Kitchen Garden Forum

Hello All
Can anyone help please with information about a Qualcast Rotovator B66. Ideally I am looking for an instruction manual or any useful tips about maintaining and operating this rotovator. I noticed it had a plate on the frame and was made in Derby. For example should I use unleaded or lead replacement? I have been given this rotovator but without any instructions etc. I have looked on Qualcast website but no listings. Where would I buy spare parts etc. Its in very good order. It spluttered and was difficult when I moved it off the choke setting. I was using unleaded petrol. Any pointers to a website for drawing or a Manuel would be appreciated and welcomed.
I will be using the rotovator on my allotment and not for commercial purposes or selling this machine on for profit on Ebay etc. Thanks for any help Kevin

Hello Kevin,



The Qualcast Cultimatic B66 was in fact the Merry Tiller Cadet re-badged as a Qualcast and fitted with the Qualcast/Suffolk/Atco A114 four stroke engine.

It will date from 1985 to, I think, circa 1989.

Your machine should not be confused with a totally different design of Qualcast rotavator that was sold previously also as a Cultimatic.

Qualcast/Atco acquired the garden machinery range of Wolseley Webb in 1984 and this included the Merry Tiller range.. hence they had the MT Cadet chassis which could be used for the Cultimatic B66.

You should be ok using Unleaded Petrol.

Do keep a good check on the sump oil...check and top up, if required, before every run.
Sae30 is the oil to use or Sae20w50.
The engine oil should be visible when you remove the oil filler cap (with engine switched off, of course.!!)...It should be full so that with the engine set level the oil is level with the lip of the filler hole.. ie; anymore and it would run out.

I think the A114 oil capacity at full is half a pint.??.

I am not familiar with the quantity of oil for the chaincase of the tiller.. but if you are making enquiries ...I suspect it will be the same as for the Wolseley Webb/Atco Merry Tiller Cadet.

Parts drawings can be found on this link;...
http://www.bartrammowers.co.uk/partfind ... Cultimatic

Some early versions of the A114 Qualcast/Suffolk engine could tend to have their moments.!! and were subject to several detail changes over its production.

The models fitted with a Dellorto carburettor had some carb tuning/running dificulties when fitted to some machines.

On engines fitted with a Dellorto carburettor the recommendation was to open up the Champion J8C spark plug gap to a massive 40 thou of an inch.
Also they sometimes took a while to warm up enough to run with the choke fully open and sometimes had to have a brief period with the choke set at the mid position.
The tuning instructions were changed so that, on some engines, a lumpy tickover had to accepted in order to get good main running performance..this particularly applied when on Atco/Qualcast mowers. The engine was warmed up to normal operating temp..then the throttle set to tickover and the side carb' tickover mixture screw was adjusted to give optimum tickover. Then a final setting of this screw was made by setting it a quarter turn richer....I can't remember which way this would be in this case...I suspect open, anticlockwise, by quarter of a turn.. but in any event there are only 2 ways to choose.??!!

Later A114 engines had a changed ignition system and I think a Tillotson.?? carb'... although I am not familiar with this later type.

I stress that any adjustments, tuning, repairs should only be carried out if you feel able to bring them to a safe successful conclusion...if you are in any doubt at all you should consult a local garden machinery service agent...all should be familiar with your machine/engine.

Local Qualcast/Atco Service Agents can be found from www.qualcast.co.uk or www.atco.co.uk then Qualcast/Atco owners link then Service Agent search facility using your postcode. A local agent would be the best guide to spares availability and service info'.

Hope some of this helps..??

All the best,
Clive.

Hi Kevin
I think that the B 66 was one of the Atco Merry Tiller family. You can get a parts list on http://www.bartrammowers.co.uk/partfind ... p?pID=1449. If I remember rightly it has a Qualcast/Suffolk engine similar to the mowers but Clive can probably fill you in on that. I have got the Merry Tiller website up and running (slowly) merrytiller.co.uk
Regards Richard

Dear Clive and Richard

Thank you for your time and the information you provided about my rotovator. I spent most of yesterday on the internet and found very little. I found my way to the bartrammowers website. They had no manuals or a belt in stock. I do not need a belt I was making an enquiry. Just in case etc for the future. It would be handy to track down a handbook. I downloaded the parts lists perhaps other people may have them.

From what you both tell me The B66 is based on the Merry tiller Cadet. I have on file the guide to a Titan merry tiller. Hopefully I can find a guide to the Cadet. If necessary could I purchase spare parts that are designed for the cadet and use them on the B66 Tines for example?

