L4200 kubota oil pan replacement

Recently I was pushing back some compost and noticed that the 4 wd was not working . After getting off the tractor to talk to the guys chipping I noticed the tractor was leaking engine oil at a good rate . Being near the shop I put it in the bay for inspection . 

 4 WD spline shaft and sleeves

 After closer inspection I found the front axle tube bearing missing and the bolt holes stripped out . They must have worked their way loose . The tractor was sent out last year for a complete front axle overhaul . I should have rechecked the torque on the bolts to make sure they where in spec . after it was used for a while . The front axle was tilting back and forth causing the pin to shear on the 4 wd sleeve which in turned beat cracks into the oil pan .

The rear 4 bolt ones seemed to be ok . I used the loader bucket to raise the front of tractor and blocked it up with plating and jack stands . To get the oil pan off you will have to drop the axle tube .There are 2 bolts behind it that can't be removed otherwise . I didn't worry about disconnecting the steering linkage . Place a pump floor jack and I used a 6x6 on top and place it in the center of axle tube . Then remove the front wheels . Makes it easier to maneuver without the added weight  .

Remove all the oil pan bolts . Scrape any gasket material off after . I took a visual look at the bottom end , everything looked nice and clean . 

 The gasket has to go on a certain way , There are a couple of oil return areas in the block , so the extra 2 hole have to line up here . I used some sealant on one side to hold the gasket in place . The service manual didn't show the torque or pattern of bolts . As a rule of thumb you start with the center bolts and alternate working your way out to the ends . I torque mine at 25 lbs. Then reassemble in reverse order torque everything down to spec's .I would suggest lock tight on axle tube bearing bolts .If your tractor has the 4 wd then remove the pins in the sleeves and slide them on the splined shaft then slide it into the protective tube . You put the splined shaft in between front axle and transmission . Slide the sleeves onto shafts look through the pin holes to see if your in between the shafts then install a new roll pin on both ends . Slide the tubes over and lock in place with the set screws . 

In my case I had to maneuver the front axle around to drill and re-tap holes for thread inserts . I installed all the front axle tube bearing bolts with red lock tight . Torque to 115 lbs . I plan on checking them in the near future to see if it holds up . Using the jack stand this way I found it fairly easy to line everything back up .

Looks like we need a little more training . Damaged caused by ramming into piles . If used properly in the right gears for the job being done this can easily be avoided . I had some old plow shoe blades for material to repair damage .

Back in cold storage waiting for work . 

Toro 5410 HD DPA click adjuster upgrade

I recently purchased the heavy duty adjusters to try.I'm finding that the bedbar wears more on the ends and think the cause is the bedbar bending and flexing while mowing  . Although they cut well I'm hoping it will keep the light contact area be more constant during mowing . This kit may not be needed for some course . Our course provides some mowing challenges .Plus on a couple of ( healthy )fairways we see the light 5 line pattern . We are getting another set of groomers for the other fairway machine and with a little more aggressive setting and these adjusters we should be getting better results .

 Here is the kit Number . The Kit will do one SET of adjuster per reel .

 The kit is very similar to the original design . The click adjusters are nyloced in place with bigger wave washer pack . The springs on the backside of the bedknive are heavy duty .

  A very good set of instructions comes with the kit . The shield doesn't have to be removed , I'm just getting ready to grind and just cleaning the grass shield . Back the click adjuster off a good half turn and remove springs , washers and nyloc nut .

Remove bedbar . 

 Then snap ring adjuster wave washer,bushings .

 Clean inside area well with a small brush or bore brush .

 Clean the outside area where the recess area is for the bushings.

 The bushing has a notch to line up .

 There is a mark to help you line it up . It's a little finicky but once lined up you can push it in with your thumb .

 While it's all apart it's a good time to

 drill 7/32 hole

 tap for a 1/4 - 28 thread

 Put a little loctite on and install a grease nipple in this area .

This is what the guys on the tech sites have come up with for the seizing adjuster problem in some areas . I cleaned mine out last season and still had corrosion build up issues . Hopefully this will solve the problem .  

 Install the new wave washer and click adjuster . Use lots of anti seize . Put the thin washer and nyloc on the other end . Then grease.

 Torque to 20 ft. lbs . Below is a pick with the rest of the parts  installed . Reassemble bedknive and adjust .


The newer Toro machines already come with the up grade .The grease nipple on the adjuster have worked out well . 

