip mower down as blades are sharpened in situ to the bearings.  I've not used them yet.  Cost is £25. You can repaint before sharpening.

Replacement bottom blade can be obtained through the club manufactured by Garfitts International. Blades are supplied with screws.

Any difficulties, feel free to contact me as I am so local to you.

 

regards,

Tony

 

wristpin Tue, 27/08/2019

3.  Oadby Lawnmower Repairs - 52C Londown Road, Oadby. Do not strip mower down as blades are sharpened in situ to the bearings.  I've not used them yet.  Cost is £25. You can repaint before sharpening.

In-situ grinding is fine so long as you are sure that the mower's cylinder bearings are 100% and depending on the grinder being used and the mower's construction it may be necessary to remove the bottom blade assembly to allow the cylinder to be ground  - and certainly to reface an existing bottom blade or to true up a new one.  In the case of a "new to you" machine I would definitely  advise a complete strip down.

hortimech Tue, 27/08/2019

You can in-situ grind virtually any mower, but as Wristpin has said, the cylinder bearings have to be 100%, The rear roller must be have little or no play, the same goes for the front roller. So, has Wristpin says, rebuild the machine first. The bottom blade, at least, will have to be removed, though it as easy to remove the entire bottom block on most machines. The main machines that cannot really be ground in-situ are the Ransomes Marquis family, these have a drop out cutter unit and are just easier to spin grind. Whichever way you grind the machine, the bottom blade will have to be ground fastened to the block.

If contemplating using a company that in-situ grinds machines, discuss it with the service manager/owner first. If they don't seem to know what they are talking about, ask to speak to whomever does the grinding and if you still feel unsure, find another Dealer, there are plenty of them about.

Antbr123 Thu, 29/08/2019

All,

Totally agree with the observations made by Wristpin and Hortimech with regard to "in-situ" grinding.  I have no experience of using Oadby Lawnmowers so I cannot comment on the quality of their grinding, but I certainly agree with the need to have bearings running 100% true. All I know is that it is a business started by the current owners father decades ago and now run by his son.  He apparently built a purpose built jig to do the sharpening. I have not yet seen it in action to understand it further.

Removal of the bottom blade is possible yourself, provided the slotted head screws have a good groove and have been heated a couple of times with a blow torch. Cherry red colour is hot enough, although I err on the side of caution and try to remove the screws with as little heat as possible, but enough to crack or burn off any rust.  I fear of tempering the steel if I get the screws too hot.

One question which has not been answered is the "Red knob".  This acts to align to tighten the cylinder blades against the bottom blade through 2 eccentrics which are on the long adjuster tube. Adjust it too tight and you can hardly push the mower, too loose and no contact is made between the rotating blades and the bottom blade.  The stiffness of moving the handle is adjusted by the 4 screws holding the clips around the adjuster tube.  The handle should be rotated backwards until you can just hear a clipping sound of the cylinder blades against the bottom blade.  Then you set the cutter stop in the middle of the adjuster tube.  Good practice is to slacken the handle forwards again after mowing has finished.  Ensure that the 5/16th nut beside the handle and on the LH side is loosened slightly before doing this. Many JPs have broken red knob stems because owners have tried to yank the knob without undoing the nut or loosening the grub screw. One additional tip. Do NOT wind the stem of the red knob down onto the tie bar too far.  It burrs and grazes the surface of the tie bar and makes it difficult to extract the tie bar from inside the adjusting tube. This is a common problem found on restoring JP's

Good luck with the restoration and keep us all posted.

 

Tony

 

regards,

Tony