Toro 5410 groomer install with Brushkits

Read the instructions first that come with the groomers. Some things to think about when reading instructions . 99.9% of the time they describe right from left from the sitting position on the machine . Much the same as a super will describe an area on the golf course referring from tee to green (or play ). Also in these instruction there are lots of references to reel motor side or groomer motor side . Over all if you take your time on the first one it's fairly easy install . I started of by removing the spring ( above pic)and used the tab that came with the machine to make adjustments and adding parts a little easier on the reel .

We have brush kits ,so the belt and plate with pulleys has to be removed .

I removed the brush drive motor next . I'm using a wrench to get a little more leverage it the tight space .

Set the parts aside for now , some of them will be going back on later . The parts not used will be bagged and tagged so I will be able to put it back the way it was if needed .( saves on buying new parts ) 

Oh yes , see the grease nipple in the pick ? This was not mentioned in the instructions if you go directly to the installation with brush kit section of the manual . It is mentioned in the first set of instructions .

It is replaced with a 45 degree one . A pretty big chore if you try to do it after every things on .

 On the REEL motor side the spline is replaced with a longer one . The left reel motor splines are removed in a clockwise direction . The center and right sides are the normal way . Clean the threads well and use the blue lock tight . Torque at 85 to 90 ft lbs .

Now I removed the reel motor bolts , they won't be needed anymore .

Remove front adjusters and roller . We have the front roller scrapers . They where under mounted but with this set up they will be on top now . New front adjuster are pretty beefy .

I like putting never seize where the adjusters slide .

Tighten these nuts till they bottom out , then back off 1/2 a turn .

Leave the pinch bolts really loose . You should have enough movement to put roller on .

Top side mounted roller scraper .

Clean the threads out in the outer holes on both sides . Also do the top rear side plate , where the adjuster will be bolted to . Tap used 3/8 -16 thread . Take your time the paint is in there pretty good and thick and your going to have to work it  a little at a time ( especially on the reel motor side ). Other wise this may happen . I snapped a tap off on the last hole . Lucky for me it was out enough to use a small punch and needle nose pliers to get it out . You really want to avoid this problem .

Next - you can take the groomers and ends out of the box and cut all the zip ties off . Carefully pull the reel motor side plate of the groomer . On the GROOMER motor side install the yellow seal from bag of parts .

The thin metal shim goes against the reel frame . I used a little grease on the back side to hold it in place . The holes in the plate are large for a reason . The trick is to install the groomer motor without pinching the plate in between . Use the new Allen head bolts and blue thread lock .

REEL motor side has no plate .(above)

Bolt the groomer adjuster on .

Check alignment of pulleys ( not the center tension pulley ) Install the belt and heavy spring . Spring tab openings face the the pulley .

In the above picks -remove solid rubber center and replace with rubber grommet . Remove bolts from inside the cover (threaded through case) The top case pick you can see and allen head bolt in the center . Remove that one and put it in the thread hole left from the bolts . There is another allen head bolt in kit to block the other hole . Have to put thread lock on these to help hold them in the case .

Take the center bolt out of groomer motor pulley and install the one saved from the brush kit . Line up or make sure the tabs lock into other groomer pulley before bolting it down . Use blue lock tight .

Re install brush/pulley plate , belt and cover .

Adjust the groomer springs to 1 3/8 ths " between the top of the nut to bottom of holder (where you see the top of spring ) Check the movement on the levers .

Turn levers so they point to the rear of the reel . Adjust HOC ( .625"at this course ) then flip levers forward ( engaged )and adjust groomers . (.425") This is what where going to start with . For this HOC they recommend anywhere from .325 " to  .625" .

5/8ths racheting wrench adjusted it in pretty quick .

 

All done . Going to have to watch out for my fingers now and figure out the rest as I go this summer for grinding and back lapping . 

Groomers are in

Just received my groomers on Friday for the Toro 5410 fairway unit . Should be a interesting job next week for me . I'll post some pic's later . Also will have time to start topping up batteries in the Club Car rental carts and cleaning up the wire connections . Then I can put them back on the chargers .They will be fine till start up time in the spring . One of the 4x2 gators will be out of the shop on Monday and I can start cutting out metal patches for the dump bed for the other unit .

Waiting for parts

I have the pro - gator in the shop with the 180 tycrop spreader on it . Sitting in limbo for a bit till the spinner parts come in .Pro gator is dedicated to the tycrop so it has very few hours on it . Just an oil and filter change ,plugs replaced  , checked the air filter and replaced the fuel filter .   During winter work you may be tied up on jobs . The trick is to not tie up your shop so you can keep working . I put things back in cold storage if possible till the parts come in and start another machine . The more machine you can get done the better the summers going to be for you maintenance wise . I'm looking at 150 + pieces if your counting rental carts and small engines . I leave the tractors ( if their do for service ) and small engine ( snippers , blowers etc. ) for the spring . My GKIV fuel line parts came in and that machine came back into the shop today for it's upgrade . Also have some groomers coming in for one of the 5410's . Going to be a great project for me since I have never seen , serviced or used them before . I have the install instructions sent to me vie G-mail as a PDF file from my dealer to pre- view them before they get here . I could have had them now but the sales rep is going to the island and can pick them up for me saving the club the delivery charge . While I'm in limbo I can either start servicing the grinders or get the rest of the maintenance carts done . I did do a quick check on the electric carts and the batteries are going to need to be topped up and terminals cleaned up very soon  . Might be a good job tomorrow or the next day . I have one of the 4x2 gators JD for fluid and filter changes .  These machines are near the fertilizer area I'll have to clean up the corrosion on all connections in wiring harness . I've had issues with the step and go and electric lift cylinder connections in the past plus the 40 amp fuse on the TXs  gets corrosion bad too for some reason  .

