any toro groundsmaster fans on here?

[Turbys_1700]

Good find Asymair95. I've got a similar repair area in the front of my deck that I will need to attend to also this winter. These decks seems to have weak areas at the back edge of the discharge chute and in the front where the deck forms into a V. Nothing that a little MIG weld won't fix. Keep us updated on your progress.

 

[Xfaxman]

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View attachment 574358

Standard 72 SD. 30721 model number.
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I might start a new thread when I begin going over my 322 and 325 getting them ready for front line service...or should I do that here? What are the sopç—´ for that?
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No SOP, you can do it either way, but this thread gets a lot of views, so here is good.

The 30721 is the first SD deck. 30722 is the newer version for the 300 series. Looks like it's from the 3rd year of production: Parts List...

Got mine on eBay in May, 2005. It came from a city parks department. They had welded a solid steel bar across the front to strengthen it:

 

[Asymair95]

Do you happen to know the difference between the old style and new style decks? The two parts decks I’m getting are the newer style.

 

[Xfaxman]

Nope, no experience with the old style. It may be the same shell. You can compare part numbers on the Parts Viewer.

One visible difference is the front center roller. There is also a rear center roller under the deck.

 

[Asymair95]

Yup, saw that. Was going to cut those off the old decks and weld them on the new one.

 

[Asymair95]

The new additions have arrived!





The 322/325 tucked into their parking spots.





ID tags for both machines. Can anyone tell me what year they are?





The 322 has some uncommon upgrades. The manual 4wd engagement for full time 4wd, and also some kind of cruise control on the pedestal.

Super excited and can稚 wait to roll them into the shop for some much needed adjustments and maintenance.

 

[Asymair95]

Also received the two parts mower decks. They are both 30722 models.





They are both rotted through in several areas, which is a shame, because one of them is fairly straight with good spindles and hardware. Plan is to salvage the mechanical bits and transfer them to my older 30721 deck shell I am currently rehabbing.





The ID tags for both parts decks. The scrap man is going to love me.

From what I can see, there are several differences between the older and newer decks. Newer decks have a different gearbox, roller underneath, roller on front lip, baffling underneath, and different style gauge wheels. There may be more, but that’s what I’ve found so far. I’m hopeful everything will swap over, will keep everyone posted.

There may also be a parts machine in my future, another 322d, with a bad engine oil leak. Runs good though, and drives fine.

 

[Xfaxman]

The new additions have arrived!

View attachment 574528

View attachment 574529

ID tags for both machines. Can anyone tell me what year they are?

Congratulations!! :thumbsup:

The first digit of the serial number is the year, so the 322D is:

And the 325D is:

 

[MultiMow]

The new additions have arrived!

View attachment 574526

View attachment 574527

The 322/325 tucked into their parking spots.

View attachment 574528

View attachment 574529

ID tags for both machines. Can anyone tell me what year they are?

View attachment 574530

View attachment 574531

The 322 has some uncommon upgrades. The manual 4wd engagement for full time 4wd, and also some kind of cruise control on the pedestal.

Super excited and can稚 wait to roll them into the shop for some much needed adjustments and maintenance.

This has got to be the best condition discharge chute I've seen in years

 

[MultiMow]

Whew...that was an education. Thank you multimow for all that info, it will surely come in handy in the next few weeks.

I picked up my new/used deck today from Craigslist. It is in pretty good shape, some cracks, dents, bends...the usual abused equipment issues. The good news is there is little to no rot, lots of rust, but no cancer issues.

View attachment 574357

The deck as received.

View attachment 574358

Standard 72” SD. 30721 model number.

View attachment 574359

Going to have to spend some quality time with the mig to fix the cracks and reattach various skid pads and such.

View attachment 574360

Spindles pulled. Not looking forward to doing this on the rotted decks I’m going to be using for parts. These were hard enough to get off and there wasn’t much rust.

View attachment 574361

Straightening the front and back lips with a couple plates of steel and a pipe wrench. The back lip is bent bad and going to take some engineering to straighten out. Will weld some thick plate steel to the outside that sticks out past the deck so I can get a leverage arm on it to bend the lip back in.

I might start a new thread when I begin going over my 322 and 325 getting them ready for front line service...or should I do that here? What are the sop’s for that?

