Leave Project 1 - Unicorn Chasing!
Regular readers will know of my love for the Rover ProCut. And in that, I mean the ProCut's made before MTD discontinued the classic series and replaced them with something cheaper. The original ProCut's were on the marker for 20+ years, the replacement lasted a mere five. Says it all really. The Rover brand was once a force, it's now a shadow of its former self. Shame on you MTD and your cost-conscious control freaks.
In spring 2013, I bought my first self-propelled lawn mower, the American-focused John Deere JS48. The personal pace drive system, killer Briggs & Stratton 875 engine (it ran so hard that it would ignite fuel in the muffler on shut down, always loved the BANG it made), the key start and a wide 22-inch cut made it the perfect mower. Except, it was abysmally terrible at catching and wouldn't cut low enough for my customers' requirements. I cut my losses after less than a year and started researching an alternative.
Now, for a contractor, the unquestioned wisdom suggested that I should have been buying a Honda HRU-216. However, after prior bad experiences with Honda's, not to mention the narrow discharge chute of the HRU-216, I had no intentions of blindly following the crowd to end up with the same lack of catching ability as the John Deere.
After extensive research, I was led to an unlikely candidate, the Rover ProCut series. These were 20-inch and 22-inch alloy base mowers, both offered with or without self-propel. By the time I was in the market, Rover had ditched Briggs and Stratton in favor of the 196cc "Rover" engine, or the 173cc Kohler Courage XT8. I didn't want either engine, but the Kohler got the nod as the lesser of two evils.
I never liked that Kohler engine. From day one, it seemed to consume more oil than a Briggs, and always felt harder to pull over with strange resistance against the rope. Nor did it have the grunt of the 190cc Briggs in really thick grass. I will say, I have belted the **** out of this engine for more than 10 years now, I even changed the position of the governor spring to allow a much higher rev ceiling. And yet, it doesn't smoke, no piston slap or unusual sounds.
I actually keep a tab on each mower I own and how much income they generate. I originally started doing this to find out when the machine had paid for itself and therefore when it started earning me money, however I just kept going beyond that. So, I have a record dating right back to the day I bought this Rover, you'd be shocked at how much income this mower has generated over the last 10 years!
As age started creeping up on it, I've tried three times to replace this Rover. I looked at the new Chinese-made ProCut 960's while Rover still offered them, but the dealer warned me off them due to issues with the blade-clutch system, his advice was to refresh my current Rover's drive system to buy me some more time. After that, I stared looking again and ultimately took a punt on the Bushranger 800 SP with the Honda GXV-160 engine.
To be clear, I did
actually like the Bushranger. The build quality is the best I have ever experienced on mower, everything was made to be super heavy duty, thick cast aluminum deck, sold metal wheels with actual rubber tyres, cross-bolted axles, and shaft rather than belt driven gearbox with three speeds. The GXV-160 engine is superbly refined and efficient, and after a governor adjustment, plenty of power too.
But again, the half rear chute limits the catching ability in heavy duty cutting or on damp/wet grass. And all of that heavy duty-ness meant the unit was extremely heavy, making it dicey on soft/saturated ground. It became a lottery, did I risk being inconvenienced by frequent chute blockages by taking the Bushranger for the day, or did I grab the aging Rover just to be safe. And that is not really ideal when spending the better part of $2000 for commercial mower. At the time of writing, I'll be selling off the Bushranger in the near future, I just don't use it.
The next attempt was considerably more successful, the Victa Commercial 21, a machine I'd had my eye on for quite a while. The problem I had committing to this machine was the lack of info out there on these mowers. In that I mean very little online content, both written and video. In the end, I took another punt and have been very impressed with how it's performed since.
I've gone on to provide content on this mower that will hopefully help others make an informed choice. Overall, the Victa C21 is a great mower, plenty of power, well-made and even with the half chute, it's been performing very well.
All along, I had been replacing and repairing the Rover to keep it in action as a backup or when I knew I'd need that full discharge chute. So, I didn't need another mower, the Victa C21 was a more than capable replacement for my beloved Rover ProCut, but.......................................
A few weeks ago, I found a very tidy looking Rover ProCut on Facebook Marketplace. At the time, I was super busy and didn't want to burn a few hours traveling to buy it when I didn't
really need it. So, I told myself that if it was still available when I went on leave, that I would do something about it. The advertisement pics showed a tidy mower that clearly had been looked after.
