Stationary Regeneration on a Tier 4 Machine

Thought I would resurrect this blog to post a video on how to manually put a Tier 4 Toro unit into Stationary DPF Regeneration using the on-board InfoCenter.  

You may be asked to do this by the machine, by your service department to clear a code, or for periodic maintenance.  The frequency needed will be determined by the machines duty cycle.  The harder you work the machine the more the DPF can burn off particulate matter during normal operation.   If the duty cycle is low and the DPF is not operating at a high enough temp to burn off material, it will slowly build up and will need to be put into regeneration.  This video explains how to do that.  

What is the cost of a leak?

How old is your fleet?  If it is older then 2 years old, you may want to think about replacing the moving hoses to your cutting units.  Over time the constant on/off pulsing and heat that is caused from normal operation can cause wear on hydraulic lines.  Not to mention friction from bending and moving against other parts of the machine.  

Toro offers Cutting Unit Hydraulic Hose Kits as part of their Performance Parts Catalog.  These kits allow you to order one part number and get all the critical moving hoses for your machine.  I hear people tell me that it is too expensive to replace hoses as a preventive measure, and to that I ask, what is the true cost of a leak?  

As a example, the kit for a Greensmaster 3150 is just under $530.  What is the cost of a leak?  Can you count on your operators to catch a leak quickly?  What are the intangible costs?  Things like negative appearance, and member reaction are hard to but dollars to.  There is always the possibility that a hose might blow on the weekend.  Now this adds to whole picture.  

My personal opinion is replacement of moving hoses is something that should be budgeted for, and performed on a strict schedule.  If a hose blows and the root cause is not abrasion, every other moving hose on that machine is now suspect.  If they are showing wear, or older then 2 years, they should be replaced as a set.  This is also called out in the operators manual of each unit under the service schedule.  

I don’t post this to sell parts.  I post this to help you keep your machines in the best possible condition, and to help you minimize downtime and turf damage.  We all know hoses don’t blow on the wash pad.  They blow while the unit is mowing, and quite often early in the morning when it is tough for operators to see what has happened.  

Here is a link to the Performance Parts Catalog. 

It's all in the angle

Thought I would make a quick post about bedknife angles now that people are starting to grind their reels.

The grind on a bedknife is very important, and every bedknife should be ground.  (including new ones)  This ensures a parallel surface for the reel.  Another thing that often gets overlooked is that bedknives should be tightened with a torque wrench to ensure they do not twist when tightened down.  I have seen it where people tighten them too much and then have to take off a lot on each of the ends of the knife to get it straight. People quickly blame the bedbar when it is often the knife bolts.

• Make sure the bedbar threads are clean.
• Use new Toro screws.  Apply anti-seize lubricant  to the screw threads before installing.
• Tighten the screws working from the center toward each end of the bedbar.  DO NOT use and impact wrench.

Fairway/utility mowers:

250 - 300 in.lb. 

Greensmowers:
200 - 250 in.lb

Make sure you are grinding your knives to the proper angle.  If the angle is off I have seen very sharp reels that won't cut paper even when tightened down.  Use the guide below to make sure you have the correct angle.  I have it taped to the wall next to our grinders.  

Here is the bedknife angle chart that Toro has-

(click here to download) 

Reading faults on a Reelmaster 5010

Occasionally things do go wrong, and when they do on a Toro Reelmaster 5010 series mower we have an advantage.  The diagnostic light on the operators control panel allows us to determine what kind of fault the machine is having.

The top red light is the diagnostic light

When there is an active fault on this unit, the red diagnostic light will begin to flash rapidly.  This tells the operator something is wrong.  If the fault is not happening continously the light will go out once you turn the machine off and then back on.  So now we know there was a fault, what do we do?

We need to put the unit into Fault Retrieval Mode.  This will let the machine tell us the last three fault codes that happened.  These are stored in the machines ECM.  There is no special tool that is required to do this, it is a simple list of steps.

1- Seat should be unoccupied.  (make sure the switch is not jumped)
2- Machine should be in neutral, and the PTO switch is off
3- Mow/ Backlap switches need to be in Mow
4- Mow / Transport lever should be in Transport
5- Then hold the joystick in the raise position as you turn the key to run

The diagnostic light should now begin to blink codes at you if there are any codes stored.

Above you can see what it looks like when the machine has stored three codes.  There is a two digit code followed by a short pause then the next, then the next.  After the three there is a long pause.  This is telling you it is starting over.  If there is nothing stored you will see a steady one flash

Once we know the codes, we can refer to the service manual to see what they mean.

Once we have dealt with the codes we can then clear the memory so we can tell if they occur again.  To clear them, do the following.

