any toro groundsmaster fans on here?

[Asymair95]

Guardian mulching deck coming in the shop for overhaul.

 

[Asymair95]

Started the tear down.





Removed the belt tensioner. Pulley is in good shape, but there are a few other problems. It was missing the C clip and washer that secure it to the deck, the clevis pin is worn out, and the bushing is shot.



You can see how the bracket wore deep grooves in the pin.



This is a view looking inside the bushing for the tensioner, it is basically gone on the lower left side.

 

[Asymair95]

Gearbox and mounting bracket coming off. No major surprises here, everything appears to be in good shape. The top of the deck isn’t obscenely rusted, which is great. Bottom is a different story.



Will just be changing the gear oil in the gearbox, that’s about it.



Drove out the lower bushings for the front castors. The lip was basically gone on both sides. As a matter of fact, all four decks I have seen have had worn out lower castor bushings.



Support arms removed. Wasn’t really any need to, other than making it easier to stand on end, and do some welding later.

 

[Asymair95]

Bottom of the deck is a respiratory infection waiting to happen. Will definitely have to wear a mask when working under here.



Got the blades pulled off. They’re not in awful shape, but since I’m redoing everything I may as well get a new set. I’ll use these as spares.

Tomorrow I want to pull the grass chambers, skid shoes, and spindles...then on to the wire wheeling!

 

[aczlan]

Perhaps it would be worth pressure washing the underside first? That might help get rid of the first 2 layers of grass...

Aaron Z

 

[Xfaxman]

It looks better structurally than mine

 

[nas90tdi]

I am assuming since no one had a comment ,the control module is a mystery or useless. I am using a momentary push button for stopping the engine.
I pulled the wheels and ran them through the blast cabinet. I have the rears replaced and am finishing up painting on the fronts now.
Brakes were way out of adjustment but fortunately the cables actually look newish, so aren't seized up. Shoes are good, I just resurfaced them a bit to get some glazing off and cleaned up the mechanism.
Alternator seems to be a smaller automotive unit. The adjustment guide has been added on for some reason. It is far too close to the frame, but I am going to go with a shorter belt and I think I can get it more centered between the motor and frame so it's not so close. Starter looks to be fairly recent replacement.

 

[Asymair95]

Great work. Nice looking shop you have there. I like those hdap tires, heard great things about them.

I know one of the functions of the module was to be a timer for the fuel shut off on the injector pump...something like five seconds. There may have been another function for shutting down the engine in case of overheating.

Any power steering on her?

 

[nas90tdi]

Unfortunately no power steering. Bit too old for it. I think it's a 1981ish
I am looking forward to seeing how the tires work. The old ones where so hard they were like plastic, so the hills in my yard would make the lose traction really easily.
That is all I could work out for the module with the wiring diagram as well. Seemed a very complex route to shutting off a solenoid and since the repair manual led back to replace module, I did the next best thing. Got rid of it.
I have a separate circuit for shutdown if the event of overheating that could lead back to the module through the ignition switch, but, it's going to be problematic to make that work without the module. I don't quite understand why they didn't use a normally closed solenoid then it would be a simple matter to set up auto shutdown in the event of low oil pressure or overheating. Cut power and it closes.I have several little wiring issues to deal with. The oil pressure circuit has been "worked on" in the past. So, I am going to eventually get that all sorted.
I have a lot of shot bushings ect that need attention. I am going to use the mower through summer and hit some of the bigger rebuild issues this winter. The mower gearbox input seal is leaking. The diff/trans leaks and after pressure washing it looks like someone basically caulked with some RVT at the seams. I will have to pull it out and reseal it correctly.
Rear wheel bearings are a little notchy feeling, so they will be replaced.
Treadle plate has a bit too much free movement in it. So, if you attempt to go backwards while facing downhill it feels like it tries to jump a bit but won't quite go until you give it a little more rotation. Hydro trans seems to be working fine, just not getting enough movement on the linkage to tell it what to do.
Overall though, it seems to be a decent shape, so I am not unhappy with the purchase at all. Not extremely rusty. The only actual problematic rust I have seen is the cover around the control panel has a tiny hole rotted in down at the bottom. I will blast it and see what's up. I can always break the welder out and do some metal patching on that.

 

[Asymair95]

Sounds like you got your work cut out for you. Keep us posted, specially that transmission reseal job, as I have one that leaks too.

I think you’ll be happy with those tires, the newer John Deere mowers come factory with them.