My Gardening equipment, as of March 2014!! (Mowers, grass trimmers etc!)

[dysondestijl]

So today im just going to post a few pics of my gardening items!!
First up, my 1997 Ransomes Omega with replacement deck

 

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Then there's this McCullock (excuse spelling!) Electric strimmer, that was bought 25 years or so ago and has seen relatively little use for its age, very very rarely used by my dad, and only started being used really when I began to use it in my grandmas wood!

 

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Then there's my cordless strimmer, which I bought myself brand new from Argos when it was in offer for £25:

 

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Now, my Flymo Multi Trim Revolution that I use almost every week as my main strimmer, up until today when the autofeed stopped working!

 

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Next, two little trimmer things that I bought 2 years ago. I bought one of them brand new and the wheels broke within the first use, so they sent me another new one!!

 

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Next a bargain Viking (subsidiary of Stihl) that I bought almost brand new in box a year or two ago

 

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Another leaf blower/vac that is branded Royal but made by Einhell. I bought this brand new for about £40ish a year or two ago:

 

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Now my Petrol Strimmer that my dad bought for me last year. I cannot remember how much we payed for it but it was on offer from £180

 

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A bargain cordless Wolf leaf blower/vac that I bought for only £5 brand new!!!

 

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My Ryobi hedgetrimmer that I bought from a carboot sale

 

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My Black and decker hedgetrimmer that has served me well for a number of years

 

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And my cordless hedgetrimmer that I use on the taller hedges as I'm always paranoid about cutting through the power cord if I'm standing on a ladder trying to trim the hedge hehe

 

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My flymo that I spotted in a skip, I thought it was too good to leave there!!

 

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Decided to buy this from B&Q to see if hand push mowers where actually any good!! I think I only payed £20 or so for this as it was end of season

 

[parwaz786]

Cool!
In reply 12, that flymo you found in the skip, we had that exact one but we threw it out the other day cos it had the broken handle!!!!!!

BTW You should get them dirty air vacuum things for your garden looks like a hoover junior or tp junior?

 

[davetranter]

A little advice, if I may....

The strimmer shown in Reply#7 is of the better design, and worth preserving. The engine is 'two-stroke' and, as such, self lubricating. The casing at the bottom of the shaft contains a bevel gear which MUST be kept well greased. There should be a 12mm (or thereabouts) hex bolt head on the side of the casting, just above the three-pointed flange, which should be removed regularly, and grease inserted. It is worth checking immediately, as I have seen these come from the factory without grease (possibly because grease/oil are regarded as 'hazardous' for shipping purposes). Beware of a build-up of old vegetation around the rotating shaft behind the cord reel. Because of the power available from the petrol engine, it's possible to get a serious build-up without really noticing - until the engine or clutch overheats, that is.

The 'hand-push' mower (Reply#13) will probably disappoint. these modern (usually Chinese) push mowers are not heavy enough to operate the blade reliably, and tend to just slide across the surface of the lawn with the wheels/blade stalled. If you have a good, short, very flat/even surfaced lawn, a 'proper' heavy push mower with a rear roller (e.g. Qualcast) will give you a beautiful striped finish

I would strongly suggest that you invest in a proper one from a 'car boot' sale before condemning push mowers altogether... ;-)

I have an old one here which you could have, but I have no way of getting it to the East Midlands.. :-(

All best

Dave T

P.S. if you are in any doubt as to the lubrication status of the bevel gear on your strimmer, a few drops of the thickest oil you can find (Gearbox oil, ideally) applied through the hole won't do any harm, and may do a lot of good.

 

[beko1987]

I've been thinking of a nice push mower for our small garden. Any recommendations?

Nice machinery haul too, I have a Honda petrol mower in my mums garage waiting for us to get a big garden one day!

 

[tolivac]

Flymo-saw one demoed at a lawnmower shop in Florida during the 70's the mower had a small 2 cycle gas motor-the man showing it stood still and rotated in a circle-cutting the grass around him-was quite neat.The only time I have seen one.Since it had no wheels you would have to carry it when the motor wasn't running.And careful-think it would be easy to run or swing the thing over your foot-but sort of liked how it would work like a motorized scythe.The shop was a dealer for the Flymos.