I use to have the mowing equipment on that side but since flipping the equipment around I have not had any corrosion issues with mowing equipment since . I'd rather have downed carts than mowing gear it's the lesser of two evils for sure . After a while you just know what the normal problems or issues are with equipment at the course you are working at . Keep plowing through it only 11 to 13 weeks left before go time . Looking good so far this winter has been pretty mild but February is just around the corner and it wasn't very nice last season .

Friday Snow plowing

 Well it was bound to happen sometime , it is almost mid January. We had a small dumping of snow last night ( Friday about 4' of wet stuff ). Slow day for me so I plowed both course lots ( 4.5 hrs ). It's looking like almost a repeat in weather pattern as last season remember last February, I do  winter hit hard and cold .  As a tech you may have to chip in once in a while and help out .  
     I'm waiting for some parts and getting a parts list ready for the 180 tycrop . The old spinners are worn out and I'm looking into adding the extra paddle like the upgrade kit 200 has .
    The toro side winder I'm working on now has a problem with the rear deck not hitting the wear pad on top . If it's not line up  it may by pass the catch and the front roller will start to hit the metal hydro lines . It's actually by passing the catch once in a while now but not enough to damage the lines yet . I'm asking tech's on the sites for ideas or a fix . I know for a fact last season it slipped down a steep bank into a trap . Some ideas a trickling in now and will check it out on Monday .
  It was a good day to catch up on paper work .

Toro Sidewinder 3500 D

The 4300D is all done . New blades and blade bolts installed and ready to go for spring . I  brought the side winder in today . The air filter and water separator filter needed changing so the new ones were put on and ,marked for next hr. change  . I noticed the rear deck doesn't line up properly . Checking it for worn bushing or a bent pull frame pin .A few parts ordered and some new Atomic blades . My old ones are getting a little thin .

Notice the front of these decks . Compared with the 4300D it has way more protection to help prevent the deck from getting knocked in . I don't have a 4500D here to compare front decks . Hmm makes me wonder if it was an over site . These 2 machines ( at this course) run in similar areas and so far the sidewinder has had no deck issues involving the blade hitting the decks .

Trouble Lights

 I've had different trouble lights over the years . A few months ago a salesman showed me one of these lights . Lithium ion battery and will last pretty much the whole day being used constantly .

The price was right so I ordered one . It can hook on something and has a magnetic base .

 Also bends every which way .

I use it so much I had to get another one . It's fantastic for setting up reels on the machine ( on the lift ) I just stick it to the bedknife . When there not being used I just attach them to the side of the lift . I would says the most helpful tool purchased last season .

Toro 4300 D front deck fix

The Damage

 Just brought this unit in . Our course is pretty rough and hilly . We demoed this model and where very pleased that it didn't scalp (because of the 24" decks )and hugged the terrain well  HOC 1.75". We liked it so much we are getting another one this spring . Back to my deck issue . We have had only 1 operator on this machine most of the season and have had next to zero issues until other staff started mowing . The problem I'm getting other than the usual dented up blades is that the front of the decks are hitting rocks denting the HOC adjusting brackets and bending the deck in enough for the blades to hit on . I have slowed the machine down a little bit but don't want it to be to slow . Next season they will be able to be turned down a tiny bit more with 2 units on the go .  

 I'm hopefully going to solve this issue . It can be time consuming to heat and pound out the decks plus welding up cracks by the adjustment slots .

 Front HOC adjustment .

Just in the thought process now . I asked the guys on the tech sites about a fix and I'm getting a few thoughts together for a permanent fix . I don't like to redo things if I can help it . I was thinking of welding a good size bar to the front roller brackets but then if they decide to lower the cut there may be issues . What ever the fix is it's going to have to do with this bar and some type of bracket welded to the bottom of deck not getting in the way of HOC brackets . I'll post some detailed pic's when I figure it out .

 This is what I wound up doing for a fix . I have a lot of old bedknifes laying around from winter tear downs . I'm taking the 5410 hd bedknife and cut it of at about 12 "s . Then I flipped the pieces on top of each other where it's grooved out . Worked out to be a prefect angle . Tack welded them together .

 Then I placed it under the front of the deck and tacked it in place .

 IF YOUR DOING ANY WELDING ON MACHINERY BE SURE TO UN HOOK BATTERY CABLES , otherwise you may fry some of the finer circuits on the newer equipment . It was very easy to weld on machine , I also tacked it on the corners on the inside of deck .

A little paint .

Now I'll have to wait till summer and see how it goes . Should be good and solid . Once you do one it will only take maybe 10 minutes for each of the other ones . Would also be a good fix for the bigger decks on the 4500D.

Review : 2 full seasons = 100% fix .No problems

Slow Friday Updating the water trailer

I brought in the old water truck in . It's in pretty hard shape and need a few upgrades . I put a new adjustable stand by the hitch and replaced both tires . This trailer is used only on the course and  decided to call our tire supplier and see if he had some good used tires . 2 for 60 $ not bad for like new condition tires . I pushed the tank to one side to get the 4hp trash pump on easier and made a hold down bar for it . I'll get some pic's later . I'm also thinking of getting a cheap pump at Princess Auto and locking it down o prevent theft . It is a little bit of a pain to have to hook every thing up to it . The gardener uses it all the time in the summer .

   Received a few orders and had some errors on the invoices that need some attention . My GK's are done for now and will bring one back in later for the fuel line up grade when the parts come in . Just brought the Toro 4300 D for winter service .


  Also scraped down the fluffy snow and salted the parking lot . Fertilizer came in and we rented a forklift for super to put it all away.
  Winter work is looking good so far I'm keeping on track and might be a little ahead off the game . Soon will be the time to check all the electric carts for water levels in batteries .