It' that time again

 The Buzz is in the air .

Weathers changing and we are getting some great day time temperatures . There is talk of some of the crew coming back in mid March . Great time to take a week off before the crew start trickling in . The long range forecast is sounding good . Calling for another dry spring . Won't be as dry as last season but it's looking pretty good . Snows almost gone and the greens should have come through the winter season well . Won't be long and the tarps will be coming off the greens . My winter work is slightly behind but  will be able to catch up between jobs when I get back . The mowing gear is all done and ran them for a good 45 minutes last week to get the fluids up to temperature . It was great to have them all out and running and driving around can't wait for the new season to start . Should be a good one .

 



TX Turf Gator Disc Brake service

 I have our Tx gator in for winter service . We like this model very much , it's peppy and brakes are outstanding . 4 wheel disc brakes . They are not cheap to replace so if you want to get your moneys worth out of the pads the slides should be serviced at least once a year twice if possible . While checking the front brakes check for loose parts . ( The bushings where getting bad on our king pin type front end  . ) Also check the wheel bearings for roughness , they should roll pretty freely .

If your servicing the brakes take the clips off the end off the pins and remove the large Allan head bolts . Lay out the parts so they go back on in the same place . After the pins are out you can slide caliper and brake pads out . You can use a piece of mechanics wire to hold caliper up so the line won't get damaged .The pic above is a rear disc brake . 

This is what I used to push the caliper piston in . Hold the bolt steady and turn the nut up . This way it won't gouge the piston . Push it in till it just stops . Don't over do it . They recommend pushing it in with a C-clamp, but on the rear with the park brake I didn't have something large enough to use . 

 Next I removed the slides and cleaned them up on the wire wheel and put never seize on them.

If these are not serviced they may seize or just one seize causing the brakes to wear out faster or on an angle . 

The bolt where cleaned up the same as the slides . I was quite happy to see the never seize from last season still on them .



 

The pad is still ok , about half worn . The wear limit is 3/64 ths . I did order new pads now in case I need them later in the season . 

 

The disc's where just scuffed up with a medium grit emery cloth . 

 

The wear limit for the disc is 3/16 th . If they are really rough you might be able to get them turned down at a brake repair shop . I'll be looking into our rear ones when it comes time to replace the pads . I find the rear gets rough from all the debris picked up on the pads from hauling loads . 

 

Pic of one of the brake pads . If your just cleaning them up I use a medium grit emery cloth on a hard flat surface and keeping even pressure moving it in a figure 8 pattern . Does a pretty good job .

Reassemble using torque specs in the manual . Don't forget about the little cir clips on the end of the pins . I'm assuming it's a safety in case the bolts back off to keep the pads from falling out .  

Foley 660 cleaning

Here are a few pic's of the foley 660 . Not to bad of a job to tear apart and clean up .

To remove the sliding plate and entire grinder motor etc . , turn in feed wheel in to move plate towards back of grinder to expose the front roller bolt .


To remove you need to hold the underside with a 3/4 wrench and use a 1/2 socket and ratchet and remove the nyloc nut on top .

 

 The front roller bolt is cambered so turning the bolt moves the rollers closer or farther away from the slide rails for adjustments when it come to assemble time  .

 

 

 

After removing the cutting unit scrape and clean bottom and repaint if needed .

 

 

 If you use the bottom for the coolant you will have to silicon the weld seams . I used a Tremclad rust paint . It does a great job . Check the rails for wear . If they are wearing you can remove the spacer in the middle between them and set screws on each end ( top side) Mark the tubes on the ends with a straight line about center . You can use a large hammer and punch ( old socket ) and push them out on one end. Look at the lines on the end and rotate tubes 1/4 turn and re- install .

 

 

 

 

 

 Re-install the spacer in the middle . To adjust the spacing between the rails use large calipers to get the same measurements on the ends as the center . I used a furniture clamp for a caliper . Works very well .

To remove the stone turn the guard upside down to access the area for removal .

Not positive but pretty sure it is on counter clock wise .

The spanners to remove the stone I don't have here . I use a crows foot 3/4 and ground the nubs on the end off . Works good . When installing the stone it doesn't have to be tighten on really tight . The cup stone is almost new . If the inside wears down to about a half inch it will be time to replace the stone .

 

The Gaurd can slide off next . The set screw will have to be backed off .  

 

The motor can be removed after taking the 4 large Allen head bolts out .

