Saturday, January 15, 2022

Some highlights of one turf tech daily/yearly operations

What does a turf equipment mechanic do? 

Small sample of everyday life scenarios .


The Links at Brunello when every one does their part as a team .


Make an eccentric bolt till part arrives .One went missing ?




Grow in pics are awesome 


keeping your eye open and see if a job can be made easier for the staff and sometimes it's a double bonus and is also easier on gear. Fert spreader rack (single ) been making these way before they got popular .



center reel on greens mower  looks off in this nice picture 



Double duty . Mid season repairs on rental carts . Full house means more$$$



Get use to this scene . Happens every other day .



Trouble shooting 101 look for the obvious 





Great looken course 99% of the time .




The big fertilizer spreader seem to be always in the way ? build a wheel stand for it .



Belt install on a MH400 warranty work. You have to think outside the box to get it done . 


More builds to keep debris out from between box . In house fab . credit goes to Chad Braun on the design.




Some times repair your tools .


Make your own hardline for throttle cables . 


bedknife rack out of ...you gueesed it spent bedknives 



Staffer needed a little work on the bike . 



To cheap to buy one . range ball knocked the OEM one out . drill and tapped a new one in 



Does it work? I dun no, but it gives me a piece of mind and I haven't had any issues .


make custom tools out of good sockets in a pinch 



Build request fabs for the spreader . Like the cat walk . They love it .



pro core trailer . The original lol.
Makes for a quicker job .





yes trouble shooting new snow making machines . Solved by adding venting .


when you get tired of the same old damage you fix it with scrap parts and solve it for the last time .



Club car leaf spring = best hold down clamp ever 


Junked engine gave me the opportunity to practice broken stud removal . Sharpening up skills when i have time  



The retrieved some of the missing parts ,
had to fab up the rest.



creature comforts for the slow pokes 



always a good day when the idler pully goes for a walk and takes out everything including the rad. Bearing is now replaced once a season 12$ verses 900$+   



figuring out finger savers for the crew . Believe me I've done it and had it done to me .


great irrigation fabrication to bring the shop with you


Oh crap how did I fix this now . 


Trailer extension for walk push rotary mowers 


TX spipper holders worked out great ,easy to use 



My helper and trainee, great 11 student . A natural fit !!!! moved on to make more $$$ was his goal to go out west as a heavy equipment mechanic . 


LED light upgrade for when you are done with that garbage OEM set up. 2 or 3 seasons not one failure 



sometimes a snow maker pump craps out . Wasn't salvageable 


Student has good welding skills and helped build a pro core trailer for a different course .


Another head scratcher . Plastic doesn't hold seals in . here was my fix . 


easier access to rad on a 5800



For when the boss needs a special job done . You figure something out .




I will shop around when prices are unreasonable . at the time OEM 200$ amazon finds are around 35$ Now but I have not seen one return to shop after repair .




you will never see it all !!!!! from past experience always check the fuel ... well in this case bar oil ...why ? ......????




Always looking around at what other techs are doing and came up with this idea to get mowing condition HOC set up after a grind . 


OWWWW



cracked the frame . had to buy a big puller kit to get it back where it should be and also reenforced the front end . Slow and easy and 90 to a curb . they don't like side impacts on tip of tracks 



saggy hitch ... no problem

Makin my own OEM style HDXD wheel bearing . I'm to cheap to pay 600$ + at the time . 135 still sounded expensive but with a little modifying worked out great .  


And lasted twice as long . Have gone through these like candy during warranty .... no idea 


Made my own spinner paddles . 3 seasons now on them . slight wear . pic was when they where first installed 


stitcher and plastic repair . not perfect but at least presentable .


missing knobs ,I use the natural resources provided by the course lol  


built a tip rack or two for spray tech . my design 


any one seeing this gets it 


low maintenance  ball picker . I call her the Iron Maidan  



gouge out and reweld . A season away from letting go . 


If they are straight i'll fill the wear area with weld and grind out 



Bring a friend spreader . the guys love this one 


With these morning work outs you stay in shape . 


weld in agitator for big spreader . no more clogging  


When in doubt weld it out seems to work most of the time .