The first time I used the machine this week it ran exactly as you quoted and took an age to warm up, I ran for some time with it set halfway. Every time I tried to push it across it would stall. When running it after 5 minutes or so it ran sweet like a sewing machine. I will keep on eye on the oil levels as suggested. I will make enquires re chain case oil I noticed the Titan used SAE 40 in crankcase.

I am not a mechanic and have a very basic understanding of how engines run I will leave alone until getting it serviced by Atco engineer. Unless either of you two are on holiday in Gloucestershire this year! Will I need to carry out the storage instructions as outlined in the Titan manual, empty fuel tank and run empty until the carburettor is dry. Add 5 ml of oil through the spark plug hole and rotate the engine a number of times by hand and replace plug. Will this prevent corrosion what am I doing here? Will it start next spring?

I have not looked at the carb to see what make it is perhaps over the next few days I will check its cold and wet here in Gloucestershire. Any practical things I can do with the tines over the winter and not in use (Coat with oil?)

Once again thank you both for your comments Richard your site is superb I am going to direct one of my allotment mentors to my PC He has a Merry tiller and could do with a belt and possibly some other spares. He does not own PC etc at aged 65, he has let me use his Tiller over the last twelve months.
Best wishes Kevin

Hello Kevin,

In the case of your Qualcast/Suffolk A114 engine it will be best to keep some petrol in the tank at all times...
If left dry their favourite trick is for the tap to dry out and then leak.
If original the tap may be a push/pull plunger type and it should be turned off (pushed shut) when the machine is not being used.

Over Winter the petrol left in your engines tank may go stale...but can be drained off in the Spring and fresh petrol put in to ensure a good start.

The petrol info' that you found would be correct for the Titan model because it has a totally different engine and a tank out of which fuel is pumped up to the carburettor... ie; it has no tap and fuel pipe.

A drop of oil down the plug hole, as you describe, before Winter storage would be good... and then pull the engine round to compression so that the valves will be shut and thus their faces don't rust.

With a few exceptions it could be that late type Cadet and B66 chassis parts may well be one and the same..and may share the same part number in some cases. They will be sourced from the same agents.

If the machine is in good order hopefully you won't be in need of too many spares anyway.!! Where I used to work we hired out a Cadet as it was ideal to fit in an estate/ hatchback car due to its folding handles...it used to come and go with very little problem.

Even if an original belt was no longer available a standard engineering type could be sourced so that would not be a worry.

Anyway, if all is running well, keep a check on the engine sump oil and a general check that all is well with the machine and keep merrily tilling..!!

All the best,
Clive.

i am an owner of a qualcast b66 cultimatic that has recently started giving me problems with regard to running smoothly ,nothing strange about that u may say,i started off looking on the web for qualcast they could not help,machine was too old for any manual to be found they gave the name of a company but they could not help, i carried on looking to find an entry on the web ie the one you made on the forum of kitchen garden asking for help with your b66,and here comes the spooky bit my name is kevin and i subscribe to kitchen garden mag and my rotovator is a b66,the best bit is that the people answering your question have answered mine too.keep in touch just in case we find a copy of the manual.

Hello Kevin,

Since my posting of April 18th 2006 some of the info' has changed....my info' dated from my time, 16+ years ago, when working in the mower trade at a time when Qualcast/Atco were attempting to sort troublesome running on some A98 and A114 engines.

Following a posting I made on a dedicated lawnmower forum I was advised by a forum member currently in the mower trade that Qualcast/Atco later changed the recomended spark plug for their A98 and A114 engines to try to improve running with current fuel.

I think the change was to NGK BP-4 ?? (I can't check back on this as the forum in question is now about to close and some postings are missing due to spam problems). The info' was I'm told detailed in a Qualcast/Atco service bulletin.
I was a little concerned by this change of plug as I believe it has an extended electrode?? and I wondered if there was in fact room for this.??!!...the forum poster advised me there was...but I have not actually seen one myself to double check.

He also advised that the plug gap was then returned to 25thou of an inch as original for this engine.
I am just too many years out of the mower trade for some of my old info to be totally relevent.

Although the B66 and its engine may well be too old for the current Qualcast/Atco company to supply info' on I would think that if you can find a long established machinery service agent in your local area they would be able to assist with further...and it would be a good idea to check with them as to the current spark plug to use.

The Qualcast/Atco A114 engine was the standard fit on domestic Atco cylinder mowers from 1983 to about 1995 and also used on Qualcast Punch 30S, 35S, 43S possibly 1984/85? to 1995...hence a long established agent should know all about them..