Toro Pro- Sweeper Leave pick up

To pick up leaves in the rough I read the directions and removed the front flap and adjusted the rear roller up for rough height , I may have to raise it a little more since it's pulling on the rough grass a bit but on the fairways it works great ( a little catch 22 ) . We are picking up wet leaves so the hopper would only half fill . Once I see them pushing out the front and leaving a little mess behind then it's time to dump ( 200 to 300 yards )The pro -sweep work good in the straight behind position .I'm Finding that being tractor mounted it is pretty stable and can back into the nearby woods to dump .  Using the Kubota tractor and going in H1 @ about 2000 RPM . It much quicker to blow the leaves into the woods . We have a few areas separated by trees and found using the pro-sweep in these areas saved us a lot of time since the tree line is quit a ways away . 

Toro Pro Sweeper on 5040 Kubota Tractor

We inherited a pro-sweep from the sister course . It was used with a diesel pro-gator with a high flow kit . The set up was quit cumbersome trying to get around our course . After going to my tech sites and talking to other mechanics familiar with this product I was able to come up with this configuration . The windrow was replaced and I had to get some jumper lines to connect the tractor fittings to the sweeper . The sweeper does track to the outside of the tractor quit a bit . On a level paved surface it wasn't to bad to move back  behind the tractor . We may invest in the hydraulic kit to move it from the tractor riding position .

A small video of the pro sweep in action . We are removing greens cores and they are fairly wet . In this area having dry cores to pick up rarely happens this time of year ( usually the rainy season ) Having it mounted to the tractor gave it more stability plus the fact that it has 4 wd and float tires on is a big plus . The wide range of gear selection gives me the option to go as slow as I wanted L 1 @ 1500 to 2000 rpm gave the sweeper time to pick the cores up as it moved forward . Things I learned : dump often , in this case about half full or 4 to 5 passes seemed to do the best job for our course .We tried loading it right up but the wet cores couldn't get thrown up high enough and would clog the brush causing large clumps to fall back on green .  The other thing was to listen to the guys helping out to find the best way to do it here . We chose to go down one side and drive around and make the next pass in the same direction . The Staff preferred this method and it was less messy . The sweeper doesn't pick up 100% but with a couple of staff with back pack blowers it went well .  

A short video of the dumping action . It is advisable to keep staff away from dump area for safety . Can be a big tip hazard , it can weigh up to 3500 lbs . fully loaded . It tipped very well using the tractor .

A picture of the sweeper in the outside tracking position .

Above is the set up . Below we have Greg ( one of our large area machine operators )  blowing the bits of cores that didn't get picked up . Looked pretty good and had our system down pat by the end of the day . I found the sweeper did a better job and exposing more open cored holes to receive sand . Great learning day for us and next time will go a little more like clock work .



End of another season

 Another summer here and gone . Boy it went by pretty quick . We're having a lot of rain and courses are pretty saturated . Starting to get some light frosts . It won't be long and winter will be here . Hoping for the same winter as last season .
 We managed to get our push up greens cored last week and plan to do the sand base ones this coming week . Usually can get them done in a day or two but with the wet Fall and lack of staffing this season it is slowing us down a bit .All hands on deck are needed to get jobs done . The gardener and I are chipping in as needed and getting to our jobs when we can . Lots of time to get things ready for winter .With the frosty days coming the grass should slow down enough to work on other projects .

 We received a sweeper to try out on the greens . It was a bit of a job using it on the pro - gator and didn't work as well as I would have liked . This time I have it on the tractor and with the 4wd drive and slower speed selections I'm hoping to get it to work a little more efficiently . I'll post some pic's later on . Time will tell , That's all for now .

 I did manage to get a little jump on winter work . My flexes are ready to go for the fall cut and are put in storage . Next rain days I'll try to get a couple of PGM's to bed .Good time to start looking around at gear and start making a list of parts for winter repairs . I have a few things I want to get done .eg; 5410 the older model will need some hoses replaced and a seal kit put in the steering  . Some of the rough units need spindle rebuilds . New cushman may need the rear end resealed . Bedknives ,belts , etc. Having a running list , speeds things up a bit so when your putting orders in you can pre order for a couple of jobs in advance to avoid part delays and down time .

Ok I'd like to cancel my rain order .

 We had a storm hoovering of the coast this past week - end 09/22,23/12.It dumped up to 200 mm in some areas .

 A few picks . From #6 pond looking towards #4 fairway.

