Message Board - Machinery: Mower Maintenace on a budget
20 Feb 2010 by pacman75cricket
Hi Guys,
Have been informed of a very limited budget for mower servicing.
Have a wicket mower which I will have ground & new shaver blade fitted.
Also have 24 inch mower for cutting the square & we have just obtained a ransomes 180 which really could do with a grind, as we are on a budget would backlapping be a viable option to obtain a reasonable cut I know this is far from ideal.
20 Feb 2010 by has 2 mow Last edited 20 Feb 2010
Hi Pacman
Visited a club on friday and they have an old 180 in the undergrowth may be of some use to you may go pretty cheap it is suppose to have good cylinders and bottom blades . other parts may be handy.
They also have a set of old gangs which i could get to ( photo attached ).
Will take the strimmer next time and check it out ,and if the cylinders are as good as the gangs i will send you a pm if interested .
Mark
20 Feb 2010 by pacman75cricket
Yes please Mark that would be great if you could get an indication of how much they would want would also be good.
Remind me whereabouts are you.
Paul
20 Feb 2010 by ticky21
Hi pacman..(Paul)..are you still fartin around at aylesbury..?..lol.....if so try giving Andy Costar at ARC Engineering Milton Common a call, he is very helpful to guys with limited budgets, he has helped me out a few times....his number is 01844 278950...use me as a reference if you like....
Ticky supports British farmers...!!
20 Feb 2010 by pacman75cricket
ticky in what way helpful,
as beengoing to m channers for what i think is a decent price just limited coffers for mower servicing.
20 Feb 2010 by paul kelsey
pacman
In my limited experience we have a Ransomes 160 backlapping does improve the cut but check the bottom blades was backlapping mine when they were shot, have replaced them now and it is cutting really well.
If you are on a really tight budget I know where there are some pattern bottom blades for £40 a set.
20 Feb 2010 by Sumomosr Last edited 20 Feb 2010
For backlapping to be effective your blades have to be sharp to start with. BL'g won't restore blunt blades- That's what grinding does.
You need to start the season with sharp blades and maintain them using whatever means you can throughout the mowing season, be it grinding or backlapping and include regular adjustment and cleaning. Clean blades cut better than dirty ones.
Refacing the front face of the bedknife should accompany BL'g of the reel.
Tell your club that skimping on servicing will create expense later on and may cuase chaos mid-season if something breaks-down when you need it most. Then ask them all to skip a service on their car and donate that money to your club for machinery maintenance. I doubt anybody will take up the offer...
The stuff maybe you can do yourself:
Change oil & filters.
Clean spark-plugs.
Clean air filters.
Grease bearings and pivots.
Oil cables and linkages.
Check belts and chains for slack and adjust idler pulleys and sprockets.
Wash and clean your machinery regularly as doing so makes you look at the machine in detail and notice any worn or loose items.
GOGGA
20 Feb 2010 by pacman75cricket
I know they really need a grind but due to clubhouse project suspect that won't have money.
Was looking at doing the maintence of machines ourselves.
Its just the sharpening of the blades which we cant do.
20 Feb 2010 by Philmort
Club needs to decide whether cricket is more important than clubhouse. What is it there for?
With someone with the skills and Kit for maintainance you can save something but there's only one real way to sharpen blades and there's a cost.
If the smart clubhouse looks out on a tatty ground, what's the point?
Proud to serve grassroots cricket
21 Feb 2010 by pacman75cricket
Think problem maybe that to get project funded it had to be done now to receive amount ECB funding etc rather than club deciding its investment & will improve the facilities greatly for the club.
So think club had no choice really.
21 Feb 2010 by Mal
I hear so often the question about why money gets spent on a club house when without the ground the clubhouse wouldn't exist. True but lets not forget that the sports ground attached to the sports club is a marriage of sorts and one will not survive without the other in the majority of cases. Just the same, clubhouse facilities and activities are often there to subsidise the ground and if there wasn't a pleasent environment for members to drink, relax socialise and at the same time support the club as a member then revenues would be lost. So the journey from members club pulling together using volunters to get the pitches good and ready for play where money is tight to one where a professional groundsman is employed because of difficulties getting volunters or the desire to improve the quality of the pitches is generally via the building of clubhouse facilities. So if the clubhouse wouldn't survive without the ground then it would often be true that the ground wouldn't survive without the clubhouse either. So a common balance has to tbe struck between investmant in clubhouse and the ground and this needs for a management vision that takes the whole structure of the club into account when making desisions on where the money is spent.
Mal
Geography is everywhere
21 Feb 2010 by Neil Dixon
if you can strip down the machine(s) and just send the cylinders away is a cheaper option, the labour costs are reduced and you just then pay for the regrinding.
21 Feb 2010 by jlawrence
as was pointed out in another thread, grinding isn't actually that expensive - it's the labour costs involved in stripping out the cylinders etc. If you've got the skills to consider getting another machine for spare bits then strip out the cylinders yourself and send them away for grinding.
Of course there's no bounce, bend your back and put some bloody effort in.
21 Feb 2010 by Stuart Barnes Last edited 21 Feb 2010
I'm in a similar situation, club has not much money and was on the verge of folding last year. Everything in the club needs money spending on (club house, drains on outfield etc.)
I shopped around for servicing and tried a different place who were much cheaper than the usual place for servicing. I also picked up a couple of spare machines on ebay, which are usful for parts on older machines.
At the end of the day though, if a wicket cutter needs money spending on it our club know they will have to raise the funds or there won't be a strip prepared for the Saturday.
21 Feb 2010 by pacman75cricket
I am sure mower for wicket will be done its just when you get onto mower for outfield becomes greater expense & not looked at as important as the square.
Club have also supported me with servicing previously like new tines just other proirities due to clubhouse where funds were made available from ECB think now or never basis as we had to make a decision to get ahead with work starting immediatelt only a couple of weeks to make final decision.
21 Feb 2010 by has 2 mow
Hi Pacman
Will contact the club for a price and get some pictures for you , by all account it was a runner before the kids messed about with the petrol and some water .
I will get the guys phone number for you as well, along with the price and some photos and pm them to you . can meet you their and give you a hand if need be .
Mark
21 Feb 2010 by Vic Demain
Pac,
Did you not mention a couple of months ago that the club wouldn't do up your tractor to pull gangs and bought a broken down old triple to last for a season?
Have the committee gone down the fund raising route? Yours is a big town club in an affluent area, the local council, businesses etc would be well worth a punt.
21 Feb 2010 by ticky21
Paul......i know martin channer really well too...ive done some spanner work for him in the past....i used andy costar before now, and he can service machines on limited budgets. if you go an visit him and have a chat, outline your predicament he is quite accomodating.....he has all the necessay tools and grinders etc, even has made parts before now, if theyre not too readily available....oh and he hires machines out as well...
Ticky supports British farmers...!!
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