Lawnmower Jones the RU-vid channel started nearly two years ago with a video of my Suffolk Corporation. That was probably going to be a one off video, however I enjoyed doing it and got quite a lot of interest which spurred me on to make more vintage mower videos. I hope my videos are helpful and informative to anybody restoring or repairing vintage/antique lawnmowers. I think this is a great hobby and is affordable to all. Thank you for your support!
Hi , The Mk3 is basically the same as the Mk5, different handles would be the main thing. I am not surprised yours cuts well, Ransomes do use some of the best metal on there cutting cylinders and bottom blades. Enjoy your Ajax mowing. Thanks for your comment.
@@lawnmowerjones3160 absolute pleasure. I only recently discovered your channel and its top notch. Having restored this and a Webb Witch im itching for another! Its the parallel handle model which is quite rare to see.
@@andymartin86 Hi Andy. Thanks for the kind words. Vintage / Antique mowers are a great affordable hobby, with engineering to match any! It does seem to be that the earlier Webbs are more difficult to find, and will be a nice mower to use. Thanks Richard.
Thanks MrJones, what a lovely mower, such a great design, I have spent many hours mowing with Qualcast Panthers and while they can be made to run and cut OK they are sadly a poor comparison to this mower. Our neighbour, when I was growing up, had one of these and that tick tick of the split rear roller and the whirr of the cylinder is very evocative ! I still have my Panther from the early 80s, and a couple of the Qualcast side wheeled models, but mostly use my 1998 Atco Balmoral and Honda Rotary now, I always fancied the 16" Atco Super Clipper, but they stopped making them so had to settle for the Panther. This makes me want to dig out the Panther and see what I can do to get in running well, and perhaps I'll look out for a vintage Super Clipper too, I have subscribed and will be going back over your content, thanks !
Hi Andy, Yes it was a pleasure to work on. I am a big fan of Ransomes and always very well made. The Ransomes Ajax does have a very nice sound when using it. to be fair to the Qualcast Panther it was a well made mower with easy adjustments and cut well . It seemed that the Qualcast Panther and the E1 / B1 Side wheel mowers where sold in huge numbers, very popular and affordable to most. I do remember seeing the Atco 16" Clipper in the Atco catalogue , i am not sure why but they seemed to have had quite a short reign. Glad you enjoyed the video. Thanks for your comments.
Hi Mick, Yes that was Marks mower, i believe you sent him down to me, thanks. Hopefully we are still on for the Ransomes Marquis review , if yours is not going i think i can find one to bring down. Thanks for your comment.
@@lawnmowerjones3160 cool.. glad he found you .. yes we are still on.. just have a lot on the old plate at the moment.. my dad is in hospital and has dementia so very tricky to manage
Hi Mick. Yes he found me ok thanks. Sorry to here about your Dad, things will be hard on your family. No rush on the Ransomes Marquis Vid, just let me know if or when. Thanks.
I have an ex local authority one of these to restore, it has a brass plate with the la shortened name and asset number. I need front rollers and wooden handles. It has a box but I think it's not original or for it but it does fit
Hi, It sounds like you have an early Mk 3 Ajax with the flat handles and wooden handle grips. Much the same as the Mk 5 Ajax with more of an antique look to it.. If you know anyone with a Lathe , it is not hard to turn new rollers and handle grips, but needs to be a nice hard wood , Beech , Ash or something similar , but not Oak. Thanks for your comment.
@@lawnmowerjones3160 you are correct, I've only just been able to get to my storage place mark 3 with red front of the name plate, cylinder (rust now) and handle stay bars. The green paint is ratty but pretty complete the red is flaking or corroded away. The grass box looks like a home made ali plate and there is no thrower plate (never knew what is was called until your videos). The box will fit but it's on the front roller height bolts so I thinks it's a make do type of thing there doesn't appear to be lugs or studs for the box to clip on
Hello Mr Jones I enjoy your videos they are all interesting . I own a Ransome ajax mk4 I keep it sharp and well serviced and like you say easy to use . You can back lap the cutters from the large gear wheel with a tool that screws into it and just wind backwards. That is also a good idea of yours removing the 2 gear wheels . A question can you remove the two inner front rollers on a mk5 that leaves two smaller ones for cutting longer grass ? Regards Brian.
Hi Brian, Thanks for your kind words , we have a little garden with only gravel , so no grass. ( Not good for someone that's into mowers!!! ) But would love to have some grass to use an Ajax on. Yes i should have mentioned about the official Ransomes Back lapping handle , i have only seen pictures of it. Good point, if i do another Ajax video , i must mention the Mk 5 and i think Mk 4 you can remove the inner wooden rollers to leave the outer for the longer grass. Thanks for you comment.