 

[dysondestijl]

Hi Dave,
Yes I would like to get a nice cylinder mower one day
Thanks for the tip on the Oil, I will check before I start it up next!
As for mower reccomendations Sam, you should stick with the Honda
And yes those flymo lawnmowers do seem a little dangerous... But they aren't really when used correctly

 

[petek]

It was Toro back then in the 70's that sold them over here. They never took off and to this day I've never seen anyone using one. Reel mowers are pretty much non existent today . The gas self propelled ones were somewhat common up until the 60's and then faded away into obscurity. Most yards are just too big here and people keep their grass much longer which makes a reel mower difficult to push. Then you get into water restrictions and short lawns require more water. I have memories of our neighbor Mr David. He used an old reel mower and kept his lawn like a putting green but it needed constant watering in the summer otherwise it burned in no time. We used to say he was out shaving his lawn.

 

[davetranter]

Re: 'Flymo'

As Tolivac and Petek have mentioned, the original 'Flymos' were 2-stroke engined. These are still available on this side of the 'pond' for professional use, and are much loved by the operatives who maintain highway verges and embankments, since they can be used continually on steep slopes without suffering from fuel or lubrication failure.

As for overmowing feet, it is usually used at arm's and handle's length, swung like a scythe as one walks, so not a problem in open spaces. (The more inventive highway maintenance operatives tie a piece of rope to the handle, so that they can just walk along the top of an embankment, swinging their mower in a huge arc to cut the grass over the whole bank side). If one is using this kind of mower in resricted spaces then steel toecaps are a must. Yes it must be carried when not running, but these are the lightest mowers in production. The only steel components are the crankshaft and the blade, all the rest being alloy/plastic nowadays, and by the time it is being carried back to the vehicle, it will have very little or no fuel weight.

'Flymo' is also now a brand name for various electrically powered rotary 'hover mowers', which are the type seen in domestic use. very few people over here have big enough lawns to warrant a 'self propelled' or 'ride on' mower (though I have used both). Generally, I prefer a 'human propelled' gasoline rotary mower for most work. The 'self propelled' models are generally too big and too heavy to use in the average (obstructed) garden, though plenty of people have been persuaded to buy them ;-)

Beko.... If you have a small garden with a small lawn, you would be better off with a small rotary 'hover' mower, with the grass box on top or behind (under the handle). The downside of the 'old-style' push mower, is that the front-mounted grass box prevents access to the edges of your lawn where there are obstructions (and in a small garden there is effectively more 'edge' than lawn). Take it from a 'professional', you will spend a lot of time cursing it if you get one. ;-)


All best

Dave T

 

[Anachronism]

Couldn't resist posting a pic of one of our work horse mowers: a 1952 vintage Model "L" Gravely. These things are powered by a "clone" of an early Indian motorcycle engine coupled to a planetary transmission and a worm & screw final drive. They are unstoppable, the mower will knock down scrub trees, and they are DURABLE. There were literally a hundred or more attachments made for them. Since we practice gender equality, we have "his" & Her's". I use the 1952 version, she has a 1966.

 

[tolivac]

I have been fascinated by Gravely machines-as pointed out their long stroke motors put out unbeatable torque-they may be low HP-but they do have high torque for their ratings-explains why the 30" single blade deck will mow down just about anything it will walk over.The blade is very thick and has good flywheel action.The ones I see here their owners will not give them up at ANY price.esp the vintage ones.
for hiway mowing out here-its flail and sickle mowers and large batwing mowers drawn by tractors-don't see ANY hand equipment.Look up Alamo Industrial website and they show a remote controlled umanned flail tractor mower.This would replace hand type equipment.That would be a neat peice of equipment for any mower or tractor fan.Would love to have one!!Its flail mower can bust down stuff up to a couple in thick.The roadways here used to be mowed by state owned Alamo "Interstator" flail mowers-the rigs had three mower decksone on each side of the tractor-and another in the rear.The side decks ran from hydraulic motors run from the tractors front engine PTO-the rear deck ran from the rear tractor PTO.Now its a contractor--"Bushwhackers" they use a tractor with a sidemount sickle mower and a another tractor with a Woods 3 blade batwing mower-mows a path 15ft wide.The Alamos mow the same width.Those are more expensive-the whole Alamo rig with tractor--runs over 100 grand!!
Not a mower-but an unusual use for a Harely Davidson V twin motor---look up on YouTube HD Mud Motor-Its a shallow water outboard boat motor that uses the HD V twin motor to run it.Mud motors are air cooled so the dirty water and mud won't get into the motors cooling system.Other mud motors use large twin cylinder B&S "Vanguard" motors to power them.In one demo-"Mud Buddy" motors can push a boat thru mud with water only a couple in deep-that would kill a standard deep water water cooled outboard!On that HD mud motor a fan was rigged to cool it!Could move a boat thru the swamp at hurry speeds!Watch out for logs and cypress stumps!