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.

What is your plan?

I am a huge advocate for continuing education.  I feel you can always learn more about the job you are doing, no matter how long you have done it.  I still learn things from customers, and I love to see the ingenuity that comes out of equipment manager’s shops. 

Unfortunately I don’t see many technicians with a formal learning plan.  When I hire a technician in my shop I set them up on a plan with specific goals.  I want them to strengthen their technical skills, and feel good about what they are doing. 

One big opportunity for technicians in our field is the certificate program with the International Golf Course Equipment Managers Association.  IGCEMA has a wonderful program that covers 6 specific areas.  They have study materials and opportunities for online testing that make it easy to learn.

Hydraulic Troubleshooting

Electrical Troubleshooting

Internal Combustion Engines

Drivelines

Sprayer Troubleshooting

Cutting Units

I highly recommend this program to anyone working on turf equipment.  Set up a timeline to complete the 6 tests to help push you when other things may get in the way.   I am confident enough in this testing process that I require my technicians to complete these same tests.

Of course there are other options as well.  I know Toro (as well as other manufactures) puts on service classes to help train technicians, and there are also opportunities at many of your local distributors.  I put on classes in both ND and MN this past year for our customers at MTI.  Other options may be your local technical college.  Is there a welding or engine class you could learn from?

Whatever you choose, I suggest you make a thoughtful plan and write it down.  Put a realistic timeline to it and push yourself to complete it.  If you want help putting together a plan like this reach out to me via email – jim.king@mtidistributing.com or Twitter - @TOROKING  and I will be happy to help you reach your goals.  My true goal for this blog is to help others who want to learn and better themselves.

Plan your work, and work your plan.

What is Clip?

If you have any reel mowers it is important to understand what clip is.  When we talk about cutting units, the term clip is used to explain the distance between cut marks in the turf.

To fully understand clip, you need to understand basic cutting unit theory.  A reel will gather grass before it cuts it.  At a magnified level you will see waves in the grass after any reel has cut it.  The distance between the bottoms of these waves is your clip.  This is why crosscutting still produces clippings, and makes for a smoother surface.

There are several factors that determine clip.  The number of blades on the cutting unit, the speed of the reel, and the speed of the machine.  It is important to match your clip to your height of cut.

So how do we make sure it matches?  To start, we need to make sure we have the correct reel for the job.  Make sure you match your height of cut to the number of blades. Next use the reel speed charts to correctly set your reel and traction speed.

Reel chart on Greensmaster

Can we have a clip too small? - under certain conditions you can have a clip that is too small.  Think of trying to use a 14 blade reel to cut heavy grass at 1.5 inches.  There is just nowhere for the cut grass to go.  The other thing you can see is your clip will be so close you are introducing more stress to the turf.  I compare it to double cutting every day.  Under certain stressful situations you may not want to introduce more stress.

Clip Marks in turf

If this shows up on turf that normally looks fine.  You are typically seeing either an operator going too fast, or a reel that is not spinning fast enough.  If you can slow down and the problem goes away, then you are fine.  If you have to slow down more then normal, or slowing down is not helping, the reels are not spinning fast enough.  At this point try to adjust the reel speed faster.  If the reels don't spin faster, you are looking at a hydraulic issues. 

Reel Speed adjustment on 5010 series Mowers

The two biggest things I see contributing to this are o-rings in the reel control cartridges or reel motors worn.  It is important to remember that one worn motor can cause a series of reels to slow down.  One motor on a triplex, will slow down all three, one motor on a fairway unit will slow down either all three of the front or both of the rear.  In a future post I will cover testing reel mower wear.

What is a Bench Plate?

AccuProducts Bench Plates

Does your shop have a bench plate?  A Bench Plate is a precision ground aluminum plate that allows us to level and parallel a cutting unit.  Why is this important?  Doing this allows the rollers and the cutting edge to be on the same plain.  If they are not parallel when you make passes with the mower you will be introducing a mismatch.  If two cutting units side by side have a mismatch you can easily have a surface that will effect ball movement.  The lower you cut, the more important it is. 