Multimow, I’m beginning to worry about this driveshaft issue you brought up. I think I might have a problem, will find out on Friday I guess.

The "driveshaft issue" really isn't much of an issue. The universal joints and slip yikes are easily sourced. With all the parts decks you have, I highly recommend going with the later model gearbox and shaft.

As for easing your troubles of getting those bolts free...

There are a few options.

1- transmission fluid mixed with either ether (starting fluid) or blended solvent (brake cleaner)

2- red wrench (torch) not recommended for spindles/gear boxes, or anything with a seal or ball bearing

3- my personal favorite... Safest Rust Remover

Safest Rust Remover is the same product they used to clean up "Miss Belvedere"... the famous time capsule car from Tulsa, OK.

To put it simply, it works. It's not the fastest in the world... but it works.

The best way to use it is with some sort of cheap recirculating pump, two short garden hoses, and a cheap kiddy pool. This stuff will dissolve the rust, AND penetrate the threads. It comes in quite handy... especially when it's a project that allows you the time to set up a bunch of parts to soak overnight.

They make a pretty darned effective degreaser/crud cutter as well... so you might want to check that out too.

The owner, Dwight, is a fairly personable guy who doesn't mind taking the time to explain the products and advise on applications/etc.

Hope this helps.

 

[Asymair95]

Multimow,
I had hopes of using that deck with the nice chute, but it is rotted to death around the spindle mounting areas. Also has a pretty good twist longitudinally across the deck that would be a nightmare to take out.

I will be using the gearbox from this deck and most of the spindles if I can get them out. I have an angle grinder with cutting disc if things get sideways on me. The gearbox on the other deck is supposedly bad, but I don’t know for sure.

I’ve used the electrolysis method for removing rust on other restoration projects I have done, it works amazing.

 

[Xfaxman]

The new additions have arrived!

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The 322 has some uncommon upgrades. The manual 4wd engagement for full time 4wd, and also some kind of cruise control on the pedestal.

----------------------------------------------------

Would like more details and pictures of the 4wd. I need that on my TORO+Loader.

I wonder if the cruise control is aftermarket?

 

[Asymair95]

Sure thing, I have a wedding to go to today, but tomorrow I can shoot some more pics.

The cruise control looks like a factory accessory, I don’t think it is operational at the moment though. Will be looking into what it needs to get that working, it would sure be nice to have. I’m surprised they didn’t come factory with something like that.

 

[Xfaxman]

:thumbsup:

 

[Xfaxman]

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The cruise control looks like a factory accessory, I don稚 think it is operational at the moment though. Will be looking into what it needs to get that working, it would sure be nice to have. I知 surprised they didn稚 come factory with something like that.

You're right, found it, it is model 30677: Toro Master PartsViewer

It clamps the rod from the forward/reverse pedal, holding the current speed:

 

[jrsavoie]

The Kubota GF1800 I had, had something like that on the left side. You could use it instead of the foot pedal.

I didn't know what it was at first. Didn't take long to figure out. We spend to much time around trees and having to back up to worry about or make use of anything like that.

 

[Asymair95]

Got the 72” side discharge deck straightened out and welded up.





Welded plates onto the back side of the deck, and used a pipe wrench to bend back into shape.



Not perfect, but good enough for government work.





Front crack welded up and reinforced with some angle iron.

 

[Turbys_1700]

Nice job on the repairs. This winter I plan on patching up a couple of small cracks on my deck. I would like to to reinforce the bottom edge with something. I guess 1/4" steel rod would work.

 

[Asymair95]

I was thinking of welding something along the bottom edge also. I have lots of rebar laying around, I’m just not sure it is worth the drama as I am pretty careful when I mow.



Had to cut off the idler pulley with the spark wrench.



Got the front lip straightened out.



You can see how bent it was in this before photo.



Chute crack welded up. It’s not pretty, but it’ll hold.

 

[Asymair95]

Got the donor deck pulled in the shop and all the mouse nesting material removed from around the top of the spindles. Have everything soaking in penetrating oil.



You can see the baffling and under deck rollers on these newer model 30722 decks.

Can anyone speak to the cut quality between the older and newer style decks? Is it worth cutting all this stuff out and welding it into the new shell?