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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Kieran Ray on June 22, 2011 at 21:13

Just got an osprey too, off of ebay. lets hope its a good one.

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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by andy@ Doughty Garden Maintenance on June 22, 2011 at 21:18

Thanks for that Colin,

Colin Hunt said:

Quote "you date it form the engine code ( I'm assuming it has a Briggs). The first two are the year, the second two the month and the third two the day. I am led to believe that the last digit or two is the production line it was made on"  May not have the original engine tho.

andrew doughty said:

They could be rusty, as you can see from the picture it is in a "used" condition.  I'm going to set about it in the winter when i have more time on my hands, been trying to find a manual online but no luck as yet.

 

Do you know when these machines were built?

Colin Hunt said:

From what I rememebr (15/20 years ago) the clutch was on the rear wheels somehow - the problem we had was that they tended to slip a bit. Is the plate rusty?

 

You are right, the Condor was a super machine, with two rotor discs giving a nice wide cut.  We used to change over to a cylinder head occasionally and (height of luxury) hitch on a seat and roller!

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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by andy@ Doughty Garden Maintenance on June 22, 2011 at 21:20

Yeah, mine was off e-bay, been after one for ages, but they was always miles away from me, this one was 15 miles away so i grabbed it!

 

Is yours going to need fixing up or is it already been done?

Kieran Ray said:

Just got an osprey too, off of ebay. lets hope its a good one.

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Permalink Reply by Lawn lover on June 22, 2011 at 21:42

I still use mine on one of my jobs around once a month, I get cramp in the left hand from pulling in the clutch, does a good cut in long meadow grass and with having the swing blades they do not seem to get damaged.

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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by andy@ Doughty Garden Maintenance on June 22, 2011 at 21:52

Yes the clutch lever is quite heavy!

I'm hoping to get mine up and running for next season, where i'm planning on using it on a churchyard i cut. Going to have to slow it down though or it's going to end up knocking over gravestones!

do you know of a good place to get parts?
Lawn lover said:

I still use mine on one of my jobs around once a month, I get cramp in the left hand from pulling in the clutch, does a good cut in long meadow grass and with having the swing blades they do not seem to get damaged.

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Permalink Reply by Lawn lover on June 22, 2011 at 21:59

Blades are available off the shelve, I have never needed any other parts touch wood.

In worse case scenario I would buy a scrapper from e-bay & use it for spares.

I tend to fire mine up every week in winter just to give a little run. 

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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Kieran Ray on June 22, 2011 at 22:17

It shouldnt need to much doing to it, but will give it a good check over and put it straight to work if its good enough. Only got it to cut a smallish area of rough grass as one of the guys dosent like using the humus!

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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by andy@ Doughty Garden Maintenance on April 8, 2012 at 20:17

Just a quick update on this machine, as you may have seen I have a new shed/workshop which is why i haven't made much of an appearance on here recently,

Well I've been dismantling the old sod and stripping off the paint, it's all coming up pretty good for a 40 year old machine,

getting a few new bits for it: an exhaust, belts, blades and bolts, tyres and tubes, and obviously paint.

Been good! really enjoying it!

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Permalink Reply by briggsandscrapem on April 8, 2012 at 22:04

Good work andy, how did you get the paint off ? wire wheel,  chemical,or have you got a sandblaster ? 

I've been taking car parts to the powder coaters recently and its surprisingly cheap, they shot blast them for you so you can take stuff in just as it is. Could save a lot of time.

Good luck with the project.

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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by andy@ Doughty Garden Maintenance on April 8, 2012 at 22:11

Hello Briggs,

Thanks :-)

got the majority of the paint off with Nitromors, which was quite easy, the more stubborn bits and awkward nooks and crannys with a wire brush attachment on my drill,

The Green paint on the body and deck appears to be hammerite which is looking to be not quite so easy to get off, blasting may be needed there, I'll see how it goes.

cheers mate. 

briggsandscrapem said:

Good work andy, how did you get the paint off ? wire wheel,  chemical,or have you got a sandblaster ? 

I've been taking car parts to the powder coaters recently and its surprisingly cheap, they shot blast them for you so you can take stuff in just as it is. Could save a lot of time.

Good luck with the project.

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Permalink Reply by 2p6qs98d2phid on April 8, 2012 at 22:38

Nice work Andy, its going to look great in pink.

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PRO MemberPermalink Reply by andy@ Doughty Garden Maintenance on April 8, 2012 at 22:50

I might do that Stephen , just for you!!   lol ;-)

stephen Huxtable said:

Nice work Andy, its going to look great in pink.

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