Hy, Mikky here, i'm wondering, for the side cover, would you torque the bolts up, and if so, would it be the same torque spec you used on the Bearing cap...80 inch pounds? Thank you.
Hi Mikky , i never did find any official torque settings for the Suffolk cast iron engines, i based 80 inch pounds for the con rod on a similar Briggs and stratton engine. But the side cover screws would also be a low torque setting, and would say 80 inch pounds would also be good for those, but no more. Thanks for your comment.
Hya, i just wanted to say how informative and easy going i found your site, and which i found tonight---(17/06/2024)---and showing the Old Lawnmower Club rally of 2024. I've two Suffolk Punches from the mid to late 1970's, both with aluminium engines, and both requiring loads of TLC!---(When i say ''loads'', i mean, ''to be rebuilt''!!!). I have however, a box or two of spares for them. I have a another Suffolk, this one a Super Colt(?) This one last run about four years ago, and is complete, though i've no spares for it. As i was scrolling through your videos--(which i WILL binge watch, paying particular attention to your 'Suffolk' videos!!)--i came across your Stihl 137cc video, ''dicing with the devil''! This video also piqued my interest, not only because of the beast that it is, but because of Stihl's latest saw, the Stihl M881. I have four chainsaws of my own, NONE of them Stihl's, and NONE of them even coming close to the power of the M881, which is a baby compared to the one you own! Stihl's new 'unit' is a mere 122cc, so, big enough really, but compared to your 137cc.....a REAL BEAST!! I am so sorry to have gone on, but i think i'm here to stay now! There are so many good and able Lawnmower sites, and i keep looking for that ''special'' site...seems i've found it! Your's most sincerely, Mikky---(on his wiofe's computer.....Shhh!!)---from North East Scotland.
Hi, i am glad you like them, we have got a lot of very Enthusiastic members in the old lawnmower club who are always happy to talk about the pride and joy, which makes making a video much easier. Yes i do like my Suffolks, in the 60s and 70s they were very popular most families would have had a Suffolk Colt or Punch before the cheap Rotary mowers appeared. The Stihl 090 AV is quite a saw, quite low revving and does have a governor , and even though it is 137cc your MS881 Would out perform it hands down with its cutting speed! Both saws do need to be treated with upper most respect. Great saws Though, The Daddy of big chain saws!!! Thanks for watching and your comments.
Quite a service ritual to the mower before actually cutting the grass. Modern mowers amount to filling the tank and checking the oil once in a while. Having said that, I can't see the mower I have being around in a 100+ years. Wonderful old machinery and a great video.
Hi, yes i think back then the gardeners had to be quite mechanically minded , lots to do before you even try to fire it up! Lots of oiling points , and very well made. Glad you enjoyed the video. Thanks for your comment.
Hi , yes great show, as you say, great that we have younger fans collecting and keeping this lovely old machinery alive. Always nice to here someone talking about there pride and joy with good explanations. Thanks for your comments.
Hi , most mowers are normally green with red cylinders. But probably best to have it correct, if you know Qualcast, they did also paint some of there side wheel hand mowers light blue. Thanks for your comment.
They should have let you blokes trim up the grounds before the rally. You probably already know this, but in the US, what you refer to as bushes we refer to as 'bushings.' On account of they bush things. And the agricultural-style reciprocating blade is known here as a 'sickle bar.'
Hi , Yes we should have got a few more members to do some grass cutting. It was a bit long and thick for the Cylinder / Reel mowers. It is funny how names can vary from the UK to the US. I do remember the last Troy-Bilt i worked on , the parts list Referred to it as a Sickle bar mower. Thanks for your comment.
Hi, I think there is a similar story about the Flymo . I believe it is only recently Hayters have stopped making them, very tough mowers though. Thanks for your comment.
Do you think an enterprising user with the ability to machine new gears could convert this to a chain drive or helical gear drive, and modify the ratio?
Hi, I think it would always be better to have new gears made , like for like, if the old ones are badly warn. Ransomes would have spent a lot of time getting the gear ratios correct, so changing the gears for something different would probably only spoil it. Thanks for your comment.
I had to turn the volume up to 250%, then down to 200% Bet it beats a motor mower. Less pollution, maybe less noise pollution (though yours is quite noisy!), no having to pull the engine to give it a crank (easier if you're strong but can't extend your arm very far). Many reel-type mowers are being made for the North American market nowadays, in widths from 14 to 20 inches (in proper money, 355.6 mm to 508 mm) as well as even wider, but I bet they're a poor imitation of this, and they use wheels rather than a roller for the drive. I intend to use such a poor imitation mower to scalp (!) my lawn so that plants I actually want can grow in its place. You never mentioned using an old fashioned scythe to crop the oversized grass! That said, I doubt such a thing would work very well, as I've tried it. It's better for whacking weeds that occur in open spaces.