I don't think there was an actual repair manual for these engines but you may be able to find an operating manual/leaflet that would have come with them at new. Service Agents were issued with loose leaf service bulletin updates to keep them up to speed on new developments.

I hope you can get your machine back to full strength once more.

All the best,
Clive.

Hi Clive or other machinery buffs.

I was just looking back over old postings, I today left my Merry Tiller in the care of an expert who has been in the business probably for a similar length of time, he had various spares for it and knew his machines by the looks of the hundres of old engines / spares / wheels etc in his workshop. I am not sure what kind of Merry Tiller my machine is, but he found a date of 1982 on it, it has the wheel on the front similar to the Qualcast machine on this posting, the main fault is the crank case has split / piece broken away where the soil depth guide is fitted, apart from that and a little engine tuning it is otherwise in good nick, I would be interested to know if you are aware of any facts / spares / pictures on the said machine.

I would post a pic but forgot to take one before I left it with

Compo

Hello Compo
There's quite a bit of activity on ebay to do with Merry Tillers, as you have probably noticed anyway. There always seem to be a selection of extra tools for sale together with machines ranging from some broken for spares to those in top condition.
Got myself a set of soil spike rotors a few months ago.
The main problem is postage costs because of weight or collection only for stuff at the other end of country.

John

Hello,
The Qualcast Cultimatic B66 in the photo at the top of this thread utilised the chassis of the UK Merry Tiller Cadet.
MT Cadet had a B&S engine whilst the Qualcast Cultimatic B66 used a Qualcst/Atco produced engine.


The Cadet in turn came from an earlier Wizard cultivator from Wolseley/Webb. The Wizard was painted green and had fixed handles as did the first MT Cadets. Later the Cadet got the 3 position adjustable handles.
Wizard was a slightly cheapened range of mowers and tiller derived from the Webb range painted a lighter green than Webb olive green and seen for sale at the time in club book outlets etc.

I suspect fabrication of fittings may be the way forward these days or s/h parts to keep your chassis operable...but never dismiss a check for original spares via Qualcast/Atco sources..very remote I know with age..but sometimes parts can lurk..

C.

Hi Clive itlooks very similar to the one in your pic but does not have a flywheel / belt cover this of course could be missing, I think it has the B & S engine in it, but what I cannot see from your pic is whether or not it sits on the chassis that look just like two pieces of angle. The handle bars / chain drive and front nose wheel are identical, so I am guessing it is a cadet, or similar

Ta very much your a mine of information....

Compo

Hello,
The chassis was angle...but I seem to recall of a lighter section than the larger machines.

Later machines had some extra tinwork each side as mudguards above the tines.

The Cultimatic B66 chassis parts drawings can be found on this link.
http://www.bartrammowers.co.uk/partfind ... Cultimatic
note the "W" in the part numbers which denotes a Webb part..the link to Webb MT Cadet.

The belt guard was plastic and prone to being damaged/discarded during a machines long history..

Many other tillers use the front transport wheel idea...and I am working on the basis that you know your machine is a Merry Tiller by brand rather than using Merry Tiller in the same way as calling a vacuum cleaner a Hoover.

I hope your tiller can soon be returned to health.

C.

Yes Clive, I would use the generic term rotavotor for the collective of such machines. I am fairly certain from what you have described it is a Merry Tiller possibly just before ATCO took them over. The Bartram diagram looks very familiar, so am sure it is, as I Said earlier it is the classic adjustable handlebars, the shape of the air filter and the front nose wheel along with the distinctive chain case that give it away.

I look forward to having it back and restored to health, I promise it a lick of paint if it makes it through surgery.

Compo

Well, what a result.... the chap that I found to service the rotavator, said it was a merry tiller circa 1982, he welded the split chain case. New gaskets and oil all around, replaced the valve, adjusted and cleaned points and plug, new throttle cable, all around service, cost? The total of £36 squid, how about that?

When I got it back to the plot, the compression was so good that I did not need a full tug on the pull cord to fire it, just a short tug and it went second time. Very impressed with the service.....and can't wait for the weather to improve to give it a go

Compo

Just to say that I used the Merry Tiller again on Saturday before the rain started, the ground was perfect not too wet and not over-dry. It fired again first time and worked better with two tines rather than four, so I think I will leave it with two, any others have evidence of the merry tiller working better with two tines rather than four, and also can I remove the soil depth guide or will I end up rotovating to Australia?