Repairs adjust a Scotts Silent (agri fab) reel mower

R

reel man

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Hi
I have a vintage Scotts Silent reel push mower (Scotts told me is was manufactured by agri fab in the 1970's), model 10 m-9 I cant find a single Utube video that shows how I can adjust the knife blade, the bolts are not in the same place as every video showing other mowers. Scotts does not have any manuals on line for this, and I wasn't able to find one on my own I would like to adjust the knife bar so that the reel blade is closer. Also, I was reading that I should also true the knife blade itself. Any one out there able to help? sorry I cant post pics, but hopefully one or more of you know what machine I'm talking about. thanks
 
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shiftsuper175607

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reel man said:
Hi
I have a vintage Scotts Silent reel push mower (Scotts told me is was manufactured by agri fab in the 1970's), model 10 m-9 I cant find a single Utube video that shows how I can adjust the knife blade, the bolts are not in the same place as every video showing other mowers. Scotts does not have any manuals on line for this, and I wasn't able to find one on my own I would like to adjust the knife bar so that the reel blade is closer. Also, I was reading that I should also true the knife blade itself. Any one out there able to help? sorry I cant post pics, but hopefully one or more of you know what machine I'm talking about. thanks
Click to expand...


Look around here...I think it mentions yours....

http://www.reelmowers.info/
 
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nbpt100

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I just picked up a Scotts Silent Deluxe 10M5. I assume it is very similar to the 10M3......Be that as it may. On my machine there are two adjustments in addition to the hand wheel. The rear roller is on a slot. That can be adjusted up and down to effect cut height. There is also a turn buckle type of mechanism on both sides that can be adjusted some amount. There is not much room for play with these but there is some which will effect the height.

This is a very nice machine. It has 6 blades in the reel which many today only have 5. The extra blade makes for smoother cutting. I removed the wheels and they used a steel pinion gear. The wheel hub is aluminum and the internal gear is plastic. I like this because you do not need to use any lubricant which will just attract dirt and grit causing more trouble than what it is worth. The Wheel also has a nice internal bearing (made out of some kind of metal I think bronze) with a number of small holes to hold the grease. The pinion shaft has a groove on center to hold the grease in place as well. Designed to last.

The plate says it cuts from 1/2 to 2 3/4 inch height. I have not checked to see of that full range is achievable with only the hand wheel adjustment.

I did look for a manual on line but came up dry. If someone has a PDF manual I would love to get a copy of it. Thanks in advance!

These machine look like a rare find today. If you have one hold on to it as they are built rock solid. Today the handle bars are flimsy and the wheels are thin plastic. I have seen a number of them break. The pinion gears are plastic too. I have seen them wear out sooner than you would expect.
 
Last edited:
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SidecarFlip

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If the bed blade appears rough and nicked, you'll need to remove it and have it ground parallel. Mower shops back then had a machine to do that but now, most don't and if they do, probably in the back corner collecting dust.

What you need to do is take the blade to a competent machine shop and have them jig the blade on a surface grinder using the non knife end to indicate parallelism and grind the knife edge straight and true and remove any nicks or gouges. The included angle is probably around 31 degrees but cam be measured on the blade with a machinist protractor prior to grinding. Once the blade is ground, you can touch up minor nicks with a file or whet stone.

I happen to grind commercial and residential chipper knives in my shop. I'm familiar with knife grinding and your bed knife is nothing more than a chipper knife.

When you set the bed knife to reel clearance, use a feeler gauge. I'd suggest a maximum of 0.002 (2 thousands) clearance between the reel and the bed knife measured on the most prominent reel blade section. You need to rotate the reel to find the most prominent blade in relationship to the bed knife. All reels will have a certain amount of 'runout', it's inherent in the manufacturing process and bushing wear.

Hope that helps.
 
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reel man

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nbpt100 said:
I just picked up a Scotts Silent Deluxe 10M5. I assume it is very similar to the 10M3......Be that as it may. On my machine there are two adjustments in addition to the hand wheel. The rear roller is on a slot. That can be adjusted up and down to effect cut height. There is also a turn buckle type of mechanism on both sides that can be adjusted some amount. There is not much room for play with these but there is some which will effect the height.

This is a very nice machine. It has 6 blades in the reel which many today only have 5. The extra blade makes for smoother cutting. I removed the wheels and they used a steel pinion gear. The wheel hub is aluminum and the internal gear is plastic. I like this because you do not need to use any lubricant which will just attract dirt and grit causing more trouble than what it is worth. The Wheel also has a nice internal bearing (made out of some kind of metal I think bronze) with a number of small holes to hold the grease. The pinion shaft has a groove on center to hold the grease in place as well. Designed to last.

The plate says it cuts from 1/2 to 2 3/4 inch height. I have not checked to see of that full range is achievable with only the hand wheel adjustment.

I did look for a manual on line but came up dry. If someone has a PDF manual I would love to get a copy of it. Thanks in advance!

These machine look like a rare find today. If you have one hold on to it as they are built rock solid. Today the handle bars are flimsy and the wheels are thin plastic. I have seen a number of them break. The pinion gears are plastic too. I have seen them wear out sooner than you would expect.
Click to expand...

Thanks.
any idea how to adjust the nuts on the plate?
 
J

jp1961

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I can remember as a kid, watching my neighbor adjust his reel mower reel knifes to bed knife with strips of newspaper (.004").

This was on a powered reel mower, unsure of the brand.

Regards

Jeff
 
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