1- Place the machine in fault retrieval mode (see above)
2- Move both Mow / Backlap switches to Backlap
3- Move the joystick to the raise position
4- Diagnostic light will switch to a continuous flashing pattern

Of course operators do not always tell us when there was a flashing red light on the dash if it goes away.  So if you get in the habit of checking for faults on these machines during your normal service you may find something that will help eliminate future downtime, or may point you to another issue. For example you may find that one of your units is giving a frequent overheating fault.  If your operators never tell you may risk engine damage if you don't look further into it.

Keeping your cool

When the weather gets hot we rely on the Air Conditioning in our units with cabs on them to help keep us cool.  These systems work great, but there is some maintenance to them as well.  When it is hot, you blow out your radiator to keep your engine cool, but sitting on top of that cab is a different kind of radiator that needs to be serviced to keep you cool.

It helps to understand how the AC system works to know exactly how service affects its performance.  No matter where the AC system located,  in a house, a car, or in a Toro mower, the basics of the system are the same.  There are three main components to the system.

Compressor – Spun by the engine and charges the system

Evaporator coil – This is the coil that gets cold and we force air over it to cool the air in the cab.  It is located above the headliner within the cab.

Condenser coil – This is the coil that gets hot and we force outside air over it to cool it.  Just like a radiator for the engine.  It is located on top of the cab and has a fan mounted on it.

You may have heard about high and low limit switches on an AC system.  The low switch turns the system off if the pressure gets too low.  (If there is a leak) The high pressure switch shuts the system off if the pressure gets too high.  This happens when can’t cool down the condenser coil because we cannot get enough air across the coil. (Typically because it is plugged)

AC Compressor

The top things I see affecting AC performance on our units are a compressor belt not being tight enough, or a plugged condenser coil tripping the high pressure switch. A plugged coil can put stress on the entire system causing other failures as well.  Pump seals, hose fittings, and coil leaks can all result from a plugged condenser coil.

Pull out screen under coil

There is a screen located beneath the coil to help keep the coil from plugging up, but it needs to be serviced regularly.  Just like the engine radiator, how often it needs to be cleaned depends on the conditions.  If you have to blow out your radiator more often, your AC condenser will also need to be cleaned.  Just cleaning the screen may not be enough at times.  You may have to pull the fan and shroud to gain access to the coil.  With this removed, you can properly clean the coil with compressed air and or water.

Keeping the condenser coil clean will help keep stress off the system and keep you cool when you need it most.

Understanding the Traction Circuit

To fully understand how the traction system works on turf equipment you first have to understand some basic principals-

When talking about hydraulics there are two key terms- Flow and Pressure.  Flow is the movement of fluid (how we get speed) and Pressure is the resistance of flow (how we get torque).

 

Hydraulic flow moves to the path of least resistance, just like water, and electricity.  Think of this as an open differential on a vehicle.  If you jack one side of a vehicle up all the power goes to the wheel with no resistance.  This same reason it allows you to take a tight turn without the tires binding.  If your vehicle is in 4WD (or you lock and axle) and you make a tight turn it is much tougher and if you are on grass you are going to tear turf.

It is the same with turf equipment.  The reason being that with independent wheel motors when they are both on the ground and both have equal resistance you have “all wheel drive”  When you make a turn there is more resistance on the inside wheel motor so more fluid goes to the outer motor allowing them to spin at different speeds and makes it so you will not scuff turf. 

Now imagine you are going in a straight line through a very wet spot.  One wheel starts to spin.  What happens to the fluid?  It goes to the path of least resistance and you stop.  If you were to apply brake pressure to the wheel that is spinning, (with split brakes) you would increase the hydraulic pressure forcing the fluid to balance out.  Training your operators to do this will allow them to drive through more difficult situations. 

There is also an option called a Flow Divider found on many Toro pieces.  This is a momentary switch that you hold down while driving through a bad spot.  What this does is split fluid to both the front and rear wheel motors allowing balanced flow even if a motor starts to spin.  It does this in FORWARD only and the way it works is that it forces fluid over a set of orifices or small openings in the block of the same size. 

Now that we have some basics down we can look at the schematics.  Here is the traction circuit of a 4000- D  You will see this same circuit duplicated in many other machines.

Toro 4000-D Traction Circuit

The pump is on the left. (pumps have arrows pointing out)  There is an arrow through it because we can vary the amount it puts out depending on how the traction pedal is pushed.  There are arrows in two directions because we can go in both forward and reverse.  The motors have two arrows going in because they accept fluid in both directions. 

In the drawing you can see the closed loop circuit.  The solid darker lines are pressured fluid the dashed darker lines are return fluid.  We need to run a closed loop to for several reasons, but one of them is that it is very hard to filter fluid at 4000-5000PSI in two directions.  So how do we filter and the fluid?  -Charge Fluid.  Charge is make up fluid that fills the back side of the circuit refilling the circuit with cooled, filtered fluid.  As you can see in the schematic both the front and rear wheel motors leak off some fluid by design - dashed lines coming out of motors.

