The next project, early National reel mower

[JPrattico]

I mentioned having acquired another project, and here is my thread to document it. Unfortunately not a Cub Cadet, I haven't seen many around here lately. But this is an early example of a National reel mower. This was actually given to me as a Christmas gift. Unfortunately I was told that the previous owner sold off its mower reels years prior and regretted it. It's still pretty cool without them. With all 3 reels it would've had an 84" cut. Like my other National they were positioned with 2 of them mid mounted "wings" and the third center one mounted at the rear.

Engine is a Wisconsin AENL, rated at what I found to be 9.2 horsepower at 3600 rpm, so quite a bit of engine to be pulling over by hand. Was complete, not locked up, had compression, and the magneto sounded like it was functioning properly. All 4 tires a little cracked but still holding air. The main drive clutch was rusted stuck in the engaged position. It has a 2 speed rear end and belt driven reverse directly off the engine. Unfortunately this was right in the middle of a bad wind storm and we lost power, so I did not get to work on it right away.

 

[JPrattico]

A week after the freezing wind storm it was almost 60 degrees out so work commenced. Towed it over to the shop with the 106.

First priority was getting the engine running. Cleaned the points on the magneto and that got me spark. Fuel tank was clean, was hoping the carb would be too but i pulled the bowl drain and got a bunch of powder, so I cleaned up the carburetor too. Topped off the oil, and then with a little tuning and that Wisconsin was purring like a kitten. I pushed it outside and fired it back up, stuck it in gear and went for a spin hoping that i might break the clutch loose. Unfortunately I was never able to get it broken free, but it ran and drove at least!

 

[JPrattico]

Day two consisted of more driving it around attempting to break the clutch free to no avail. I did take my other National out and park the pair together for a picture. Later that evening I figured out how to disassemble the clutch.

I took it all apart and cleaned out all the rust, then put it back together. Just like that, the clutch worked just fine again! I took it for a couple spins to try it out which went well other than I ended up running out of gas. Oh and, I was able to test the reverse, which amazingly still works well despite the terrible condition of the belt.

 

[JPrattico]

And finally, day three, pretty much just the day of maintenance. I drove it around a bunch more in the daylight too. It works pretty well. I pretty much just greased everything greaseable, oiled everything else, and changed the engine and rear axle oil.

Look! A properly functional clutch!

So anyway that's about where this machine stands. It appears to be in pretty solid mechanical shape, the only questionable thing is the main drive chain is pretty loose.

And here's a video i threw together of it, this was all before the clutch was functioning so its a bit sloppy.

 

[Doug Rusk]

Looks like a neat project. Too bad the reels are gone. Did they make any other attachments for them? Maybe you can find reels someday?

 

[-CӞ]

“Cool rotary blade wings.” -Batman

 

[JPrattico]

Looks like a neat project. Too bad the reels are gone. Did they make any other attachments for them? Maybe you can find reels someday?

It may be possible to locate reels. There were never any other attachments, these were very much purpose-built machines specifically for mowing.

 

[jbratton]

What year is that?

 

[vthomley]

Crude but functional Mower used on Golf Courses everywhere years ago, probably many still in use today.. No or not much guarding on these.
In 2005 or so I went to Beverly Hills Country Club to do a training on sharpening, beautiful course, beautiful maintenance shop. I was amazed they had one of these National 84 mowers... Very high end course, very very nice equipment everywhere and then there's this. I always wanted to get one but I've never wanted to wanted to sharpen them, certainly not the easiest reels to sharpen.

Enjoy your project.

 

[gary noblit]

Jp, I'm very pleased for you !! How about a rear blade or belly blade if you can't find reels

 

[Keith Pomeroy]

Looks great to me. More fun to play with without the reels.

 

[JPrattico]

What year is that?

Unfortunately there is no known serial number lookup for these. I could probably try and look up the engine serial number and get a ballpark estimate. My best guess now is early to mid 60s.

Crude but functional Mower used on Golf Courses everywhere years ago, probably many still in use today.. No or not much guarding on these.
In 2005 or so I went to Beverly Hills Country Club to do a training on sharpening, beautiful course, beautiful maintenance shop. I was amazed they had one of these National 84 mowers... Very high end course, very very nice equipment everywhere and then there's this. I always wanted to get one but I've never wanted to wanted to sharpen them, certainly not the easiest reels to sharpen.

Enjoy your project.

They are really purpose built machines. Meant to work and last, not so much look nice. It's something I kinda like about them, the simplistic design and having the whole driveline as exposed as it is. Of course such a low amount of guards would never be legal today. However I at least know well enough where not to stick my hands!

Jp, I'm very pleased for you !! How about a rear blade or belly blade if you can't find reels

Looks great to me. More fun to play with without the reels.

I could consider some type of custom attachment. Currently I'd like to just see about adding some sort of hitch onto it maybe. I'm rather specific about not cutting or welding anything onto the tractor itself to keep it as original as possible. And it is pretty fun without the reels.

 

[bmader]

And finally, day three, pretty much just the day of maintenance. I drove it around a bunch more in the daylight too. It works pretty well. I pretty much just greased everything greaseable, oiled everything else, and changed the engine and rear axle oil.
View attachment 152577View attachment 152575View attachment 152576
Look! A properly functional clutch!

So anyway that's about where this machine stands. It appears to be in pretty solid mechanical shape, the only questionable thing is the main drive chain is pretty loose.

And here's a video i threw together of it, this was all before the clutch was functioning so its a bit sloppy.

Log in or sign up to view not mine but maybe could help you out.

 

[JPrattico]

Well unfortunately that is the 60" smaller variant, this particular one is an 84". I already have a 60" one, that's the other one in a picture above. That one in the ad is way too damn nice for me to want to part out anyway, its too far away but for $300 if it was closer it'd be joining my collection. That one looks to be all original and complete even with all the belt guards. That is a true survivor.