When Ryan meets the grow in mesh 


Nasty and burnt up all the belts too . The fun never stops 



my go too alignment machine . old school . 

old meets new tech . Don't miss those 3810s . Cut great but reely high maintenance when it came down to grinding them . The machine electrical issues would make a seasoned tech pull out his/her remaining hair . I did this set up at last place when we only bought one 5410 . So it help with the visual quality of cut between the 2 machines .  




recipe for pancake tires .



The time we needed two machines out on rough and the return spring let go .Saved the day till part came in 



after exhausting all your resource for a back firing issue ...you find out its this reed valve in the head on a TX gator 



need to replace a pin in an awkward spot . make a holder 


built a toe truck . uses tipping of box or 3 point on tractor 


making the shifting mount a bit beefier after twisted the old one off on a HDXD


relay light board build to deal with extra lighting on sprayer that kept shutting off the diesel engine randomly .



some big build for the club house . 3D real estate and course layout board . 


Yes those diaphragms on sprayer pumps need a shot of air or should be checked . 15 PSI is good or half the spray pressure .



dismal experience with the OEM pump made good on warranty work but of no use after the fact . was never resolved sad to say . We went this route and we are happy with the choice . worked flawlessly all season 


Used the old valve to calibrate and agitation . Pulled the handle off so it couldn't be knock out by accident .


for when a nut wont stay in place on the box blade . can you say locked down .



honing out some skills . thought this bedbar was a gonner .managed to save it after all. 





ya its a thing . its been around quite a while on bernhard grinders 


Fab this up here for dew dragging till we recently received a fairway roller .  Blower on gator stays there . great for tight areas . also done before it was a thing . Seen something similar on one of Hectors shop videos a long time ago I do believe . 



nut ? dont know? ...  gremlins ? made something that worked out great .



]

up and reground a ready to mow in no time .


More tool modifying . reel hubs on a jac . 


pye tape . another important tool to have .


small engine issues . pull the exhaust . only takes a second to see if its toast. if not start trouble shooting .


nasty


I repaired it with an amazon knock off . It was a side of the road pick up. 50$ for a 299$ saw + my free time made for a good occasional use saw for home . 



for when the OEM screens are not working for you . recycled bedknives and scrape pile finds and they never had issues again . 


what a clean retro fit set up 



fixed up the old belt drive divot mixer to chain drive as a back up .


another twitter find build . puller for those water pump style roller bearings 



hand blower holder turned out great .


found this the best way to install bushings with limited tools . 



grow thick skin , top dressing is a necessary evil 



hate it when you order a tool and you need one now . made one for now 





not in a million years would I thought this would work 



slowly falling decks on our 7400 was a relief valve . Check hydro circuit and this was in the circuit that made sense but in true JD fashion impossible to find lol 


Can we still tow the trailer ..... that's a no from me lol


2 missing 3 broken studs



more straightening of bendy bits and reinforcing . not much to these frames . looks like just stamped out parts . 


XUV  making a loud noise . It will do that when you use this for a tow bar bending it so far it rides on both axles . Also welded in an actually tow hook . 


Maine engine seal on a 2500E . says to remove engine which involved removing most of the machine away from it . Its easily doable left in machine. 8 hour job at least . 


my seal driver 


just a few tools needed 


storm coming . Big tractors the most import machine for snow removal and its the weekend . solenoid terminal fried . still works . manage a hall marry save by getting a nut on threads and welding a stud to it to reattached the braded copper wire .   




new shop toy , developing some new skills .plasma cutting 


The things you find changing an alternator belt on an 8800 which involves removing drive shaft .Coupler on its last legs . 



I just can't do it . paying 68$ for one pad . there are 8 to a machine . its just a park brake . making my own . 



last season we had broken one and snapped off 2 with less experienced operators they just kept mowing . another reason to go for a drive and check cuts. No more levers and they are getting bolted together 


When in doubt weld it out I always say . 


Big win on the snow maker engine .


great idea after asking a question on twitter . 
a few guys where already doing this mod . 



Arians track blower for doing the ring and the parts not available for a week.

You must be creative. Simple fix to a puzzling problem


cut edges of cable and soldered them crimped on damaged cable 


Worked out great after adjustments 


Here is a classic Bobs Shop fix. Needed all rough units out and one snapped a cable, I just had to think what makes it work and attached a lever to engage mow.


What do we techs do? hmm this is only half of it.
add grinding and set ups and maintaining equipment.

Prioritization and organization is the key to success and a lot of experience to make it look easy