10 + years in and it's time to change the conveyor belt.
Not as bad a job as I had anticipated.
I'll rate it as 6 out of 10 for difficulty for golf equipment repairs done in the past.
Top dresser was used for by weekly greens top dressing (weather pending)
and tees a couple of times in season.
Then work hard in the fall after core aeration followed by a heavy closing the greens/tees/approaches up for the winter.
Around 2000 hours.
Working from the left side only on this unite.
Removed all bearing covers and check for bad bearings.
Side shield removed and, in my case, I had to remove the catwalk.
Next back the tension off the belt till it's very loose.
Only the front adjustments, do not move left rear.
Remove the Allen key set screw on bearing collars on both left side bearings.
Raise dump bed up after removing spinner attachment.
On the underside remove the large shield that protects the engine bay.
My shield attachment points had lots of cracking, so I did make up angle sheet steel brackets and drilled holes in them for repair.
You can push up on the belt from underside to access the mid side frame nuts.
Basically, remove every bolt in the red section of the hopper after bearing bolts are removed.
Note .... mark left rear back bearings location before removing those bolts. It will save you a lot of time setting up the new belt.
Front valves cover off next and unbolted the block.
Make note or tag the wire going to button and the other power wire. they are similar.
Disconnect the brains.
Remove the clean out screen.
Yeah, cleaning needs to be addressed.
Or the lack off.
Techs pet peeve is not cleaning after use.
Sometimes jobs don't get completed on the same day when things come up, postponing clean, sometimes for days or weeks.
End result is sometimes sands dried and turn to basically concrete on the underside.
You can see the shield in this pic.
Finally removed this manual tube, so annoying.
Next remove flow adjuster and belt scrapper.
Note all the bolts are one of two size stainless steel Allen head type.
If you have long arms, you can get all of them yourself on the hopper.
Or use a helper and crack the nut side loose first.
Remove adjustment bolts washers nuts etc. Take a picture first so it gets reassembled the same.
NOTE, this front bearing you will have to slide in place before assembly.
Rear bearing mark as per picture below.
Even though adjusting front bearings will make the belt track left or right a bit, this one's really important to get it back where it goes. It will really make the track move left or right quickly.
NOTE, on assembly tighten the bolts on side frame up first before installing adjusters.
I used a sharpy marker and measured the end treads.
After the last two side rail bolts are out and rear bearings off remove side plate along with front bearing.
In my case the nylon blocks all looked great, bearings were all good and rubbers on hopper are still in good condition.
Only needed a belt and belt scraper.
Plus, lots of cleaning, prepping, painting worn areas while waiting on parts (about 2.5 weeks)
I wedged a piece of angle under lift frame and another to hold the rollers steady till parts arrived.
Reassemble in reverse order.
Adjust the front roller evenly take measurements if you like.
Before putting spinners on, run the belt and adjust so it's not tracking left or right with good tension on belt.
Final adjustment will be made this spring with a load of heavy wet sand.
Adjust till belt starts to move.
Done.
NOTE, when reassembling large areas and panels I used and alignment tool to wedge holes for bolts in place and also install all the bolts loosely before tightening up a section.
You shouldn't need it for this one but good luck and have a great season.
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