I purchased, for our club, 3 years ago a Sisis Auto Rake which I'm using to scarify our square.
Sadly I think the guy I bought it from saw me coming. It has a good Honda engine, I was advised not to buy a second hand Sisis with the original engine.
Problem is when I get to a scarifying depth of about 4mm it starts to give up turning and makes a horrible squeaking noise. I have to lift evry time this happens to get the blades moving. If I try any deeper it just never gets going.
Anyone got any ideas please,other than bin it, which would be a shame as the brush works really well.
Greg Spence
What conditions are you scarifying in as machine needs moisture to help
Greg the Auto rotorake is a great piece of kit, but it's not designed for deep scarifying especially if the ground is hard, like at the moment, you only have 5hp I guess and that isn't enough when it's so dry, I use a rotorake at one of my clubs and I always make sure the surface has plenty of water before I groove it for overseeding. I have the brush, scarify and verticut reels and wouldn't be without it, so I guess some water may be the answer.
Greg
Done all my square with one in 3 directions at 30 degrees in 2 directions at 4mm then watered mostly the ends and dropped it to 6mm for the final pass did a great job I did have to lift quite a few times in hard areas I also retensioned the belt after my first pass made a lot of difference, as for brushing its better than a Dyson hoover.
3 Oct 2009 by pacman75cricket Last edited 3 Oct 2009
I used autorake (thanks Vic)but did have water on all day for about 4 days prior to using did a great job.
A couple of passes @ about 4mm & & final pass @ approx 6mm.
3 Oct 2009 by Kip
The cutter is driven by a fibre belt which works on friction to rotate teh blades. The high pitch sweak sounds like the belt is slipping. Maybe check the tension or probably get a new belt. You can inspect this by removing the top cover.
Thanks very much for responses and I will definately water our square next time.Guess I'll need more help with moving the crap then as it's likely to be a lot heavier.
Greg Spence
As already mentioned, it sounds like your belt is slipping and hence the noise.
Belt slippage is caused by insufficient tension or possibly excessive load. (Or both).
Fit a new belt and consider fitting a new v-pullley to the engine shaft as this can wear during slippage and affect the grip as well.
Make sure the new belt is of the correct type (Cloth covered and not just a bare rubber-sided one from Halfords).
GOGGA
Its just the belt slipping. On my (mk 6 i think), theres a threaded nut on the bar down from the on/off lever i have to adjust to `shorten` the bar. Involves removing a couple of split pins.
Andy
I think if you shorten the bar you will get less tension ?
belt slip could also be a result of the grove in the pulley being worn out.
Belt size can vary even when the same size belt is replaced, different belt manufacturers
not unusual to have to drill new holes for tensioners and pulley.
( graden reel belt for eg )
I'm employed by local authority. Got a brand new rotorake last year. It wouldn't go down more than 2mm in the watered bowling green before the belt slipped. Tensioned the belt and now it works to 8mm. I don't use it at that depth, the engine labours far too much, but it's nice to know it can if I need it to.
4 Oct 2009 by vid
Hi Greg, this is obviously an older machine, the original engine shaft twin pulley was made of an alloy that wore out relatively quickly. If you have had no joy after tensioning the belt or there is a distinct smell of burning, get the new pulley from Sisis - the diference in the machines ability to cut deeper is very surprising - well worth the money and a big saving in drive belts.
could anyone explain how to adjust the tension of the belt? I'm a bit of a novice with the spanners but mechanics charge so much for the most simple of tasks!
ben
Paul, you are right, you have to lengthen the bar.
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