Peter Roat aka "Roatavator"

Really nice. I really must take an oily rag to mine!
She’s been sitting inaccessible behind other machines under cover, for over 18 months. Shame on me!

Yes Mike, that’s a 35.
Good luck with your search for an engine. Pity the original is lost, the rest of the machine looks pretty decent.

Mine arrived today. Really good read!
I’ve been a bit quiet on here lately, to be honest this weird year and inability to go to working events etc made me lose a bit of enthusiasm for the hobby and the machines and truck have been tucked away and not started.
However, after reading the magazine, particularly Sam’s ploughing photos, has given me…[Read more]

Hi Mike
Sorry, mine has a Wico series a, your mag is similar to but not identical to the mag on my A5. So can’t really help, hopefully Charlie can be more help than me.

Hi Toni
Very sorry I’ve only just seen this. I’ve sent you a scrappy series of links to all I have left of the manual, hopefully this will help.
Peter

Mike
Might the part number be 8713d? I think I’ve found the part you’re referring to in a parts list on the French site

http://motoculteur-simar.fr/Documents/catlivc50.pdf
Peter

Mike
Sean did an excellent restoration topic on his 56 a few years ago here:

Simar 56A Rototiller – Serial No. 561621

They’re almost the same machine so you might find it helpful to have a look.
Peter

Sorry Mike, didn’t mean to imply you were old!
I can’t say I’ve much experience of bearing play, certainly none of mine have much play at all. If anyone would know it would be Charlie.
If you’re still in Norfolk perhaps we’ll see each other at one of the events when things eventually get back to normal.

Good luck with the repairs! Most of my SIMARs leak oil from the hubs, I can’t quite raise the energy to tackle them. Yes, I’m in Norfolk and if I remember right was the engine for your son to tinker with?
Peter

Oh. And the gearbox should be in neutral when inserting or removing the pins.

The drive pins do sometimes become stuck in place. I’ve found if you engage one of the wheel locks or pawls on one wheel only and then move the handlebars from side to side it often frees up the pin. The fact that you could push it in suggests it’s not stuck as such, just held in place. If you want to change gear by swapping the pins from one whe…[Read more]

Same here Charlie. I do find if you’ve just run the machine for a couple of minutes then there’s a lot more excess fuel than if it’s had a good hour or two of work. Normally after working it’s only a few drops of excess oil and no fuel. So if Knappster is just running the machine for a short time I’d say what he describes is not unusual.

That’s one fine looking SIMAR! Makes mine look shabby, but I don’t think I could achieve anything like your results. If it’s any consolation we’re at the end of the ploughing season now, fingers crossed it will be considered safe to be attending events come late summer.

I find several of mine need two or three pulls even with choke. The 56 tiller also needs quite a lot of tickling. I’m sure if you experiment you’ll find the secret to yours!

Adjustable stops look good. I’ve found in practice using my SIMAR plough in a number of competitions that I only need to have the plough fixed in the central position for the first run of the opening split. Then I have the plough floating for the rest of the plot. I found it too hard work to keep it fixed for subsequent runs, and properly a…[Read more]

I had a F80 years ago, basically the same machine. They do have a reputation for eating spark plugs. You might try swapping the plugs from the spare machine and seeing if that improves starting. I also found you had to be very careful with the amount of choke and throttle on starting. Try having throttle at low idle speed, crank a couple of times…[Read more]

Yes, 6% is correct, SAE 30 or 40. Mix should be increased to 8% after engine overhaul. I use SAE 40 in mine, classic oil from the likes of Morris.
Transmission oil should be SAE 140, don’t use EP oil which can attack bronze in gearbox. Again I use a classic type oil.