 

 

To remove the sliding plate and infeed wheel I use one of these ball headed allen keys .



 

 

 

This way I do not have to remove the wheel to get it off . ( 2 bolts  )

Bottom plate below with rollers that ride the rails . The sweepers are removed already .




 





On the right side of the plate there is a spring loaded set screw . Remove this and take spring ( behind set screw )out for assembly later . When re assembling turn set screw all the way in till it just bottoms out on spring then turn out 1/2 turn .

 

 Now the slide plate has three roller guides to keep it on the  bottom plate.

 Pick of the slide plate rollers ( 3 ) check for play and replace as needed also check plate for wear .

 

 Here is a pick re - assembled . The sweeper pads should be replaced every 6 months . Being a seasonal course I change mine yearly.


The large rollers that ride the rails have 2 bearings in each one ( 6 ) check them for wear . I found it easier to install the bottom plate with nothing attached to it first . It takes a little bit of effort to install the single roller and hold it in place snugging it on the rails . Then you can reach on the underside with a 3/4 wrench and move the camber bolt to make the finale adjustments . You should be able to grasp the opposite corners of plate and twist and not feel any play . Adjust till play is out and tighten 1/2" nylock on top . Be sure to keep wrench on bottom side or it will unadjust on you .

 

 Scraped the pump off too and repainted . I do not use the bottom of grinder to hold coolant . The drain plug was removed on mine and I installed a hose into a container . My pump is suspended in a container . This way the tray is only wet when the grinder is working .

 

 

 

 A pick of the little t handle I braze on . The gaurd is in place .

 

 Mine stays in this position most of the time. The guard scrapes on the ends of bed-knife frames of the jac units if I don't.

 

 

Disassemble all this area when you have it on the bench and reassemble with never seize ( adjustment for grinding head up and down ) . Also do the same for the stone facer shaft ( it does tend to seize up easily ) . Check that the diamond tip is still there .

Any place that has an Allan set screw over threads also has a nylon ball under it to help keep tension on the threads so the adjustment doesn't back off while grinding .

 

It will be a few months before I start using it again so It will be coverd till then and don't fill the coolant till you need it .

 

Cleaning up my grinders for up coming season

Finished all my grinding for winter work . I have a little down time waiting for parts so it's a good time to clean up and service my grinders . When I need them again they will be ready to go this summer .

Started to service my foley grinders . I have them cleaned up pretty good and will show more details in the near future . Just waiting for parts . In the mean time I have a couple of videos .

My spin motor on the foley 630 has been slowing down ( max speed )in the past year and now needs some action to correct it because it is getting to the point that I won't be able to grind at the speeds needed .

Take some picks of the wires your going to have to remove in the panel . Turn power off and unplug .  

 Pick of all the ground wires on the bottom of the box . If you bend a 3/8 wrench 90 degrees and use a socket/ rachet you can get the wire off with out twisting the rest .

 

I sent my spin grinder out for service and it came back cleaned up and tested good . After reinstalling the spin motor it worked very well speeding up and down . There must have been a poor connection causing the problem .

 

I'm checking the RPM speed with a laser tach . You get reflective tape that sticks to the coupler mount . As it's spinning the laser light picks up the reflector to give you the RPM ( revolutions per minute ) . With the instructions in the manual you can check the min. and max. speeds .

 

The red wire in the pic is the one I think was loose or had been knocked off .

This little video shows why ear protection should be worn while the grinder is grinding . Foley 660 bedknife grinder .

New Shop update pic's

There on the move now . A little behind but now since the building is enclosed it will start to pick up . Some last minute adjustments to get things then way they want . Now's the time to figure out exactly where to put things and tweak a few of the ideas. So much easier to see the space visually .  



New equipment managers shop .

 Lots of metal studding going up floor to ceiling . You can really get a feel of what it's going to be like .Looking at offices on the right and washrooms on the left . There will be a very large common area in the middle for a lunch room .

 Straight out and to the right a little from the sheet of plywood will be where the lift will go .

 Some real nice windows for the office area . There are some on the end of the building in the shop area for some natural lighting .

 Doorway to the cold storage area .Lots of ventilation going in and they where just mapping out and installing the doorway to the grinding room while I was visiting .

Chemical room down on right side . It was such a nice day out they had it all open to dry things out some more . Gutters and exterior trim work almost done . Looking good . Can't wait to see Als shop all set up .