Congratulations, 3 cutting units for $10 🤯

 

I went through the 3 spare cutting units today. 2 seized rear rollers. One with a screwed up reel bearing. Otherwise other parts appear good. Need to pull the units on the tractor and go through them also, the rear one had play in the reel bearings and I swapped it for one of the good spares.

Then i set all the roller heights and actually mowed right as the sun was going down. Headlights work awesome.

I just placed another R&R parts order for a ton of bushings and wear parts that need to be replaced (well not need, but should be). Lots of play in the cutting head lift/lower/sidewinder mechanisms.

The parking brakes are borked. Acts like the cam arms snapped off inside the brake assemblies. I'll have to pull the front tires to find out what happened, that could be a couple more parts. And likely i'll need to get 3 of the reels either replaced or ground. Not sure backlapping will get them sharp enough. I expected all of this so no biggie. They are 7" reels and service life minimum is 6.6". I measured all the spares and they are 6.7 to 6.8, so they have some life left in them. Haven't measured the ones on the tractor yet, they appear less. So it's possible I might be able to salvage 3 reels, buy 3 new bedknifes, and backlap them into shape. Having those 3 spares is fantastic.

I was able to get the height of cut all the way up to 2.25" with the stock parts. Doesn't cut great that high since the grass just lays over, but it's possible. I'll probably set it down to 1.5 or 1.75" till next summer when I get more like 0.75".

Still have to change all the fluids, do some touch up painting, etc. Big todo list.





These damn things weight 180# so I figured I would setup a pulley hoist.


It cuts :mrgreen:

 

That's a really nice looking machine! Can't wait to see it prettied up and returned to proper condition!

 

Todo :thumbup:

 

So some great news: 2 of the 3 reels on the tractor were below the service life (6.4"ish), but I have 2 cutting units in the spare lot that will work and have plenty of life left on them. I'm taking apart all the rollers and mount hardware now to pick out the best parts to use (least worn out). Also ran the reel hydros for a couple minutes with the reels off and no leaks. Oh and new seat mounted! :thumbup:

 

looking good! Still can't believe you got three three spare cutting heads for $10!?!

 

Awesome, considering tackling something like this in the future. I'll continue to follow, thanks for documenting!

 

looking good! Still can't believe you got three three spare cutting heads for $10!?!

There were two 3100d's at this auction and I think about 4 of us bidding on them. The ultimate buyer of the other 3100d must not have realized the spare cutting units were listed in the other (next day's) auction. I got very lucky!

 

So bad news is none of the rear rollers roll worth a damn. This afternoon I was about to order 3 UHMW ones until I finally figured out a way to get these seals out. Good news is now I think I can rebuild them for a lot less then buying new. I don't think I can get the bearing cups out without a press, but I shouldn't need to as they look to be in good shape. (Edit: Got them out)



So much grease in some of these things.


Next major issue is the parking brakes. This model only needs the physical brakes for parking, it does not a have a brake pedal (it's all hydrostatic). The parking brake levers seemed way too loose so after pulling the tires off, uh yeah. The entire brake assemblies are rusted shut and the brake levers are snapped. Looking at about $500 in parts to get them working, and I think i'm going to pass for now. I'll just make sure I park on level ground :lol:



Lastly, the rear tire seems to have quite a bit of play (noticeable when rocking the machine left/right from the ROPS) as well as the tire tread seems to be wearing more on one side. I believe most of this is likely due to wear in the pivot shaft and bushings. Bushings are relatively cheap but the steering assembly with shaft is not. I'll see how this affects mowing in the spring and go from there. Replacing the bushings would be a pain but not impossible and about $50 in parts.

Current look:


I might be able to get everything reassembled and backlapped by the end of the week. Not much more mowing time left in this season, the grass is slowing down a lot.

 

Finished cleaning up the roller ends, got enough of them + the rods in good condition to be able to use the rebuild kits instead of buying new rollers. Also got most of the painting done, just need to do the floorboards and apply new grip tape. Placed another R&R order for the rebuild kits and some odds n' ends. Should be able to have this thing cutting grass again by next weekend, we will see!

 

Doesn't cut great that high since the grass just lays over, but it's possible.

A big limitation of reel mowers compared to rotary is the range of HOC. A reel can only cut grass that is 1/2 the distance between the reels (or less). That's why it just pushes the grass over rather than cut it. The grass can't "spring up" and get caught between the blade and the bed knife.

 

Paints done. Hydro/motor oil changed.

 

Looking awesome!

 

Looks almost new! Great work and thanks for taking time to share!

 

Broke two impact drill bits today. Sigh.



Swapped out the wear plates on the Sidewinder frame. Took 1.5hrs since the bolts are insanely hard to get at. Should tighten up some of the forward/back swinging play. Lots of play still exists in the cutting unit lift arms but to improve that requires some very hard to swap pivot rods (also very expensive) and some very hard to replace bushings. Same case with the rear tire, lots of play in the steering fork but a real challenge to fix. I don't think any of this will affect the mowing quality, just a bit more shaking when driving around.







