Good Afternoon Mick,
Thank you for your earlier advice, and I am pleased to report success with the repair to our Hayter machine by replacing the Variator assembly. It is a bit of a fiddle to get at, and even with the underdeck cover and the left hand wheel cover removed it still requires fingers like 'Twizzle', but there was no doubt when the old part was removed that one half of the pully system was very stiff on the splined shaft whereas on the replacement assembly everything moved smoothly. While everything was in pieces I treated it to a couple of new belts as well, and when the machine was fired up the Varispeed control now goes from 'Hare' to 'Tortoise' with no more rattling sounds.
I know this is mainly a do-it-yourself forum, but I have to say thank you to the staff at Crewkerne Horticulture who kindly confirmed the diagnosis of the problem from my description. They are presently very busy so I purchased genuine Hayter parts on-line and did the job myself at the weekend.
Jim
Thank you for your earlier advice, and I am pleased to report success with the repair to our Hayter machine by replacing the Variator assembly. It is a bit of a fiddle to get at, and even with the underdeck cover and the left hand wheel cover removed it still requires fingers like 'Twizzle', but there was no doubt when the old part was removed that one half of the pully system was very stiff on the splined shaft whereas on the replacement assembly everything moved smoothly. While everything was in pieces I treated it to a couple of new belts as well, and when the machine was fired up the Varispeed control now goes from 'Hare' to 'Tortoise' with no more rattling sounds.
I know this is mainly a do-it-yourself forum, but I have to say thank you to the staff at Crewkerne Horticulture who kindly confirmed the diagnosis of the problem from my description. They are presently very busy so I purchased genuine Hayter parts on-line and did the job myself at the weekend.
Jim