Atco Windsor 14 s-to scrap or not to scrap?

peterp2361

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I can work my way through most mechanical problems but I can solve this one!
About 3 year ago the mower seemed to struggle to cut all but the very shortish grass until one day it started locking up and eventually broke the small drive belt from the motor (under the top case).
At the same time it left yellow lines in the lawn as though it was cutting one side lower than the other. I had the blade sharpened a second time but with no improvement so shelved it for the hover mower.
Not to be beaten I used it again and it struggled to cut giving me the impression the motor was going.
As a last attempt I have gone through everything again and found that with the main belt cover removed if with my hand I increase the tension on the blade drive belt (by pulling the two edges together) the cutting cylinder moves inwards and slightly upwards. This causes the blades to increase the cutting gap on the drive side and decrease it on the opposite side.
Looking at the non drive side of the cylinder you can see a spiral spring washer on the shaft, a slot in what I assume to be the inner part of the bearing and a roll pin through the main shaft. This allows the cylinder to move back and forth in the inner bearing on the non drive side. So I assume it is designed to move side to side but this has a large amount of sideways movement enough to move the drive belt side bearing partly out of the outer race, and therefore away, from the cutting plate on one side.
I can only assume this is the problem as I can find nothing else and prior to this it has worked perfectly. I cannot find an exploded diagram anywhere to see if any thing is missing or is broken
I dont want to bin it but unless I can solve this I may have too. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
My lawn looked pretty good until I cut it with this mower as you can see from the picture.
IMG_0161.JPG
 
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