Upgrading / Repairing steering front engined Rover Rancher

mixotricha

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  • / Upgrading / Repairing steering front engined Rover Rancher
Hello everybody. This is my first post.

I recently had a bit of a bingle with a tree and broke the steering sector gear in my Rover Rancher mower. Part A07693. I see that this part is no longer manufactured and am having problems finding a replacement. Since the mower has the engine in the front I am wondering what front steering options might be available. I do have access to lathe / mill and other tools. Just not sure what to look for to upgrade it. I recently upgraded the engine in the mower and also machined some custom pulleys so it goes much faster. So I would like to keep it and replace the obsolete steering parts with something else that is still available if I again have a bingle with a tree!


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bertsmobile1

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  • / Upgrading / Repairing steering front engined Rover Rancher
Not much you can do there as this is one of the Made In Australia models and Rover went to rebadging imported mowers 2 if not 3 owners ago.
New owners are not obliged to carry parts for previous owners products.
The gear can be welded with some hard facing alloy then have the the teeth recut or you can chase up a "prototype & one of " engineering company to cut you one from solid then get it heat treated I built up one but the resale on these is not sufficient to warrant the costs of repairing the gear.
It is a fairly common failure I have the remains of 3 in the junk pile , all with gears like yours and the story is the same with the rear engine riders .
Some of the very old MTD's ( also sold as Rover & Victa ) had above the floor steering but universally every new mower uses under floor steeringasnd there is not enough clearance around the belts to do that to your Rover.
To go under floor you would have to replace the cast iron stack pulley on the engine for a longer one or space yours down the PTO shaft.
Then when you do that you will limit the cutting height before the deck fouls on the transmission .
Below is the set up Greenfields used up until the end of the Aniversary series , around 1980. it should work very well on your Rover
How many of the parts available new is unknown as Greenfields went bust in 2018 & were taken over by Cox & I have no idea how many legacy parts Cox are going to supply although they are still making the last Fast Cut
There are lots of old Greenfields around so you might find a donor mower with a blown engine at a reasonable price but running Aniversary models are still selling for $ 2000 to $ 5000 .
I am fairly sure that the Greenfields king pin ( # GT 7230 ) either swaps strait over or can be modified to fit without major problems as the front cross members are fabricated from the same size sections of bar & tube.
In any case you should be able to fabricate some thing based on the photos below
IF you want the detail scan of the steering gear IPL then PM me & I will send you a copy
It is basically a bell crank to rotate the left right movement of the steering arm on the bottom of the steering shaft into a front back motion to the king pin then the same on the king pin. The original bell crank was 2 strips of flat strap welded together but some time they changed to the triangle of 1/4" thick flat plate
After that is is just strait rods with ball ended tie rod ends ( very important ) so it will be a case of cut some rod to fit & thread it.
The existing tie rod between the wheels should remain
IMG_0024.jpg
Over all view
IMG_0025.jpg
Steering stem end & Bell Crank
IMG_0026.jpg
King Pin Detail
Steering rod on top & tie rod on bottom

And before you ask,
Yes this is from my graveyard
No it is not for sale
It is waiting for me to make a 1/2" stand off plate to mount a new OHV engine to so it clears these steering gear & some more bushes for the deck lift arms
Then it is a cost of paint & onto Evilbay for $ 5000
last one sold in 2 hours but I do give 12 month warranty on them .
 
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mixotricha

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  • / Upgrading / Repairing steering front engined Rover Rancher
So I think I understood the picture? Rather than a gear does it just have a linkage from the steering shaft to the plate ? I was wondering about just putting another linkage in. I know the sector gear also gives a bit of reduction. Talking to an old lecturer of mine that is good with the physics about this now. Have I understood properly that this setup has no sector gear in it? It isn't the kind with the sector gear underneath? Just another linkage and that plate out to the right? If that is the case what an earth was Rover thinking! Hah!

Thanks for the in-depth response mate. I appreciate it. This has been really helpful.

