Turf Tiger Rebuild

[myedsore]

Ok guys as promised I will start posting up a few shots as I progress through the rebuild of my recently acquired Turf Tiger 2001 year with Kohler 25HP engine.

This mower was in a sad state when I bought it but at a bargain price I could not resist the challenge.

After initially determining that most things were repairable I set to stripping the unit down.



Next it was time to get out the paint stripper, lethal stuff that, and strip down the main body.



The first major job to tackle was to rectify someones attempt to repair the wheel motor mount. I am not sure the history behind why the motor mount was removed and rebuilt as the mower came from an auction house. If you are reading this anyway and you did the repairs I suggest you learn to weld (LOL).



There was no way I was leaving it in that state so rather than make good I decided to cut it off and make a new one from scratch.



Very pleased with the outcome once fabricated and welded back to the frame and its starting to look like standard again.



You will notice in this photo that the same certified welder had attempted a repair on the rear pulley housing. They also welded the engine support plate to the rear housing due to the end of the engine mount fracturing and snapping off. Again not sure what had happened here but I am in the process of rectifying that so will post up pictures when it is complete. While in the process I am going to reinforce the pump mounting areas with an additional 3mm sandwiched plate much the same as the way the driveshaft spindle is reinforced.



This will be a weekly update due to work etc so until next week.

 

[Sonders]

Wow, you have quite the project there. I'll be following along. Saw one listed for sale the other day that was missing engine and pumps, but frame and deck looked to be in pretty good condition. If I had the time I probably would have bought it to rebuild.

 

[myedsore]

Sorry for the long delay. With work and home life I have been struggling to get the time to update the post.

Just to update you guys I decided while I was at it to change the appearance of my rebuild so have opted for a yellow / black paint scheme based on what is easily available here in Australia. This has meant stripping and repainting all current parts.

This has taken up most of my time with the sanding and then two coats of new paint applied on all parts but I now have what is starting to resemble a new (rebuilt mower).

Alot of parts have required some sort of fixing, whether it be straightening out, fixing of cracks or welding up of worn wear surfaces and then remachining.

I will start stripping down the wheel motors and gear pumps soon to see what shape they are in. I have two sets of seal kits for the gear pumps so hoping that is all they will require as they did work prior to break down.

The one wheel motor I have had to cut off the locking nut on the tapered shaft as the previous owner had welded the nut on. This motor is leaking badly at the front seal so it is looking likely I will just buy a new motor as after buying a new shaft, seals, bearings etc I wont be far of the price and then there may be further damage inside.

Has anyone had any luck replacing the Parker TF0240LS080AAFB motors with a different brand? I see on Surpluscenter.com the Dynamic BMER-1-250-WS-T4 has similar specs and identical dimensions and at only $284.80 I can get a new pair to the one Parker!!

I will soon be ordering a heap load of spares needed to put this thing back together from Jacks Small engines so will keep you all posted as to the progress.

I finished repairing the rear housing after cutting out all the damaged sections and replacing. I also added the extra stiffening plate to the pump areas to stop the metal fracturing as it had previously. I also removed and replaced the rear bar as this had taken a knock and was not easily straightened so cut and shut was the easy option.



Here is the frame and a few parts bolted back on now looking like a bumble bee. The mudguards had to be straightened as the back section was bent down 30 degrees on both sides of the frame. Also the mudguard front mounts had both broken off so had to be fabricated. One of the front wheel support arms was cracked and I had to weld this up. I also had to fabricate new support arms (4 off) for the rear housing (the flat tie bars at 45 degrees) as there was only one on it when i got it.



Until the next update enjoy!!

 

[Sonders]

I'm wondering what this thing looked like before you started from how it sounds. Previous owner was freaking rough on it.

 

[Lawnboy18]

Very nice work! That mower was sabotaged. Some very nasty welds!

 

[myedsore]

The mower was owned locally by an amusement park so was used as the grounds mower. I can only imagine the abuse it had after seeing the repairs I have had to make. One thing I can definately say as its a 1999 model so has fifteen years of abuse is that any other mower would be on the scrap heap.

I went to the local mower shop here in Brisbane and looked at the Gravely and Hustler commercial mowers and was shocked to see how thin things were made on them.

I have rebuilt both hydraulic pumps with new seal kits in the meantime. One pump has been replaced as it is a different label to the other one. There were a few wear marks on the end cap from the spinning piston but nothing that seemed major so will just see how they go when reassembled.

I also broke down the leaking Ross MB wheel motor with the broken shaft and have decided to rebuild it. I have ordered the new shaft and seal kit and will get the thrust bearings, roller bearing and internal bearing locally.

This weekends chore is to sort the motor wiring and refit the wiring loom and then engine back in to the machine.

Until next update enjoy.

 

[bertsmobile1]

The mower was owned locally by an amusement park so was used as the grounds mower. I can only imagine the abuse it had after seeing the repairs I have had to make. One thing I can definately say as its a 1999 model so has fifteen years of abuse is that any other mower would be on the scrap heap.

I went to the local mower shop here in Brisbane and looked at the Gravely and Hustler commercial mowers and was shocked to see how thin things were made on them.

I have rebuilt both hydraulic pumps with new seal kits in the meantime. One pump has been replaced as it is a different label to the other one. There were a few wear marks on the end cap from the spinning piston but nothing that seemed major so will just see how they go when reassembled.

I also broke down the leaking Ross MB wheel motor with the broken shaft and have decided to rebuild it. I have ordered the new shaft and seal kit and will get the thrust bearings, roller bearing and internal bearing locally.

This weekends chore is to sort the motor wiring and refit the wiring loom and then engine back in to the machine.

Until next update enjoy.

There is a good reason why the current equivalent of a mower that was $ 25,000 in 1999 is only $ 18,000 today and it isn't that the currency has depreciated.