OV9

mik wrote: Tue Feb 16, 2021 9:41 pm

DeskJockey wrote: Tue Feb 16, 2021 9:26 pm

mik wrote: Tue Feb 16, 2021 7:50 pm First new mower I’ve ever had Duncs, so obviously I have it booked in for a full geo and corner-weighting : can’t trust that Mountfield will have done this to a tolerance I will be happy with. It then goes in for a paint correction, and nano-tech PPF. Considering a remap.

Painting the wheels too?

Don’t be ridiculous

What he said FFS.

It'll be the tyre lettering. Mik has standards and taste

McSwede wrote: Tue Feb 16, 2021 9:43 pm

mik wrote: Tue Feb 16, 2021 9:41 pm

DeskJockey wrote: Tue Feb 16, 2021 9:26 pm

Painting the wheels too?

Don’t be ridiculous

What he said FFS.

It'll be the tyre lettering. Mik has standards and taste

Sorry, that's what I meant.

Alas the “tyres” are in fact just plastic.

I had been teh fooled.

The engine on the SP53H runs at 2900rpm.

I tweaked the governor spring yesterday to bring this up by around 500rpm.

I don’t now have to run along behind it, but the 15-20% increase in drive speed is noticeable.

When I am cutting fiddly bits I shall be using more fuel. But the time saving on longer “run up and down” sections will be worth it. I rate this mod 9/10.

How do you check the rpm?

My Izy ran a bit quicker after being serviced last year. I’ve never bothered to find out how to adjust it.

Rich B wrote: Sat Jul 03, 2021 9:54 am How do you check the rpm?

I can’t. I timed a before and after on a length of lawn and it was about 18% faster, which works out at approx 500rpm engine speed increase.

I have just ordered a replacement oem governor spring for six whole UK pounds.

As the time required to swap them over is around 8 seconds (unlike many Honda engines where the governor is behinds a fuel tank or some shizzle, the GCV170 mech is easily accessed), and the specialist tools required to do so are: human hands…. I have revised my rating of this mod to 10/10.

I will use the shortened RACE spring on the flat open lawn sections that are cut short, and revert back to the RALLY spring for the rougher sloped sections that are cut at full (90mm) deck height.

mik wrote: Sat Jul 03, 2021 10:12 am

Rich B wrote: Sat Jul 03, 2021 9:54 am How do you check the rpm?

I can’t. I timed a before and after on a length of lawn and it was about 18% faster, which works out at approx 500rpm engine speed increase.

is this a cry for help?

My delight cannot be tempered*



*unless it blows up

I should probably confirm that I did check before doing this - the GCV170 is rated at 3.8PS at 3000rpm, but provides max power of 5.7PS at 3600rpm. It’s happy to run continuously at that speed, so I anticipate zero issues running it around 3400rpm.

https://hondanews.com/en-US/releases/re ... ifications

Rich B wrote: Sat Jul 03, 2021 9:54 am How do you check the rpm?

Downloaded a free app called “Giri” which consistently gives me a reading of 3280rpm. So about 13% faster.

Thread resurrection. I inherited a John Deere LR something or other ride on. It had seen better days and was er, slightly hazardous:



Amazingly it still ran fine like that, although a lot of clippings were lost to atmosphere

Anyway I rattle-canned a replacement deck in JD yellow and jobs a goodun... needs a bit of tweaking now and again but it hasn't defeated me yet.

It’s just a flesh wound!

Won a 2021 Honda HRG536VK on eBay today; with 10% off code it was £445, quite a lot less than the new discounted price of £800. It’s not from the Pro range but it is 21” wide compared to my current 18” Izy, has a variable speed drive, larger capacity grass box and selectable mulching so I’m hoping to cut my 2hr mow down a fair bit. The old one has been somewhat heavily used over the last 5 years, and I bought it new 15 years ago, so will be repurposed for our intended holiday home.

Also consider a governor spring “remap” if you want to save some time….

Its max speed is 1.9m/s, I think - about twice my current Izy’s fixed speed. So I doubt I’ll need to; we’ll see!

Picked it up, noticed the lawn really needed a mow so tried it out. Using my old Izy it took about 2 hours to mow the lawn; it’s a bit awkwardly shaped in places and I usually don’t bother with certain parts round bushes except a couple of times a year to tidy them.

Today took about 1hr 15m with the new mower and that’s taking my time getting used to it, and doing every part that I normally omit. It should be a 1hr job in future. Wish I’d bought it years ago.



I was a bit worried when putting it next to the old one that it seemed big and unwieldy. It looks similar but slightly bigger, which conceptually it is. But the practical differences are:
- 3” wider (21” vs 18”) so there may be one or two less passes up and down each bit of lawn.
- faster, so much so I have to almost break into a jog at its top speed. No need to fiddle with the governor spring, Mik; it seems to be giving me the full 4.8hp already.
- bigger grass box so I don’t have to stop and empty it every time I’ve done an up/down pass on the larger lawn.
- it does mulching so has twin blades. This seems to make it cut the grass more finely even when not mulching so it gets more into the bigger grass box.
- more powerful vacuum effect so it packs the grass box better.
Basically I’m spending less time emptying the box and more time mowing, but that time spent mowing is much more efficient and quick too.

Overall I’m very pleased. It does make the old one look rather shabby too.



The pleasures of a middle-aged man

Oh, I think the cut finish is nicer too; I’m not sure if it’s the geometry of the cutting deck and wheel spacing but I can run it with a lower cutting height than the old one without scalping the lumpy areas.

Results all round Jobbo!

The collection box is the only negative on my Toro. You have to empty it when it’s only 3/4 full and it clogs more than it should