 #10 green and pond are one for now .

 Pond at 11 Tee over flowed and this is by right side of #11green heading for #4 fairway.

Here I am retriving the Smithco . It has the plow on the front to push up the sand in the traps . The gardener wasn't happy . Starter spun the nut holding the beddix gear on , and fell off . Last time it took a few days to get one .  

SOOOOO......Thinking on the fly I managed to put a bolt in crankshaft pulley . It has to spin counter clockwise ( rear side of machine ) to start  and it took a bit  for the nut to jamb the bolt on the crankshaft plus taking the tension off the belt helped roll it over easier . My large gear drive drill was just enough to start it up . ( leave the key on and choke a bit )

 

You can barely see him leaving up behind the sidewinder .He got away on me before I could get a picture . He was one happy camper . I just told him not to shut it off and leave it in the shop when he was done . Sometimes you have to improvise to get thinks done . We did manage to get the tees , greens an aprons done . Will have to wait for the course to drain another day to get the rest mowed . I'll be chipping in tomorrow on fairways to double cut them getting things back in order . 

Toro 5410 reel bearing replacement

We had a rain day at the first of the week and it was a perfect opportunity to give the fairway units a quick spin grind to get me through the rest of the year . On the 8th reel I had a horrible noise from the grinder . I did check the bearing but seemed to feel ok . The grinder will tell you for sure if it's gone or on it's way out . Here is what it sounded like . I'm not grinding at all just spinning the reel.

 When removing the reel you only have to work from the left side on any 5410 reel ( drivers sitting position )

 Remove bedbar first . You can just remove or loosen off everything on the left side , rollers , brush kits, scrappers etc . I like to take all the rear roller and in our case the brush kit off on both sides .

 Removing this bolt will take the rear grass shute off .

 Next I loosen of the small box head bolt and back the reel end play nut off 1 full turn or more . There are only 2 shoulder bolts hold the end case on to back frame .

 I had to remove our front roller bolt because of the roller scraper .

 When you take the shoulder bolts off don't lose the nuts . They slide into the back framing .

 You should be able to wiggle it off . If not get a rubber mallet and tap it here .

 And here and it should come right out . Bearings are pressed on reel shaft .

 It comes off pretty easy .

 The other end I just take a piece of hardwood and give it a light tap here on the right side and it will fall out of the side case .

 It's out ... bearing and seals are on the reel shaft . The reel drive splines can stay in there, there not in the way .

Bearing looks good . lots of grease .

    Here is what they look like . It's called a self centering bearing . Was quit surprised the first time I saw it .

 Using painters tape to mark the direction that it came off . I like to put things back the way I took them off .

 I don't have a press but this puller I use all the time for removing bearings , seals and many other things .  

The seal easily prys off . The seal only goes on one way properly ( the metal side faces the bearing ) 

 On closer inspection the bearing was in hard shape . These are a double ball bearing type in one race . The back set of bearings fell apart .

 When installing the new seals they have to sit .060" away from the c-clip . This way they will sit inside the side casing when assembled .I prepacked the bearings and there should only be grease on the outside edge surfaces of the seal and bearing for assembly  . I have no press here so I have to find a 3/4 inch drive socket that will fit over the reel shaft so that I can tap it in only on the inside bearing surface ( closest to shaft ) If you try to tap it in on the outside you will ruin the bearing .

 This the right side case . I found it easier to get the left side in the case first and then line the bearing squarely in the bore of the right case a give light taps on the left case to get it back together . Reassemble everything in reverse order using manufacturers torque specs . You can find all this info on the Toro web site . Quick break down on assembly shoulder bolts around 33 ft. lbs . everything requires lock tight I used the medium (blue ) The large end play nut 1 3/8 ths nut ? torque in to 25 INCH LBS . and back off then re torque to 15 INCH LBS. Rolling torque was around or should be 10 INCH LBS. Then lock tight the square head set screw and torque to 15 inch lbs .

After I ground every thing and put the bed-knife back on and adjusted it to cut I checked it on the bench plate to see if the reel was still line up with the rear roller . If it's not you can loosen the shoulder bolts in the side plate and there is a slight wiggle room . Both of the ones I did were ok .

This machine has 900 hrs. on it . Greased very well and it just goes to show me how rough the fairways are in some areas on the course . Going to have to put the 5 lbs. mauls back on the machine again .

Compared to other makes and models I found this set up very easy to do after the first one . Nice job .