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My name is Jim Marshall and I am a new member. A friend and I undertook the job of rebuilding the two DR mowers pictured below. We volunteered the time and money to do this for a local non-profit arboretum that operates on a shoestring budget--Mt. Pisgah Arboretum.

There were three and our project was to make two good ones. I guess the best way to describe them was fatigued, abused, unloved by a cadre of volunteers for Mt Pisgah Arboretum.



Well, that looks easy, but here is how it went:


This is what happens when a bearing locks up. This is the drive reduction. We built it up and turned it back on the lathe.


And this is the gearbox.


Finished and painted gearboxes (urethane over epoxy primer).


Fatigue cracks and broken metal were the rule here.


Piece welded in to reinforce fatigue breaks.



Multiple pieces after welding, sanding and grinding. Ready for primer and paint.




Pieces after priming and finishing. The decks were riddled with metal tears and fatigue cracks. Chutes were hanging by a thread. One deck had to be reinforced around the back with a 1/8" x 1 1/2" flat bar after heating and bending the existing metal. Handles were bent and braces had broken loose.

Well, anyway, you get the idea here. It is one of those projects that if you would have known the amount of work you never would have started. Lynn and I put in 82 total hours on these and $360 for the pair including bearings, shafts, and paint.



Jim

That is amazing, you have the talent for sure. A lot of work yes, but see what you accomplished. Good to see creative people like you and the people of LMF. :thumbsup: :welcome:

Thanks for your comment. I stopped off to go hiking and found that they had been using both mowers and everything was working great. Hopefully they can get many more years out of them.:smile:

Jim

Where can i find those wheels. I have one of these but cannot find a replacement wheel.

Wow great work and a good cause... by the way I have seen similar wheels at northern tools.

billanderson said:

Where can i find those wheels. I have one of these but cannot find a replacement wheel.

Click to expand...

I don't know. I found a couple of the spindles on ebay--just lucky. We had three to make two so that helped. I had to do some welding on the spokes on one set and the arboretum did have two new ones for some reason.

I had no luck in finding parts from DR or Bachtold.

Jim

Yeah, i have found the same; dr and any distributors of bachtold can't help. I will have to keep searching the web i guess. Thanks for your response and great work on those mowers. They look great!

I don't really like mechanical stuff, and I'm really inspired by your project. Beautiful, careful work! Maybe it's b/c I have developed a fondness and respect for my old DR/Bachtold beast!