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

atco royale B20

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

Hi everyone, I have just had my rear garden returfed and to do it justice I have purchased one of these mowers! It doesn't have a spark though so I need to sort that out before I can do any cutting! I need to know what exact model and engine it has first though and I can't seem to find a manual anywhere online! The serial number off the top of the engine seems to read H60 - 75385J SER-5177D and its eBay listing number was 331564120354

Any info would be really appreciated

Forums

wristpin Wed, 27/05/2015

Your machine has a Tecumseh H60 engine from the pre electronic ignition era  and the chances are that the magneto ignition contact breaker points need cleaning. To do this you will need to remove the engine cowling and flywheel.

However before doing this find the on/off switch which may be a toggle switch in the cowling (can't see one in the ebay images) or may work from the throttle control and be a tab on the linkage adjacent to the carburettor. and make sure that it's in the run position. Remove the spark plug and the plug cap and hold the plug lead about a quarter of an inch away from the cylinder head or any unpainted metal . Pull the starter rope and see if there's a spark .  If there is one try a new plug and or plug cap.  

If no spark it's a trip into the magneto,

tommyleg Thu, 28/05/2015

thats great! thanks for your help! do you know if theres a manual i can download for it?

do you know how old it is and what it is worth when running?

many thanks again

wristpin Thu, 28/05/2015

Age is difficult but you may find a tag on the outside of the right hand (viewed from the operator's position) chassis plate which may say something like 85/20: meaning 1985 20".  The Tecumseh engine codes were not as straight forward to interpretation as Briggs ones in as far as they used a single digit year identifier so the 5 of your serial number could be 1965/75 or  85 and the 177th day of that year. The clutch lever configuration of yours suggests pre 1990 and having a Tecumseh engine rather than a Briggs perhaps says pre 1980.

Looks as though yours has lost the rubber coverings from the rear roller which is a shame as it upsets the level of the machine.

I don't have an operator's manual, as far as I know there was never an Atco workshop manual for the chassis and the Tecumseh workshop manual is about three  inches thick split into component sections ! However here's a link to a parts manual which is quite useful to see how it all fits together.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/02w6mxzr03qqd9s/Atco%20B20%2025%2030%20HD%20T…

 

hortimech Thu, 28/05/2015

I think you will find that the rear roller is correct, the early ones were not rubber covered. What I am wondering about is, how do you stop the engine ? A Tecumseh H50 engine of that era had a stop lever that clipped to the sparkplug and then shorted the ignition out when pressed onto the top of the plug (somewhat similar to stopping a suffolk), this is not possible with the sparkplug cap that is fitted.
 

tommyleg Thu, 28/05/2015

i just figured that i drop the revs down until it stalls? but i need to work out how to get it going before i worry about that! lol! thanks for the input everyone! :)

steveb Thu, 28/05/2015

I have a couple of suffolk's that should have a shorting bar to short out the spark plug too, but don't any more - I stop them by dropping the revs to idle and setting the choke to strangle the air which seems to do the job. Sometimes I have to manually touch the throttle piece to push it against the idle stop to actually get it to die though.

Worst case, pull off the spark lead I guess - I had to do this once when the guvernor (can't spell it)  spring broke and I lost throttle control with the mower drive engaged . I nearly ran through the end of the garden and into the ditch but managed to turn it in time, but it took me half a dozen laps of the garden to gather my wits and work out how to kill the engine. There were too many exposed moving parts to make it a comfortable experience!

tommyleg Sat, 30/05/2015

turns out it is the coil, part number 30546, ive found some in the states on ebay but none over here!

wristpin Sat, 30/05/2015

Your coil issue - a bit of history! Your Tecumseh engine was a U.S. Built product but they also licensed an Italian company , Aspera, to build some of their engines. Aspera later became Tecnamotor , part of the Fiat  empire.

Although to the best of my knowledge the H60 was never built in Europe other Tecnamotor four stroke engines shared the magneto components a lot of which were bought in from Phelon. These were given "European" part numbers  and are readily available over here either new or used. You should have little difficulty in finding a good coil or even a complete stator assembly from either a horizontal or vertical shaft engine. If you swap a good coil onto your stator you may even avoid having to re- time the ignition.

Are you sure about the  30546 number that you mention? The number shown for an internal coil on the H60 parts list that I posted earlier is 30560A and this is available here in the UK from Central Spares, their part number 10227.

Aspera / Tecnamotor equivalent part numbers.

if your coil is inside the flywheel.

Part number 16330001 later replaced by 14160020  for the coil or 14120002  > 14120012 for a complete stator should get you out of trouble.

if the coil is outside the flywheel

14160010

wristpin Sat, 30/05/2015

Interesting but not unknown as sometimes manufacturers have " production" part numbers that are different from those used for the supply of parts. Can you supply an image of the whole stator plate assembly with the coil and contact breakers etc . Hopefully it will not be necessary to have to import a coil from the U.S.

I should say that I've assumed that you have points and a condenser . There were some magnetos around where the condenser was encapsulated in the coil but I'm not aware of that type being used on the H60.

The Tecumseh manual for your spec engine appears to show 30560A as the correct coil - if the forum software would let me I would add an image straight from the IPad but.............!!!!!!!!!  Will do one later via the camera and PC!

Later!

Right have photographed the appropriate page as pulling a six inch thick manual apart to scan it is beyond the call of duty!

 

tommyleg Mon, 01/06/2015

wow thank you so much for the trouble youve gone to! yes it does have that set up, and im trying to source one from this side of the pond, and so far to no avail!

wristpin Mon, 01/06/2015

Central Spares have  stock

http://www.centralspares.co.uk/product/coil.aspx

i believe that they do retail as well as trade. If you don't have any joy there pm me - I have an account!

Before  you spend your money are you sure that it is the coil that's at fault? Could be the condenser or even just the contact breaker points not making good contact. 

I notice that in the image you posted you've removed the stator from the engine . Hopefully there will be a chisel mark on one of the supporting pillars that lines up with one on the edge of the stator to indicate the position for correct timing. If there's not the two retaining bolts and their washers may have left " a shadow" on the face of the stator and you can align it on that . If not you may need to re time the ignition.