So, why THIS example? Because this particular ProCut is fitted with the brilliant Briggs & Stratton 850-Series engine! As mentioned, I missed the boat on this engine back then, at the time neither the Kohler or "Rover"
engines interested me, so I went for the "name" branded Kohler. But I really wanted the Briggs.
So, after I contacted the seller on Saturday and organized a time to pick it up, I got in the Ranger this morning and set off towards Cobram-Barooga. This is the first time I have driven out of town on my own mission for nearly 12-months, the first time in 7 years leaving Victoria. I didn't even mind being stuck behind two trucks for most of the way, the road is super bad and not conducive to overtaking in an underpowered 2.2 diesel Ranger, so I just pottered along listening to the divine Miss K.
Once I arrived, I spotted the mower in question was stunned at its condition, the photos didn't do it justice! Chatting with the seller, he seemed to be into mowers as well and once bought (another, not this one) brand-new Rover from the factory back in the day. This particular ProCut was handed down from his grandfather, which nearly had me in tears because I too have my grandfather's old mower. Apparently, the seller was downsizing so the Rover was just too big and heavy for him. The machine was originally sold by Sugden Kerr in Toowoomba, its better traveled than me!
Lawn Mowers & More at Sugden Kerr Pty. Ltd. | Toowoomba (sugdenkerrmowersandchainsaws.com.au)
After collection and on my way home, for the first time ever, I decided to check out some silo art....................
Once I got home, I mowed the front nature strip to get a feel for it. I then grabbed the tachometer, the 3030 rpm is the fastest standard Briggs 850 I have come across, most of them sit at 2800 - 2900 rpm from the factory. I then grabbed my excellent Knipex curved pliers to bend the governor spring tab towards the front of the engine, bringing it up to a healthy sounding 3670 rpm. This also speeds up the self-propel to a more efficient walking pace.
The seller mentioned it had synthetic oil in the engine, and it still looked golden, if a little over-full. After tuning the governor, the oil was up to temp, so I just decided to change it out for peace of mind. Oil of choice being my usual preference, Penrite 10W-30 semi-synthetic.
While the oil was draining, I took the chance to inspect the blades, which are the OEM style with the three holes. The belt also looks in great condition.
The drive system is a little clunky, which will need further investigation. I did pop off the hub caps and inspection plug to look at the cogs, which looked fine. So, I lubed the cogs with graphite to see how it goes, but if needed, I have a replacement set of cogs and pawls. I then removed the gearbox/clutch cover, blew out a small amount of debris and lubed the drive chain.
For those wondering where the detailing content was, this is where I decided to give the unit a clean. After a rinse with the pressure washer, I sprayed it down with Shine Supply Wise Guy, agitated with a brush and then rinsed. I then followed with Carpro Hydr02 and dried it off with the EGO. After that, I went over the catcher, engine plastics and wheels with Megs Hyper Dressing.
Next, I decided to pull the plug, which was ok but well worth replacement. The 850-Series uses a Champion RC12YC or NGK BCPR5ES, of which I keep the Champions in stock. You will need a 16mm deep socket for this.
Annoyingly, I didn't have a brand-new air filter in stock. These earlier 850 engines used a longer rectangular filter instead of the triangular version on the newer engines. A clean used filter I already had will have to do for now, which was better than what came off the machine.
After a basic service and a clean, the Rover is ready for work. Hard to believe this is a 10-year-old mower........................
Comparing my well used Kohler powered example, the main difference being the bale/drive lever. The Briggs version has a single drive bale, but the Kohler uses that for the engine brake, as such it has a secondary lever to control the drive. I've always hated the useless engine brake and used a small clamp to keep the engine running to prevent restarting after each catcher dump. But I did like the single-handed drive control lever better, so no doubt some adjustment on my part will be needed.
On final thing for today, I removed the zone-start clamp from the Kohler powered machine and fitted it to the Briggs.
As for further work, I will most likely pull the wheels off and replace the drive pawls, the cogs looked fine. I'll also order a new air filter, as well as an exhaust tip.
So, I found my unicorn lawn mower! I just have to find a decent Victa Twin and my life will be complete!
And joy of joys, I managed to get the Ranger dirty enough for a wash!
Thanks for reading my babble.
