Toro 200 topdresser spinner guard

" Reoccurring problems "

Our top dresser gets a little rear damage either in the cold storage "parking " or out on the course backing up into a tight tree area .

Last season I noticed they managed  to straighten it out the best they could when it happened . 

So this winter I'm looking at it and seeing if we can fix the issue. Once its a fluke , twice it sometimes happens but the third and fourth time it's an issue that may cause down time at a bad time . 

The wavy look 

Both ends 

Planning my attack with this idea 

After thinking about it more 

 

I went with this way . 1.5" tube stock with 1.25" tube stock sleeves 

Using my trusted painters tape lined the parts up to tac . A bit of a pain with hopper tipped up but still waiting to fill hydraulic oil up after filter changes . Waiting on fluid . 

Disconnect battery before welding is a good idea . Don't create possible new issues after.

Weld sleeves in place after tac.

A little paint

A little more priming and paint

Assemble back on machine and drill out for pins on sleeves .Went with design just incase we had to remove spinner assemble for a different option . 

Turned out great 

Pretty easy build. 

Joel mention that this handle was a lot of trouble when adjusting shute. I have to agree . I do clean them and dry lube after but the top dress sand just gets in there jamming it in place ...a lot . 

So I removed the handle ( also was striped inside )

Made my Bobs Shop T handle for 2$. Weld it to business end of old part.

paint 

Install with Chris Wallace  torque specs so I know its not going to snap off  lol . Nice and easy no more hassels .

This is my Dolly it's also MIA. 

Please return ASAP.

Have a great winter .Hope everyone winters well for a quick spring start up .

Bobs Shop Grinding room still open for grinds .If your getting behind I can grind . 

Streamlining the work space

When I made the move here I had set up the shop fairly well but did miss some of advantages of a small shop at my last place .

Tool box is starting to get cramped a bit .. ya ..ya I know I could get a massive tool box but I would rather work in my space I have now .Doing this job day in and day out you start to notice how much time is spent walking from one area to the other . Or how much time is spent looking for THAT wrench etc.

Having some down time waiting on parts to finish off a few machines I decided to do something about it . 

On twitter there was a post on this wild looking out of the box thinking tool set up box and it gave me an idea.

At the last course we had a tool board which makes total sense to free up some space in my tool box. . 

 Laying out all the wrenches 

 like this ,easy to find and in order . 

welded nuts and bolts to suit wrench sizes . I'm using metal left over from other projects . Made up two plates one metric and standard included the ratchet wrenches . My original idea was to install it inside a cabinet hanging on the wall .

Had to scrap this idea because cabinet came up a little short . 

brought in some exterior door hinges from home .They are pretty solid for wrench cabinet . Using 2 ...1.5" tube stock to get spacing so wrenches could fold in together . 

Cabinet was to small but I managed to use It anyway and freed up another deep drawer.

Worked out well and freed up 2 drawers

Replaced shelfing in cabinet and placed it above folding wrench rack .

Moved the filter and oil cabinet out of parts room . Many miles put on walking to parts room in the run of the season .

High tech security system 

Bolt bins also found a new home out in the shop 

Cleaned up the metal area and the boys took all the scraps for coffee money lol . 

Hardware bins look great in this area . Handy to the lift 

After using the new set up for a few weeks I'm pretty happy with the changes . Everything is handy to my work area …. THE LIFT .