Hello again. Yes i do need to get my microphones charged as out door filming does vary . Ransomes do have a contact cutting cylinder, so some noise will be made, ( Rather nice sound though ) If you have a small piece of lawn, and is flat and not to long, a hand mower is probably green as you are going to get. Something well made would last you years, so got to be good for the environment. In the uk these days new hand mowers are mainly 12" / 14" cut as you say in America you do much larger sizes. The old Fashioned Scythe , that's a skill and another topic. Thanks again for your comment.
Regarding the date, I think 1975 is certainly very close. I have a similar '72 brochure (not accessible right now) but from memory everything looks about the same. I believe that by the later 70's the plastic air filter was being used. I have a 12" model that was purchased many years ago from the original owner who said he bought it in 1976. That looks identical to the brochure other than it had a plastic air filter.
I forgot to say, I also have a 14" model from what I'm guessing is about 1970ish. It had the metal air cleaner and also the earlier alloy recoil unit. So I'd guess that would be one of the early alloy sided 'super' models?
Yes, I suppose if you were a real fashion expert it would be quite easy to put a date on the catalog, but I am glad you have come up with a more accurate date. I do have an 80s Qualcast / Suffolk parts catalog which have some dates. It would be interesting to see your Qualcast / Suffolk brochure when you find it. The earlier cast Suffolk recoils were much better than those newer White / Black plastic ones. Thanks for your comment.
Hi, yes it could be an ornament , it does look like a Childs toy mower , but is the real thing. Back then , i guess people were a little shorter. Thanks for your comment.
Being in the colonies, we got all the export stuff as you might imagine. My Morris minor has a dusty road oil bath air filter rather than the steel mesh that the UK got for example. Generally stuff like exhausts and air filters I find to be different on many small engines. But it extends to Japanese imports as well, my mitsubishi ute has different steel pressings in the tray. And sometimes the paint and interior of things are local market specific. All because of import tariffs, a certain percentage of things had to be made local to avoid large taxes on imported goods. Also why things were imported as CKD complete knock down kits to assemble here. Keep the locals working
Hi. Yes as you say the colonies must have had quite a lot , and probably cars more than anything. As a manufacture Export must have been a very important part your business. Some of the differences must have been made for local conditions and needs, like your Morris minors air filter needed to be an oil bath to cope your conditions. Thanks for your comment.
Thanks Mick It has been a very busy couple of weeks, so little done in the garage. Was a good day for cutting grass and stones!!! Thanks for your comment.
Hi , Yes we have quite a lot of mowers to see at the Old Lawnmower club rally , and grass to try them on! Not long now till the 2024 Rally. Thanks for your comment.
That machine is proof things were made to work well and last. I must say the price of a McDonald's breakfast is a reasonable price for a great camera lady. Great video.
Hi David. Yes things were made to last years ago. Funny we are supposed to be in a environmentally culture , but we are building things cheaply and dumping them sooner! We must keep the camera lady happy, she is worth every penny / McDonalds. Thanks for your comment.
Yes it is mainly Rotary mowers these days. For a proper cut it has to be a cylinder mower ! or as i think you call them Reel mowers. Yes everyone needs a camera Lady, just need to treat her to a Mac Donalds! Thanks for your comment.
Yes I knew you ha fine taste in quality machinery. I think I know the Chap you are talking about, I don’t think he is a Gent though. Thanks for your comment.
Cracking mower, they certainly built them to last! Thank you for sharing your day with us, and to the camera lady for filming it..hope she enjoyed the Mcdonalds lol
Hi, Thank you, a well made mower as you say, little plastic and made to last. Yes the camera lady enjoyed her McDonalds so i didn't get done for beach of contract! Thanks for your comment.
That looked quite the struggle, a job for an octopus! If you need to do that again you might find it easier to drill all the holes in the steel first then put in the first four screws to get it all lined up then wrap a ratchet strap round the belly of the beast to draw it all in.
Thanks for a facinating video. I'm searching for a Qualcast powered panther grass box or a nice transfer like your one. Is there someone who makes old transfers?
Hi . it was a pleasure and glad you enjoyed it. If you after a Qualcast powered panther grassbox, probably well worth joining the Old Lawnmower Club and you could put a wanted in the classified section. They also have a very good club shop, which also does Transfers, and where i got my Suffolk Punch one from. Thanks for the comment.
Don't be apologetic about the Dronsfield grassbox. It is a bonus having one at all for this machine and any of that age certainly won't look any better. I'm still hoping that we may be able to come up with a transfer for the MIP but as you will appreciate it's quite a complex design and unique to that machine.
Good evening. Vey kind words , i have got to be happy i have a box at all. No rush for the Greens MIP transfer, but something to look forward to. Thanks for your comment.
