What I do now………

[wull]

Wull, quick question which I think I know the answer to.

When does the market kick in again? I have a Honda sit on lawnmower that needs a service and going over ready for the spring/ summer.

I'm guessing I should really get it booked in ASAP with a local company to sort out?

they'd have to pick it up, so what sort of price should I be looking at? I inherited this mower with the house when I moved and have no idea what I'm doing with it tbh.

Better sooner rather than later as most places will be busy just now now with similar jobs, it’s better having it ready to go when the time comes. With that being said the amount of times I’d get jobs at the last minute with people stating “I need it asap the grass is growing”

Cost purely depends on the workshop hourly rate or whether they are doing any deals on servicing, x amount for a service etc, maybe free collection for winter service. I always worked purely on the hourly rate, but on a small ride on lawnmower it usually takes 1hr for a service inc lubricating cables,grease points and checking it over including belt and pulleys.

So you’ll have to factor in costs for oil, filters and plug(s). If the mower works as it should then you shouldn’t have to worry about anything over and above, the usual issues over and above are the belts and pulleys, you usually have transmission, deck and pto belts and this is what can easily drive up the cost of a service.

I forgot to mention cutting blades, sharpen and balance unless they are pretty gubbed then they’ll need replaced. It only take 15 minutes to remove them, sharpen and balance and refit so shouldn’t really make a big difference to cost unless they need replaced.

[wull]

I finally got round to sorting a few issues with the John Deere 4710, the work lights, blower and radio haven’t worked since the day I got there but they haven’t really been needed. I was salting the car park the other week and you couldn’t see shit, especially when trying to see if salt was coming out the spreader or not, so I decided it was time to sort the lights.

You have to lift the roof off which is only held by 4 bolts, this exposes everything you need access to and it was very clear that someone had been there before, what a cluster fuck of a mess. Anyway after sussing out what was what I managed to sort the wiring and have power going to the work lights, radio and blower for the heating. Another job ticked off the list.

[wull]

Next up was sorting the leaking lift cylinder on the HR600, I noticed this leak back at the tail end of September or early October, I could see the small drip on the floor in the workshop and traced it back to the lift cylinder, it wasn’t a terrible leak but over time it would make its way down the outside of the barrel and then drop to the ground.

I had ordered the kit ages ago so it was just a case of getting it done when I had the chance. As it stands other than a service this machine is up to scratch ( touch wood )

[wull]

Just when I think I’m on top of everything and can make a start on servicing all the machines more shit goes wrong. Two more issues. One is the rear axle output shaft on the Kubota BX2350 which has started to leak, so I’ve ordered the bearing and seal. I’ll probably have to order more oil for that.

But on the Kubota RTV900 the head gasket failed miserably. The boss appeared back to the workshop saying it had broke down, I obviously asked what had happened and I got the usual vague explanation. The jist of it in the end up was “I noticed the temp gauge full max then smoke and I shut it down”. So I go and have a look, I check the radiator and it’s empty and I check the oil level and it’s way above max, like stupid above, so I know that coolant has got in there and then I notice the main reason for this happening. The belt has slipped off the alternator which is driven off the crank, it also drives the water pump and fan, the reason for it slipping was the bottom alternator bolt had left the chat allowing the alternator to move enough to allow the belt to slip off. So no water circulating and no fan, but knowing the boss he would have been driving it for a good bit before noticing the temp gauge being full hot, I doubt he seen it go full hot and shut it down quickly, but I suppose that doesn’t matter now. When I said to him about the belt slipping off he said that he had heard the belt slipping but just thought it was the usual alternator belt slippage when it’s wet which is fair enough but sadly in this case that wasn’t the case, it could have been avoided but it’ll get sorted.

I ordered everything I need and took the head off, stripped it down and took it to the machine shop. It pressure tested fine and required 0.008” to get it perfectly flat again, I will collect the head from the machine shop tomorrow then when I get a chance I’ll lap the valves in and build the head back up ready to go back on once the parts arrive.

The oil capacity is 3.1 litres and I drained just over 5 litres.

[wull]

I finally made a start on servicing the machines.

First up was the 2 Kubota BX2350’s that we use predominantly for cutting the paddocks and sometimes collecting grass on the racecourse. On the side be marked B I did not do the hydraulic filter as this is the one that had the leaking axle so I’ll wait until the seal and bearing arrives as I’ll have to drain the transaxle.

The decks had no issues, I had to replace the belts last year so they were in perfect condition.

Both machines have done roughly 130hrs in a year.

[weeksy]

I don't know whether it's a cool job in reality, but from our side, it's cool to see

[wull]

Today I knocked out a full service on this MF 5420





Last year I didn’t do the front hubs and axle so they got drained and filled with fresh gear oil. Book say every 400 hours for those so I’ll stick to that going forward.





Once I finished the 5420 I then made a start on the Kubota 5040, last year I left the front loader on but it was a pain in the ass so this year I removed it. Made a huge difference for access. I ran out of time so only got some of the service done, the hydraulic filter was the hardest filter I’ve ever had to remove, whoever the fanny was that fitted that filter needs a swift kick to the balls

[Skub]

Looks like it's pishing up there with you too,Wull. Everywhere here is waterlogged. I bet those vehicles are well clagged up.

