Variable speed gearbox

[dickm]

Got "volunteered" by son-in-law to see if I could repair the Hayter rotary mower belonging to a local charity who had used it to maintain a play area. It's a Hayter 56 like my own BUT it's the later model with fully variable speed gearbox, and that now seems to be the cause of problems - basically, the drive mechanism doesn't! Seems this is a fairly common problem, which is easily, but expensively solved temporarily by buying a new gearbox. Which, needless to say costs more than the charity can really afford and presumably packs up like the original after not that much use.
So...... has anyone ever attempted to repair one of these boxes? Or even knows how they work - my guess is expanding cone pulleys like some variable speed lathes.
Not surprisingly, the professional landscapers who used to swear by big Hayters now swear at them. Classic example of an "improvement" that isn't.

 

[finneyb]

Dick,
Just Googled and got this forum thread - Hayter 56 Drive problem http://www.landscapejuicenetwork.com/fo ... t%3A276846
It has some suggestions - there may be others if you Google

HTH

Brian

 

[Jonzjob]

It sounds as if it needs a good wash down and drying off? I would wash it down with a gallon of petrol and dry it off with a match, but stand well back :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

Seriously, it sounds as if it is a design fault and any fix is a temp one??

Sorry for my sense of humour, but it does sound like a dog?

 

[wellywood]

Classic example of an "improvement" that isn't.

The Germans have a word for it. 'Schlimbesserung' (spelling might be dodgy). Loosely translated 'an improvement that makes things worse.'

 

[dickm]

The Germans have a word for it. 'Schlimbesserung' (spelling might be dodgy). Loosely translated 'an improvement that makes things worse.'

Well, at least it's nice to have a word for it! I've thought of several others, but the censor probably wouldn't let them through.

The various garden maintenance forums seem to have quite a bit of the same material about this machine, but haven't yet found anyone who has repaired the actual gearbox. By the number of ads for them on fleaBay, it looks like it was a real lemon.
Thank goodness the one we have for our own use is the earlier model. But even that is not nearly as well built as the one that came secondhand from Anglian water in about 1980!