Masport Cleveland 460 18" Heavy Duty Hand Mower

Early review of Masport Cleveland 18” 460mm six blade hand push reel [cylinder] mower: This heavy, solidly built, six blade reel mower when well tuned is an excellent, quiet and smooth running grass cutting machine fit to cut any size couch or buffalo lawn in any reasonable condition. It is best purchased by those who are willing and able to assemble it, adjust it, maintain it, lift it and push it.

I purchased it new as a “special order” from Bunnings at a $20 discount with my Powerpass card. I was tiring of my old heavily modified 5 blade Victa razorcut [handle cushion replacement, proper strong handle screws, rubber tyre treads, refabricated centre attached hubcaps, constant restraightening of the soft metal blades and especially especially the plastic pinion gears which I was constantly having to reshape with a file due to quick wear by the metal pawls and remake the metal pawls to size.]

On the Cleveland’s box it mostly accurately states: “ Built strong and tough to last. This handmower will continue to perform year after year because it is built with quality materials that are just better. · Solid rubber tyres for superior traction · Aluminium wheels with steel drive pinions and pawls · Lightweight and durable fabric catcher · Adjustable height adjustment · Heavy duty bottom blade and cylinder”

The Cleveland’s 17 kg came packed in its box with instructions to be assembled. As per previous reviews the instructions are poor, so I largely ignored them. The chunky t-handle assembly starts with the insertion of the lower parts through their guides in the frame. Guide slots hopefully will prevent the annoying occasional handle detachments I have experienced with all my other lighter push reel mowers. The handle bolts must be very tight to avoid twisting. I figured out the grass catcher and catcher hook assembly just to get it out of the way as I usually do not use a catcher. Though I tried it and rediscovered why I do not like these partly functional devices on this style of reel mower. Later I took the flimsy catcher hooks off their sites at the ends of the roller because they bent and were in the way.

The Cleveland has two modes [ie “adjustable height adjustment”] of cut height adjustment, both of which are a bit fiddly and slow in comparison to other solutions. This is necessitated I think by the heaviness of the machine. The roller height is changed by using the rather large black plastic handled screws on either side. [ My beloved but now unavailable 5 blade AL-KO 38HM uses a spring loaded quick pull out - push in mechanism.] Nevertheless roller adjustment is the easier of the two methods. Roller height change is the only way any of my other machines’ cutting heights adjust. The other way requires a 13 mm spanner to first loosen the wheel axle nuts on either side of the frame and then use the lever /pin in hole mechanism on each side of the frame to move each axle along a curved slot on each side of the frame. Then the axle nuts must be retightened. Care must be taken to ensure the two wheel axles are properly centred on the frame sides before tightening so the rubber tyre does not rub on the frame. [All the other reel push mowers I have use a single axle joining the two wheels across the frame.] I discovered this rubbing problem on one wheel in the process of adjusting the cutting height by this method and wondering why the wheel made a noise and was an bit stiff afterward.

I was cutting the retired aged pensioner wheely walker dependent neighbour’s quarter acre block with a mix of overgrown couch, buffalo and fallen bamboo leaves. His ride on mower had belt issues which cost him as much as my new Masport to fix and which he could could not afford. This mow job required multiple height readjustments to my new machine and a few passes to accomplish. The Cleveland will not cut high grass on a low cut height setting. As with all manual reel mowers, blade jamming with grass clumps and twig debris requires a quick reverse of the reel with the shoe to unclog and continue. Investigating the wheel noise friction issue, I removed the small and out of harms way plastic hubcap from the solid aluminium wheel. [...as opposed to the dysfunctional and too easily caught large plastic caps on the Victa Razorcut’s slippery easily worn plastic composite wheels] With a small flat blade screw driver I removed the chunky c-clip securing the wheel to its axle. Inside I found the well greased steel pinion gear, itself secured with a circlip to the cutting blade axle. It was not going any where, but this I noted would have to be removed probably with the aide of circlip pliers for future reverse spin lapping paste sharpening of the blades. There was a bit of small grass debris in the mechansim which I did not think was interfering. But the wheel axle I found to be off centre to the frame and thus the rubbing necessitating the 13mm wrench again to fix. I secured the wheel carefully using my pliers to ensure the c-clip was well bedded into its groove in the wheel axle, then popped the hubcap back onto the wheel. I have not adjusted the reel to blade knife height yet as it came perfectly tuned from the factory.

The nature of the design of this type of reel mower means one cannot get close to a wall or fence edge, so would require another machine such as long handled shears, etc.

This is the most quiet, smoothest manual reel mower I have used including the “ no touch” AL-KO 38HM, the Victa 16 in Razor Cut, the Flymo H40 and the Bosch AHM38. It is heavy to lift but remarkably easy to push on relatively level ground. Used properly it is up to the task of mowing any couch or buffalo lawn of any size. Very satisfying.