I also tore the forward/reverse pedal assembly apart and replaced some bearings/bushings. A bit smoother now. The control arm for the piston pump that runs the drive system has some odd resistance in it at certain points which can be noticeable in the forward pedal. I believe it's wear from over time, but could be normal. All of this was kind of expected with a machine with this many hours on it.

 

Tractor is all put back together. I painted the rusty wheel, greased everything, changed/flushed the engine coolant, changed the traction belt (hydrostat), ground down some wear on some of the reel brackets, adjusted the throttle control, and cut out/replaced some snapped off bolts on the seat mount,

Got in all the parts to finish rebuilding the rear rollers. Going to try to get them pressed into the roller ends tomorrow. Then next will be mounting them to the reels and setting the HoC and bedknife contact. Then a good backlap and lastly swap the tread rear tire for a smooth.

 

Seals and bearing cups pressed in. Thankfully was able to ask a friend at work that had a massive press, still wasn't easy to get some of the bearing cups in.

 

Reels are back together and back on! Still todo: Mount new smooth rear tire, serious backlapping, adjust lift arms, MOW!

 

This is so cool. I'm debating adding one to my arsenal but I'm worried about ongoing maintenance. I can change the oil in my machines, but other than that I take them to a professional. Besides annual ************, do you think you'll need a lot of upkeep with this one? Thanks for documenting all of this, it's fun to watch.

 

This is so cool. I'm debating adding one to my arsenal but I'm worried about ongoing maintenance. I can change the oil in my machines, but other than that I take them to a professional. Besides annual backlapping, do you think you'll need a lot of upkeep with this one? Thanks for documenting all of this, it's fun to watch.

We shall see. Parts of the hydro system make me nervous but as long as it holds together we are good. @wardconnor Spent a -lot- rebuilding his so the potential for things to go south is definitely there.

A full set of reels/bedknives is around $1200+ so keep that in mind. I'm not sure annual backlapping is enough, probably more like a couple times a season and reel sharpening every other season (obviously depends on usage). I am lucky these spare reels have about 1/3 useful life left on them, but sharpening at my local Toro distributor is close to the same price as buying new R&R reels. The reels that were mounted on the machine were way beyond useful life (6.4 vs 6.6inch diameter). Going to do some calling around to see if anyone is cheaper. Wish I could find a cheap adapter/plate that would allow me to grind my own relief cuts into the reels with an angle grinder. Kind of considering doing it by hand on the two reels that have no relief, if only to make the backlapping work better.

It really just depends on the condition of the machine you end up with. And its quite hard to judge that condition until you give it a really serious once-over. Things like worn out bushings, hydro hoses/fittings, hydro pumps that need rebuild, rollers that are spinning on the holders instead of their bearings, etc. Anything in the hydraulic system beyond hoses/fittings is very expensive to correct. Lots of things can be rebuilt with new seals but if that doesn't fix the issue, the pumps/motors are very expensive to replace.

 

Lots of pondering and conversation today, the conclusion of which is that new bedknives are ordered and the reels will be spin ground and relief cut next week.

 

This is so awesome. Thanks for the thread and documenting this for us all.

 

Very impressive. I have done some rebuilding with my Toro 3150 but not this much (been afraid to do some of the things you have done in fear I would not be able to get them done). You make me want to paint my unit though!

 

Very impressive. I have done some rebuilding with my Toro 3150 but not this much (been afraid to do some of the things you have done in fear I would not be able to get them done). You make me want to paint my unit though!

Having an extra set of cutting units made me a bit more fearless I suppose :lol: I pulled one apart yesterday to see how difficult it would be to get at the bearings/seals. Not easy but not horrible - the impact drill refused to break the coupler loose, had to use heat and a breaker bar on a ratchet. Funny enough, a stripped rear roller tube makes a great breaker bar.

I did a lot of backlapping last night and the takeaway is one cutting unit is cutting very well, 2nd one is cutting ok, third is pretty messed up. Either the reel or the bedknife on that unit is inconsistent across its face. All the blades exhibit the same thing so its not coned or offcenter. As you go left to right across the bedknife, it will cut fine, then 2" over it wont cut, then fine, then 2" over nope. Very odd.

I have new bedknives on the way and will be getting the reels relief ground, but I may try to backlap that one again. I have only a few days left before I leave for the holidays and I want to get this thing cutting!

Next spring I may go further. The parking brakes really need to be done, but I am worried about getting the motor bolts off since they are -so- rusted. Also really should replace some of the rod inserts in the lift arms, some bushings in them, and the bushings in the rear drive wheel assembly. Lots of slop/play in this machine. The Kubota manual also calls for replacing fuel/coolant lines every 2 years and I doubt that has been done. Once these cutting units are cutting well, the machine is basically workable, but lots of things could still be improved.

 

I think you have done a great job so far but if you were trying to use the impact driver that is sitting on the bench in the last picture, I can see why that bolt never broke. That tool isn't really designed for that and doesn't have enough torque to break it loose. That is more designed for screws and smaller nuts and bolts. It only has a max of a 150 ft/lbs of torque.

You would have wanted something more like this

Dewalt 20V Impact Wrench

But nonetheless, kudos to you for getting it off and pushing through :thumbup: I think you are going to have an incredible machine when you are done.