The Old Lawnmower Club
Collection, Preservation and Display of Old Lawn Mowers
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Ransomes auto certes mk2

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Brownie Thu, 18/08/2022

Can anyone suggest a way of making this mower a walk behind so that I can mow without a seat please. 

Forums

wristpin Tue, 23/08/2022

I’m under the impression that the Auto Certes  is a pedestrian operated machine. An image will be helpful.

DJD Wed, 24/08/2022

We had two Ransomes Autocertes at the golf course where I worked in '81 and' '82, both were walk behind machines for doing the aprons around the greens. Maybe a pic would help here.

Brownie Thu, 25/08/2022

Hi all. 
i will add a photo but the problem with this mower is that to keep the blades rotating fast enough to cut the grass the drive makes you have to run behind the mower and that’s not at full throttle?

Brownie Thu, 25/08/2022

Hi again. 
i hope you’ve seen the photos and can tell me what’s wrong with this machine!

wristpin Thu, 25/08/2022

So it’s a walk behind but you want to walk slower?  Auto Certes are a quick machine designed for golf green, bowling greens and cricket wickets etc needing frequent mowing and about 1/4” removed at a time.

Theres no quick/ easy way of slowing them down as the clip rate ( cuts per yard) is a function of the gearing between the the blade and landroll rotation.

 

wristpin Fri, 26/08/2022

OK, seen the images. Standard Auto Certes walk behind machine. Quite tidy for its age but missing the debris screen from round the recoil starter and possibly missing the rope guide wheel from the starter also but not quite clear in the image. Worth seeking out a debris screen to keep the engine’s cooling fins clears and avoid overheating. Not sure of the purpose of the bracket that’s been grafted onto the front of the flywheel cowling and also note that the fuel pipe has been mis- routed with an after market fuel filter. That suggests that there may be a rust issue with the inside of the fuel tank and / or the gauze filter on the fuel tank is missing and / or the gauze filter sleeve is missing from inside the Amal carburettor.

As far as the ground speed goes, it is what it is and possibly the wrong machine for your job; it would take some serious re-engineering to slow it down .  The best that you can do is maintain a sharp cutting cylinder run correctly set with the bottom blade requiring a minimum  of engine speed and, again,  mowing frequently , removing a small amount of grass at a time, requiring a lower engine speed. Could also add, correct adjustment of the throw plate to fill the box evenly without having to rev the engine to get an even fill.