The flow in the diagram shows the circuit in Mow or when we are in 4WD.  If we flip the switch to go to High/Transport, PD1 &PD2 valves shift to block off flow to the rear motor and all the flow goes to the front wheel motors.  This is why we go faster in high.  Remember flow is speed and we are sending more flow to the front motors. 

One last thing I want to add is a pump and a motor in hydraulics are basically the same thing.  The only difference is that a pump is spun by an outside force and the motor accepts fluid.  This is why if you push a machine with a closed loop circuit the motors turn into pumps and produce flow until it hits what was the pump.  It now turns into a motor and has the resistance of whatever was spinning it.  That is why the wheels lock up, and why there is a bypass / tow valve on these machines.  When you open that up the closed loop goes to the path of least resistance and bypasses the pump allowing the fluid to spin freely through the circuit.  Only problem being that we are still bleeding off some fluid and now charge flow is coming in to make up for it.  This is why you should not tow the machine very far or fast or you can cause damage to the wheel motors. (you run them dry) 

In a future post I will cover the 4WD manifold in more detail.   

Calibrating the Toro ProControl

This is how to set up your ProControl.  Anytime I have a question with a sprayer’s performance I start here to make sure we have all the basics set properly. 

To start we need to make sure our bypass valves are completely closed.  We also need to find the flow meter and look at the tag on it.  There should be a meter cal number on it.

Set bypass to 0 when using a ProControl

Meter Cal # tag

Then we move up to the controller.  Hold the CE button down and power up the controller.  This will clear the controller and allow us to set it up again.  We can now select what scale we want to use.  US is in Acres, SI is in Hectares, and TU is 1000ft.  I tend to use TU as we are typically talking about 1000's of square feet when we talk about turf.  The next item it allows you to select is speed sensor type, choose SP3 gear tooth sensor.  (The speed sensor is located in the right rear wheel motor)

Toro ProControl 

Programming the remaining buttons- Anytime we enter a value we must use the sequence – enter button, input value, enter button.

I like to work left to right down the line.  This is what each button should be set to. 

Boom 1 Cal- 80 (This is the width of the Left boom)

Boom 2 Cal- 60 (this is the width of the Center boom)

Boom 3 Cal- 80 (This is the width of the Right boom)

Speed Cal- 148 (start here and we will fine tune it)

Meter Cal- 1750? (This is the number off of the flow meter tag, fine tune later)

Valve Cal- 023 (Enter the 0 even though it does not show)

Rate 1 Cal- ? (Based on your desired rate)

Rate 2 Cal- ? (Based on your desired rate- make sure rates are within 20% unless you change nozzles)

Now we can fine tune (calibrate) the needed areas. 

Speed Cal- There is two ways to do this.  I typically use a GPS device (car or phone) and compare it to the speed readout on the controller.  If it is off move the speed cal number up or down until the speed reads the correct amount. (Typically only have to move it <10) The second way is to mark out 500 feet on the ground and compare the controller reading for distance.  Then use this formula to determine the new Speed Cal number. – 148x500/Distance readout.  Then enter this new number into to the speed cal and verify the distance again. *NOTE - fill the tank half way and make sure your tire pressure is set properly when you do this test. 

Meter Cal- Empty the tank, and then fill it using a digital flow meter.  An accurate reading here is critical.  DO NOT rely on the markings on the tank.  Select the Total Volume button on the controller and set it to 0.  Spray out the tank and compare the total volume reading to the amount put into the tank.  It should be +-3%.  If it is not adjust the Meter Cal setting using this formula- Meter Cal x Total Volume/ Amount of Water.  Enter this new amount into the Meter Cal setting.  I like to do this a minimum of three times to ensure the calibration is accurate. 

Digital Flow Meter

The next thing I look at is the nozzle output.  I use a catch can marked in Oz.  I catch the volume of each nozzle for 15 sec and compare them.  They all should be within 5%. If not, replace the worn nozzle. You can utilize Self Test for this.  Enter a speed at which you will be spraying, and turn on the booms.  Again, I do this multiple times to ensure accuracy. *NOTE- to exit self test, enter the value 0. 

The ProControl should not be a mystery.  It is a basic device that measures two input variables (traction speed and flow meter flow) and then calculates the appropriate speed to spin the pump to achieve the desired rate. If we have done our part of entering the correct numbers and verified the calibration of these two inputs, the output should be very accurate.  

Troubleshooting - If you ever suspect an issue with your ProControl system, check the two inputs first.  Is the Speed reading accurate?  Is the flow meter reading accurate?     If the machine is not reading a rate, most likely the flow meter is either dirty, or has an issue.  As long as you know the function of the ProControl relies on these two inputs, it will allow you to troubleshoot much more effectively.