Skip to main content
Collection, Preservation and Display of Old Lawn Mowers

Webb 24 inch strip down

Enter a word or two to search the forum section and click the Search Forum button.

Hi, I'm working on the cricket club wicket mower, an old (1970's?) Webb 24' mower, belt driven type with a detachable ride on seat at the rear. The drive from the belt goes through a internal gear to the rear roller, but something has gone wrong in there (I guess the cog has sheared teeth). I'm trying to ge the thing apart but can't find any service manuals on the internet, or any sort of instructions. Can anyone help?

 

Thanks,

Dave

Forums

wristpin Wed, 15/10/2014

You will need to remove the rear roller and I would suggest removing the engine first to loose weight and make the machine easier to handle.

On the LH side there is a fair amount of clutter to get out of the way to expose and undo the hex head set screw on the end of the roller shaft.

Then tip the machine onto that side and undo the nut on the other end of the shaft and remove the bearing holder.. Then loosen all the nuts and bolts holding the right hand chassis plate to the chassis cross members and bottom blade carrier etc.

That should allow you to "spring" the RH plate enough to wiggle the roller out but you may find it easier to remove the RH side plate completely. Removing the roller will expose the drive pinion protruding through the LH chassis plate and the internal teeth on the ring gear attached to its LH end .

Chances are that both the pinion and the ring gear are worn with most wear being on the alloy ring gear. Amazingly, considering the age of the machine , both are still listed by Central Spares, 11055 for the ring gear and 11056 for the pinion.( Original part numbers F016W29676 and F016W29732 )  Not Cheap!!! However I would change them as a pair.

As far as I know, there was never a workshop manual for that machine but the attached parts list  and pages from the operator's manual may help.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/i3n3v9m3v9gqfn5/Webb%20240001.pdf?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/amfv9sza9c541rx/Webb%2024%20owners%20manual00…

On edit. Bad news! Although the ring gear is in Central Spares 2014 catalogue it has disappeared from their on line listing which I guess means that they no longer have stock. Pinion is still listed.

middld Sat, 01/11/2014

Thanks for the manual, very helpful. Finally found time to take it apart - actually the hardest thing was to remove the nut retaining the large pulley. As it all spins, nothing to lock on to to undo the nut. Any tips for when I do it back up? I just put some grips on the outer rim of the pulley, but that's not good practice.

 

Anyway, got it apart and the teeth of the pinion are shreaded. Found several of them ion the roots of the internal gear. I've cleaned it all up and although the teeth of the internal gear are a bit worn, I think they'll be OK. Therefore pinion replacement it is. Before I go top price on an original, has anyone got one spare that they are willing to sell?

 

Cheers,

Dave

wristpin Sat, 01/11/2014

If you have access to a cordless impact gun you can probably shock the nut on or off. However without that you can possibly improvise by wrapping an old Vee belt around the pulley and clamping the loose ends with the grips.

It's years since I worked on a W24 and I don't have one to look at but something is telling me that there may be a hole in the pulley through which you can insert a parallel punch to engage a bolt head or other fixed point and hold it that way. 

middld Mon, 17/11/2014

Great news. Took it apart, managed to take the rear roller off without complete disassembly of the machine, just the cross bars around it and a pry bar to bend the side plate away. The pinion was completely stripped, and many of the teeth still lodged in the ring gear. Took that off and cleaned it up, and although worn, it appeared OK. I found a new pinion at Gateshead Lawnmower Centre in Newcastle. I'm working up there at the moment so picked it up in person and spent 1/2 hour chatting with the owner who told me the ful ins and outs of this and many other mowers. When Atco went bust, he bought the entire part store, so had 3 lorry load of Webb & Atco etc. spares to burn off. Still some left like the pinion. £40 seemed reasonable when others are selling for 80 on the internet. Fitted a new pinion bearing (£14 from my local bearing wholesaler off the shelf) as that seemed a bit worn as well.

 

Got it all back together and today started it up and it's going great. Touch wood that'll keep going for a few years more...

 

Thanks for the help, couldn't have done it without the diagrams.

Art Sun, 03/05/2015

Hi Chaps

I'm in the middle of a similar Webb 24 " resurrection . Can anyone advise best approach for removing worn bearing on the left side (pulley side) cutting cylinder from its housing. Not  keen to start until some advice.

The cylinder is detached from the mower with both bearing housings free and attached to the main cylinder spindle.

Also is the replacement an RL6  3/4 bearing?

Advice much appreciated

Art 

wristpin Mon, 04/05/2015

RL6 is the correct bearing.

The bearing and its carrier can be removed with a couple of decent length tyre levers  - mine are 30" long, Tip. -  when levering the bearing off, pivot the levers on the protruding ends of two blades and not on the webs between the blades. That way you won't distort the cylinder.Failing that , beg or borrow a decent two leg puller.

wristpin Mon, 04/05/2015

If you are levering it will help if you have assistance to hold the cylinder vertically with one end on the ground so that you can manipulate the levers and bear down on them from above fo achieve maximum leverage. Having done similar jobs for the past forty years one learns how to steady the cylinder between knees while positioning the levers. Once in position the levers will hold it upright and you can step back a little and apply full down force!