   

Have you ever rolled a cutting unit on concrete and noticed it rocked?  This is the easiest way to tell if a cutting units rollers are not parallel.  Now with the newer styles of cutting units that hold their position much better you need to have a bench plate to truly tell where each unit is at.

How is it used?

***Important to remember*** 

This is assuming you have properly ground the reel first and there is no taper in the reelstock.  Grind your reels first then put them on the bench plate for the best results

With the bedknife removed you place the cutting unit on the plate.  You have the cutting edge of the reel on the raised surface and put slight pressure on the rear roller.  Try to slide a feeler gage or piece of paper under the rear roller.  If the paper fits on one side or another the roller is not parallel to the cutting edge.   If you are setting up a Toro DPA cutting unit you can loosen the side plate bolts slightly then allow the frame to settle into proper position.  For older cutting units you may have to bend the frame slightly to achieve this. 

Cutting edge on raised surface

sliding paper under roller

Side plate bolts 

Other things to keep in mind

Rear Roller Adjustment Kit-

This kit (part # 114-4630) allows you to adjust the roller on a DPA cutting unit.  Manufacturing tolerances are very tight and simply loosing the side plates is often enough.  If it is not and you are cutting at very low height of cuts.  I would suggest you install this kit on your greensmowers.  Is is an eccentric for one side of the roller and allows roller adjustment.  One kit per cutting unit is needed. 

Kickstand #119-8010-03

The Kickstand-

If you are setting up a DPA cutting unit, you should be using this make sure you do not adjust the bedknife contact while the reels are sitting on the adjustment nuts.  Failure to do this will often result in the contact amount changing once the reel is flipped back down.  

the Cutoff Bar mounting holes are slotted for adjustment

The Cutoff Bar-

This small piece of metal is adjustable based upon your conditions.  The gap between this plate and the cutting edge determine the airflow and clipping dispersion of the cutting unit.  This should be adjusted as your reels wear.  If you find your clippings are not making it into the baskets properly, adjust this bar. 

Bearings-

This is the most critical part of any reel, and I don’t think they get near enough attention. The bearings in the reel and rollers determine if we can achieve proper HOC and keep it.  If you have run out of .010 in both your front and rear roller, you could be seeing a +-.020 (not to mention the reel bearing) Try to cut a green below .120 with that much variance and you will notice very quickly.  You can easily determine bearing run out with a dial indicator, or an AccuGage.  

Picking the Brain

I want to go over how to use the Standard Control Module (SCM) to diagnose a machine.  The SCM is called many things, the brain, the computer, the box, etc, but what we need to know is that what goes on inside is not magic, but logic.  At the core of the SCM it only understands inputs (what we do) and outputs (what the machine does).

The SCM does a lot of cool things, It controls the basic functions of the machine, handles the safety interlock, replaces relays, and shows us what is going on with the machine.  The best thing about an SCM is that you do not need any special tools to do basic system checks.  That is what those lights are for.

Procore 648 SCM

While there will be different decals on different machines, there are some things that will always be the same.  First, there there are three boxes on the decal.  One box has a red LED, this is the power light.  When ever the key is on the red light should be on. No Red LED = No power check fuses, battery etc.  

Next is the big box on the opposite side of the power light. (or everything not in a box)  These lights show us the inputs, or switches that are open or closed.  (The switches on machines with an SCM all go to ground)  Some examples of these switches are, over temp, seat, neutral, PTO, and head position switches on a Procore.  The decal has a symbol to show us what switch it matches up to. 

Last is the smaller box.  This is for the outputs, what the machine does when the correct inputs are met.  Outputs are things like solenoids.  Example, when we are in neutral, in the seat, the PTO is not engaged, and we turn the key to crank, the output light for crank will light.  

7200 SCM

Above you can see what the lights look like on a 7200.  The reason there are two lights for the temp is because this machines uses a two step shutdown.  The first light comes on and the PTO will shut off, the second light will come on and shut down the machine.  

I think the most useful situation for using the lights is in a “no start” situation.  You can easily check the safety interlock, and see if the SCM is sending the correct outputs.  

The most common machines to use the SCM are the 7200, 3500, Procore, 4500 & 4700 (years 2004-2008)

Here is where to find it-

7200 right side panel

Procore 648 SCM 

3500 SCM