[wull]

Looks like it's pishing up there with you too,Wull. Everywhere here is waterlogged. I bet those vehicles are well clagged up.

It’s been wild, weather warning for snow now.

[wull]

The old Massey Ferguson 362 was next up for servicing. This tractor has had a fair share of leaks since the day I started there, not major leaks but enough to peak my interest. I have been slowly making my way through them and one was from the 3 point linkage hydraulic pump housing cover, inside this cover is a strainer and sadly when you do this you have to drain the transmission oil, so for that reason I left tackling this until it was service time as its roughly 47 litres of oil.

After I drained the oil I removed the cover and started to remove the strainer, it’s held in place by a clip, nut, spring, washer and o-ring except the o-ring and washer were missing. It could only have been the Massey dealers who forgot to replace these parts at some point in the past. Pretty poor if you ask me. So I had to order these missing parts and replace them.

This year it was time to drain and put fresh oil in the front axle and do the same with the hubs. But look at the state of the level check fill plug on the front axle, why the fuck would you leave that like that? It’s rounded to hell and you can see where they’ve just been chapping on it to get it loose, so I ordered a replacement plug so that’s now as it should be.

[wull]

It’s been a while since I posted, work has been ridiculously busy from the usual racecourse side of things and extremely busy from the mechanical side of things. Breakdowns this year have been ridiculous, a mixture of heavy use and age but also some hashy bashy usage from the operator, some of them just don’t give a damn.

I still do the machinery at the golf course and one estate where the owner has a few tractors, lawn tractors and a quad. The golf course I am never away from, it’s pretty hard going tbh because more times than not the issues there are purely down to operator error, I’ve never known anyone or somewhere to be as negligent with their machinery, it beggars belief at times but I suppose it’s more money for me.

I’m meant to be back at work after the eye incident but the wee lass ended up with conjunctivitis on Monday there and the child minder has refused to take her as there is a 5 day exclusion period due to this so I’m having to stay off to watch her. I have done a few jobs in the mean time at the golf course but I had planned on finishing off a rebuild this week but I’ll have to leave that until this weekend coming now.

[wull]

A vid of the work being carried out on the RTV900 above that had the head gasket failure. That’s back up and running good now. I also replaced the rear axle seal on the BX2350 that I had mentioned before. That required draining all the hydraulic oil, I replaced with fresh oil and a new hydraulic filter after I had replaced the axle bearing and seal. That’s all good now.

[wull]

Some of the machines at Muckhart that I serviced a short while back. The two GP400’s are what they use for the greens, aprons and tees. There is a third one as well which is more of a back up machine, it only has 2 wheel drive so they don’t tend to use that, especially when the conditions are iffy. The Iseki they purchased new at the start of last season I believe so that was its first service.

There is a Ventrac 4520Y is brilliant tractor, there is something like 60+ attachments that you can get for it, essentially a one machine that can do it all. I serviced that along with the contour deck. A few bits were needed, belts, bearings etc. I removed the blades, sharpened and balanced them.

[wull]

I say it every time but doing the units brings is the best money for me, it requires a lot of hours to do plus because they tend to neglect them I always have to do over and above work on them. Replace broken bits, failed bearings etc. It is time consuming but it is worth it in the end up.

I did two sets of GP400 cutting units, so that’s 6 in total. All required new bottom blades + the screws, 13 screws per unit. Even though the blades are new they still require a relief grind as they aren’t true, the manufacturer would argue this but it’s bollocks, I do -1° top grind followed by a -5° front grind. If I were sharpening used blades that had plenty life left in them I would do a -3° top grind and still a -5° front grind. On bigger units like fairway mowers these numbers change, the book actually has different specs to what I use but I find this is what gives the best results, it is what I was taught back in the day so it is what I go with.

[Skub]

Great to see you up and at it again Wull.

[wull]

Great to see you up and at it again Wull.

Some of them are from earlier in the year but I was doing the blades and the cutting deck on the Ventrac last weekend and Monday. I’d have been doing more this week, in fact I would have been back at work yesterday but the wee lass is poorly so I’ll be back out and about tomorrow.

I’ve got a fairway mower to try and finish off, and then back to my work Monday. Plenty to do there with breakdowns and the likes, it’s going to be a busy summer.

[Wossname]

Is your eye fully back to normal again? That sounded quite tricky…

[wull]

Is your eye fully back to normal again? That sounded quite tricky…

Not back to normal.

The pupil is still dilated, I think it’s went down slightly but whether it will go down any more or not I do not know. If I read something with my bad eye closed it’s as clear as anything and when I close my good eye i can still read it but it’s now slightly blurry.

So I’m thinking maybe glasses will be needed but I’ll see what they say.

[Taipan]

Is your eye fully back to normal again? That sounded quite tricky…

Not back to normal.

The pupil is still dilated, I think it’s went down slightly but whether it will go down any more or not I do not know. If I read something with my bad eye closed it’s as clear as anything and when I close my good eye i can still read it but it’s now slightly blurry.

So I’m thinking maybe glasses will be needed but I’ll see what they say.

Has anyone spoke to you about doing eye exercises, pencil push ups etc?

[wull]

No nothing. I have an appointment at the eye clinic in a few weeks.