Rotavor Assistance required please Cultimatic B66

Cleaning, fixing, using, repairing, best and worst of your mechanical aids in the garden...

Moderators: KG Steve, Chantal, Tigger, peter

Lightpill
KG Regular
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Apr 18, 2006 10:30 am
Location: Gloucestershire

Hello All

A couple of years ago some Gentleman called Clive and Richard identified my rotovator given to me by family as a Qualcast B66 Cultimatic. Fitted with a A114 engine. (Suffolk / Atco possibly with a aluminium engine.

It has run well over the last few years, recently I lent it out to someone who decided to service it and altered lots of the throttle linkage from the carburettor to the engine. (I am not a mechanic) Now I am unable to alter the engine speed Its either on at full speed or off. It seems to have been disconnected to the engine governor?. The spring has been discarded and the linkage changed around.

I have seen some drawings on the Bartram website under the Punch / Dellorto carb drawings

I took it to a Garden machinery workshop, who told me immediately not able to get parts etc. A new engine required a Chinese engine on the market we will provide a quote next week etc.

I would prefer to fit a 2nd hand engine or repair the damage to the throttle linkage with old parts and or new if necessary and restore before changing the engine to a (Chinese one with all new parts etc) Is there any one who would have these parts and prepared to fix the machine using as many of the original parts as possible. I would of course be prepared to pay for this service.

I live in Gloucestershire but prepared too travel, it is probably not economic what I am considering however I would prefer to try and fix the machine before discarding the old engine etc.

Any advice welcomed and received

Best wishes Kevin Lea [email protected]
User avatar
Clive.
KG Regular
Posts: 1878
Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2005 5:01 pm
Location: East Lincolnshire.
Has thanked: 11 times
Been thanked: 83 times

Hello Kevin,
Sorry to read of the engine problems..

I am now out of touch with parts availability for things Atco/Qualcast. I suspect that service parts such as gaskets, seals, ignition parts etc will still be available if only as pattern replica parts to the mower trade....but more serious bits to do with cylinder block parts may be no longer available new.??.. However, some parts may be about s/h....but quantities made of A114 engine were, I would imagine, never that of the numbers of the earlier engines from that company.?

The problem for the machinery repairer, as well as potential general parts supply, may be the sensible financial and practical viability of making a lasting repair to the engine relative to a fit with a new engine.
Mainstream machinery agents would not generally work on a repair for a customer using s/h parts...unless it was pre arranged for whatever reason.

I wonder what the reason for the "service up" and the altering of the linkages was.??..was it a well meaning good turn of giving it some attention before return that sadly went wrong.?? or did a problem develop that needed the attention.??

Some Dellorto carb' A114 engines did suffer from erratic running in some applications.
Also on some there were in sump governor failures... The governor bobbin spindle, mounted internally in the sump cover plate, would work loose and move causing governing to stop....then the engine revs could race rather than govern correctly. That is perhaps looking on the black side and I hope all can be corrected with the external parts returned to the correct places.

Hopefully someone locally will be able to take up the challenge.

Clive.
Richard
KG Regular
Posts: 71
Joined: Mon May 08, 2006 8:37 pm
Location: Lancaster

Hello again Kevin.

I doubt if a Chinese replacement would have mounting points for the belt guide in the right places. Without the guide the clutch won’t work properly and the guide also acts as the front mounting bracket for the belt cover.

I have just bought a couple of almost unused B66 intending to tidy them up and resell. One had the instruction/parts book with it so will to do copies when time permits. I believe that the A114 engine was used on some Atco models, and Atco have a partfinder on their website, so if the bits you require are still available they should come up on that. Even if new parts are unavailable the sort of garden machinery repairer you need will be the type of “one man band” who has a yard full of “dead” machines used for parts.

Richard
User avatar
Clive.
KG Regular
Posts: 1878
Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2005 5:01 pm
Location: East Lincolnshire.
Has thanked: 11 times
Been thanked: 83 times

Hello Richard,
Pleased to see you back on here...and well done for finding some little used B66s.. :)

Yes, the A114 was used on Atcos from C.1983...and later on some Punch S and Atco derived Webb. There are variations...initially it had the electronic ignition from earlier A98 and had the Dellorto carb....but later gained a new type inductive? ignition and Tilotson carb'..perhaps in about 1991?
My sums seem to suggest that it would have finished about 1995 with change of Atco/Qualcast mower chassis and Tecumseh engine use.
So having totted up the years...it was about longer than I initially imagined...

Clive.
landie57
KG Regular
Posts: 21
Joined: Sat Oct 07, 2006 8:42 am
Location: nr Bath, Somerset

Lightpill, sorry to hear a good machine has been 'damaged' whilst on loan, one of the dangers of loaning such things.
On a brighter a note, have you tried posting a question on the vhgmc website forum, open to non club members. I am sure if you include a photo of the 'modified' throttle linkage someone will be able to come up with a solution. Good luck.
Hortiman
KG Regular
Posts: 35
Joined: Thu Nov 16, 2006 9:30 pm
Location: Alltwalis, Carmarthen

Hi there, with reference to the Cultimatic B66.
Try John Cruse, The Mower Centre, Hailsham, Sussex.
01320 842477
Happiness is a well tuned engine !
Post Reply Previous topicNext topic