If I have understood this right I can do this setup easily with all the tools I already have.
 

bertsmobile1

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  • / Upgrading / Repairing steering front engined Rover Rancher
Probably
The Greenfields set up was all flat bar , round bar & welds
The killer will be if you have enough space between the steering shaft # 2 and the back of the crankcase to attatch a bar as per the photo
Of not then you could put a sprocket on the bottom of # 2 and another sprocket in place of the bell crank with a short chain between them
do them 2:1 or 3:1 so the steering is not quite so direct .
Again standard stuff from any engineering supply shop
If you go the sprocket route drill a hole through the sprocket & shaft # 2 and then secure the sprocket with a roll pin ( use a big one )
Once that is done you should be able to bolt the original tie rod # 110 to either the bell crank or sprocket
So the only new parts required will be the tie rod between the steering shaft and the bell crank / sprocket plus the bell crank or sprockets depending which way you go

OR even a sprocket on shafts # 2 & # 3 joined with a short chain
All depends upon how much space is under the dash to play with
Just remember keeping tension on a short chain is very difficult
If you go for a longer chain then you could put a sprung tensioner between the two sprockets to allow some give in the system in case of another collision .
 

bertsmobile1

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  • / Upgrading / Repairing steering front engined Rover Rancher
While it is highly unlikely that there will be another poster with the same problem, some photos of the final outcome would be appreciated.
People get hung up on not being able to find parts for older mowers when there is generally an easy work around .
 

mixotricha

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  • / Upgrading / Repairing steering front engined Rover Rancher
I took the console out and did some measuring and then had a go in the cad at trying to come up with a layout that would let me use a linkage. No matter how I move it about I really can't seem to find the space. First thing to note is that on the left hand side the linkage for the cutter engagement comes up out of the bed. So any plate in the linkage would need to come up above that. Then it sticks in to the foot area. If I flipped the king pins over at the front ( which I think might be possible ) then I might just have space on the right. It starts to seem complicated. Then the linkage down the side of the mower will need to be shortened.

Starting to seem like making a new gear might be easier. I am contemplating going at that three possible ways. One would be to get the basic shape plasma cut somewhere. But I am having trouble finding a place in Australia to do a single plasma cutting job for me. The other would be to be to profile cut it myself on my mill. But might take forever and is going to be a lot of work. Drawing up a basic shape that is pretty close to the original gear wasn't a problem. The other option I was thinking of was to get thinner sections of the gear laser cut ( say 4mm ) and then laminate them together in to a new gear with some rivets. Then heat treat the teeth. The steering shaft itself is fine. It was the gear that busted.

I also did think about a sprocket arrangement. And also I saw a ride on mower ( EL36 Rider ) that had a sector gear and a separate pinion that slid over the steering shaft.
 

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bertsmobile1

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  • / Upgrading / Repairing steering front engined Rover Rancher
OK,
So you have some gear there to work with
In that case I would just get a pair of chain sprockets and slip them over shafts # 2 & # 3
That would be the easiest thing to do
Latter Greenfields and all Cox mowers use a chain for steering
Just machine out the centers of the sprockets to slide over the shafts
You sound like a compitent machinist so you could weld then above the steering arm on shaft # 3 thus allowing original parts to be fitted at a latter date should they become available
It would be cheaper just to buy the sprockets and machine them to fit than to buy propriorty parts but FWIW this is the current Greenfields set up
While it is installed under floor there is no reason why it could not be done above floor
Note the sprocket on the steering shaft is machined directly into an upset in the end
   Steering layout.jpg
  Steering parts.jpg
 

mixotricha

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  • / Upgrading / Repairing steering front engined Rover Rancher
That is a great idea. I had wondered about a sprocket setup as well but I was not sure if I would be able to tension it. But now that I think about it what I would do is split the bottom plate that carries both the steering shaft and the secondary shaft. Then I could side each plate away giving more distance between centers of those shafts. Then a rod somewhere will need adjusting but I can probably just bush mechanic some solution for that up! I also have an idea what to do about stops that doesn't involve that plate or grooves in the gears. Much simpler solution.

But my next question would be if you know what the OD of that GreenField/Cox steering shaft is?

Quick look on ebay showed me a pinion and says it is a 5/8" center hole?

Both the shafts in the rover setup are about 19mm.

If they both have a smaller ID than 19mm that would mean just machining them out and no need to make bushings. Also means I don't need to go through process of selecting chain etc etc.
 

mixotricha

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  • / Upgrading / Repairing steering front engined Rover Rancher
I just looked at the plate that carries both shafts again. I think it has an adjustment on it anyway that may be enough to let me tension a chain setup.
 

bertsmobile1

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  • / Upgrading / Repairing steering front engined Rover Rancher
Bucketing down rain at the moment
When it stops I will see what is in the graveyard so might be a couple of days
The Greenfields large sprocket pivots on a 3/8" grade 9 bolt and the pinion is machined into the steering stem.
The Cox set up is different again as they use a chain from the steering shaft all the way to the front axel
So I don't think any of the actual mower parts will work for you they were just there to illustrate how they did it .
However Cox have just redone their web page so you can actually find stuff
The IPL's are at the back of the owners manual
cox mowers
CBC sell plain sprockets as do McPhersons .
Most bearing shops keep a range of stock sprockets
 
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