EDWIN’S machinery maintenance
EDWIN ROBERTS’ company, Classic Mowers, has been in existence since 1999 specialising in maintaining older pedestrian mowers and sports ground equipment. In this issue he looks at the Sisis Autoturfman; simple to operate and maintain.
For small village cricket and bowls clubs with limited funds the pedestrian rotary drum spiker is still a good option. This type of machine is simple to maintain and to operate.
There are a number of makes on the market, new and secondhand. The Sisis Autoturfman is probably the most available. There is good selection of interchangeable tines, including hollow coring (standard and jumbo), 12mm or 8mm solid and flat chisel 25mm.
Tapered 12mm solid tines are general purpose for most conditions, especially for autumn work and through the winter months. 8mm Pencil tines are for fine turf, ideal for summer work. The hollow coring standard size tine is for compaction relief and soil exchange on fine turf. The jumbo hollow tine is used for high volume soil exchange and thatch removal, and the 25mm flat chisel is a general purpose tine with a high wall area of slit ideal for winter conditions.
Also available is a front mounted spiker/slitter attachment 35” (90cm) wide and an optional rear mounted rake attachment 48” (122cm) wide.
The machine has 8 spiker bars and 24 spikes. It is powered by a 3.5hp engine, 6 to 1 gear reduction petrol engine. The earlier models had the BSA/Villiers while later models have the Briggs & Stratton engine fitted.
Check for wear on spiker bars at the tine holes
Check for wear on plastic bushes at spiker bar end
Drive is by ‘V’ belt to a counter shaft and then, by chain, to a spiker drum and, from the drum, by chain to the rear wheels for transport.
Controls are a simple clutch lever controlling a jockey pulley on the ‘V’ belt, and selectable drive engagement pawls on the rear wheels for transport.
There is a transport trolley to fit the front of the machine. This assists moving over the outfield and paths. There are two types of front trolley; fixed and removable. When moving the machine, put wheel pawls in drive position. With the trolley in place you can move the machine.
To operate the spiker remove or reposition front trolley, disengage the drive pawls on the rear wheel. You are now ready for work.
Day to day servicing and adjustment consists of checking for oil in the engine, ensure that the drive belts are in good order and correctly adjusted. Grease the drum chain and correct the adjustment if required. Oil the rear wheels and axle, oil the spiker drum pivot shaft and check that the spiker bar return springs are in good order and the spikes are correctly fitted and in good order.
The small aluminium pulley on the gear box will wear due to slipping of the belt when operating the clutch. After a lot of use the ‘V’ of the pulley will wear on the
Hardwood chain adjuster
Check wear on aluminium pulleys
Skate wheel Drive pawls
sides and will not drive effectively. It is always best to use a Kevlar hardened belt, as the skate wheel bears on the outside of the belt and puts a lot of strain on it. The standard ‘V’ belt will not stand the skate wheel pressure on the outside of the belt and will crack on the inside and fail.
As the machines get older, wear will take place on the ends of the spiker bars, plastic bushes, drum pivot axle and bush. If the drum drive chain keeps coming off the sprockets check for wear on the chain and sprockets; also for wear on the counter shaft assembly. The transport axle shaft and bushes also wear if not oiled daily when in use.
After 15/20 years use it is best to completely recondition the drum and drive assembly.
Check wear on
Check condition of drive belt
counter shaft, chains and sprocket
Look for broken and missing springs
Oil the drum shaft
Check wear on chain wheel and chain
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