Merry Tiller belt guard

[peter]

How does this fit on the machine?

I have guard & machine, but can't see how to secure the front, I suspect a bit has broken off.

Damm thing bit me this afternoon!

Parked it, on wheels with skid dug in, engine idling, undid the gate bolt and started to move the gate, when my right leg got smacked, the Merry Tiller died and I couldn't move.

The MT had just hit my calf, my army trousers got caught between drive belt & engine pulley
, wrapped round, ripped, engine stalled and I was left with an MT hanging from the middle of my thigh.

Fortunately I had a very sharp penknife in my left pocket and could cut my trousers enough to disentangle myself.

MT undamaged, trousers in the bin, one graze from the MT frame mid calf and a strange bruise cum scuff on the back of my calf just below the knee where the pulley bit.

[oldherbaceous]

Evening Peter, sounds as if you were rather lucky, these things seem to happen so quickly.

I suppose looking on the bright side, it's lucky you are a tall fellow, or you might have got something else wrapped round the pulley.

[Clive.]

Hello Peter,

A mid to late 1960s MT that I have seems to rely on the guard tucking down between the engine and the belt guide and then a single bolt and nut/thumbwheel on the lower bracket.

The similar mid to late 1970s MT that I have has the same idea but also has a rear top mounting bracket that the thin steel back edge of the guard is slotted to enter in to....and then has the lower bracket, captive bolt, nut/thumbwheel similar to earlier. Attachment of guard is to item 1 and 5 http://merrytiller.dyndns.org/titan/titan12-13.pdf
They were not always the best of fit and the thin steel that slots in can become bent and fractured.

The wide angle plate chassis late 1970s type had various lower tabs for the bottom of the guard to fit into then I seem to recall a sprung J shaped attachment device.

The 1980s model had a screw fitted moulded plastic guard.

Does it also sound like the machine is tending to creep forward.?

Clive.

[Clive.]

Spurred on by talk of MT.....I tend to be a talker not a do-er

I decided to get out my 1970s MT Major. It was bought a couple of years ago as complete but non runner..only then did I find that it had had some butchery done within....
It had evidently lost its spark and it had been dismantled...the aluminium flywheel key had been lost or damaged and a small steel key had been fitted.......
The flywheel looked to have been sort of fitted and a brief run had taken place....this had burred the flywheel keyway and crank into a terrible state...and that was that as far as things went with its last owner.
I managed to dress the burrs out best I could and with a new key and points clean it was proved to run...then it got pushed away in the garage.

Subsequently I obtained a set of lawn spiking tines to fit it....and they too were stored......for a rainy day.

This morning a chance comment about spiking lawns was made...and being at a bit of a loose end I decided to get out the MT and sort it a bit better this time round.

The spark was missing once more but this time it got a much better points clean and also the points plunger that was sticking and covered in aluminium gunge was cleaned well and freed up...and the machine runs once more.....and the lawn is spiked.

Now the spiking tines are not quite orientated right and I am hunting for a photo of these to help me puzzle out just how they should be...The only drawing I have is on an attachment list which does give some clues...

Clive.

[Richard]

All early Majors, professionals and Titans that had a belt guard also had the bracket on the chaincase, the whole front end of the guard was free to vibrate which is why the "anti rattle spring and washer" was fitted to it.

I attach a picture from a mid 1970s brochure of the lawn spikers in action.

Aerator.jpg (99.86 KiB) Viewed 6077 times

[Clive.]

Hello Richard,
Thank you for posting up the spiking attachments brochure. I rather hoped that you may have one

..and at very first glance the big house hiding behind the Cedar branch looked like my work location...it isn't...but there are similarities with some aspects of the architecture...and the Cedar branch..but not the MT.!!. It is at home here.
Brochures can be very fascinating in their own right....this one looks the part rather than some mower ones where the size of the mower doesn't fit the width of the stripe of the lawn the mower sits on.

The spiking tines proved very effective, despite their wrong assembly on one side, and was a job that we have wanted to treat our lawn here to for many years. We used to have one of those Tudor? push a long spiker reels but whilst that was great fun once to charge up and down the lawn with it didn't actually go in very far.

The Major has been out again today...I admit to having a little play again and turned over the ground where the Broccoli was taken up from...a fork over would have been better on our soil as it can soon be turned to dust by over tilling.

My old MT Professional lacked the rear guard bracket, lost in some past history?, and I made one up from some flat bar and nut, bolt and washers. It does though have the nut bolt and spring at the front of the guard top whilst the mid 1970s has the hole but not the fittings...

Thank you,
Clive.

[Tel]

Richard,
I want one!!!!!!!! The spiking attachment.
Do they ever become available/e-bay etc??
Regards
Terry

[Richard]

The last two full sets of aerator rotors on eBay made £238 and £230 respectively and the US Merry Tiller makers sell new ones for $300 in the States. I have considered remanufacture as I have the right tube and some genuine spikes for them, and can get flanges cut by water jet for a reasonable price, but the cast iron weights are more tricky. I did have some hollow tines with a makers name on them but can’t remember who it was, does anyone know who made the aerator attachments for Wolseley/Webb?

[Clive.]

That makes my set at, I seem to recall, £54 ex same source not seem too bad then. even though they are currently asymetric....pending my investigations..one rainy day

There were Sisis made attachments listed for MT...but have no idea if they had any further involvement ref hollow tines.

Clive.

[Tel]

I hired an aerator from a local company a few years ago. The machine was like a Merry Tiller with hollow tines and a heavy weight attached to the front.
It was very affective. I must go back & take some pics. & send them on if of any use.