Tru Cut Reel Mower refurb

[JGwestTX]

My name is Johnny and I'm from West Tx. I recently acquired (for free) a Tru Cut Teel Mower C27 from my father in law. He's had it for about 10 years. The reel side of the clutch was not staying engaged. I just tightens the nut at the end of the shaft just a bit and it engaged and stayed engaged. After looking at the clutch I could see the liners were worn. I ordered a pair from Dolphin Power Equipment. They should be in tomorrow. I decided to give it a bath with the power washer to wash off all the built up grease. My plan was to take it in to get sharpened but I saw the bed knife and it was pretty rusted. I couldn't remove the bolts because the were rusted over, so I took the complete holder off. One of the mechanics at work suggested I hear the bolts until red, wait for the red color to go away, and then use a screwdriver to take them off. It worked with the exception of one breaking. After that I could see more rust behind the reel. I took that off as well. The bearing on the drive side gave me a little trouble so I had to use a puller to get it off.
I then took the three bolts off that were holding the grass shield. As I pulled it, only half of it came out. It was completely rusted. I ordered that as well. Well, behind the grass shield was more rust on the actual frame. It wasn't real bad. I got my grinder out and took off what I could on all the rusted parts. I took the grass shield angle and the bed knife holder to our beadblaster and cleaned them all up. I just used some primer and sprayed all the rusted spots that I cleaned up. I wish I could just take it all apart and have someone sandblast it and then I can paint it but that'll just add more to my cost. I'll just used as close a red as I can to match the rest.
I should get all my parts tomorrow. But before I put it all back together I wanted to ask if my bedknife needs to be replaced?
I'm not sure what the specs should be on the cutting edge.
Any and all comments/suggestions are appreciated!!
Here are some pics

[JGwestTX]

Would like to know if I need to replace my bedknife?

[JGwestTX]

I have another question. When I took off the drive side part of the clutch apart, the bell didn't have anything on it. The reel side of the bell has an aluminum facing. Should there be one on the drive side bell?

[JGwestTX]

Dolphin Power Equipment has great customer service! I ordered some more parts yesterday and had a question about the clutch. They passed me on to their mechanic who helped me out with my questions! Will definitely use them again!

Bead blasted some small parts today and primed them up! The main frame and reel were sent if to the blaster. I will be priming those tomorrow. Should be receiving the rest of my parts by Thursday I hope. I'll start painting them (Carnival Red) this weekend!

Any comments/recommendations are appreciated!

[RayTL]

Pretty cool JG!

[JGwestTX]

Parts back from the blaster. 1st coat of Carnival Red!
I'll be putting on a second coat tomorrow.

[HoosierLawnGnome]

Wow - nice work! Can I send you my rusty, bent reel?

[JGwestTX]

Thanks Hoosier! I can't wait to get this project finished. I've been reading up on the reel mowers and how everyone enjoys them. Especially when the yard starts to look like a fairway! I'm an avid golfer and nothing would be better than to have my own fairway in my front yard!

I'll see how this reel comes out. They had a hard time getting the paint off since it was powder coated from the manufacturer. Hopefully the heat from sandblasting didn't warp it. I know the frame warped a little but I got that straightened out.

New bedknife, screws and aluminum facing for clutch will be in tomorrow. Hope fully I'll start putting it back together this weekend after the 2nd coat dries!

[JGwestTX]

I got all my parts in to finish the clutch assembly. I didn't paint the bearings fearing paint would get into them. I don't mind them being different.
I assembled everything back together today. Once I got everything bolted down, I began to adjust the reel to the bedknife. Man, that is a tedious process! I though I had it right and tried to engage the reel. It would not turn over. I had the reel to tight to the bedknife even though I could turn it by hand. I once again adjusted it and it finally engaged!
Time came to grease all the fittings. Well I forgot to install them back on the bearing carrier on the reel (drive side). So I had to loosen all that up to install them and then make more reel adjustment!
After a couple of hours of putting back together and making adjustments, it's finally running!!
Now all I need to do is backlap it to get some of the paint off the reel and sharpen it!
Here are some more pics. I didn't get one of it all put together but I'll post it tomorrow.
Let me know what you think.

[RayTL]

Looking good!

[HoosierLawnGnome]

I think you're doing fantastic work, restoring that! You are a patient man!

Looks brand new where you repainted. Are you going to sharpen the reel blades or just backlap?

[JGwestTX]

The bedknife is new. I backlapped it this morning and it cut like a hot knife through butter! I took it for a run out on a small part here at work and it did great. But the knife came out of adjustment so I will have to go back and redo the reel. I'm going to scalp next week and then I'll take it in to get a grind on the reel.
I don't get my roller in until tomorrow. Bad thing is im going out of town. I guess I'll have to wait until Monday to see how it does on my lawn. I'm chomping at the bit and want to go mow right now!
Here are some pictures of it assembled back together. The Carnival red really matched close to some of the parts (grass shield and side chain guard) that I ordered. Can't really tell. The only part is the frame for the caster wheels that is different. But I'm changing that out.

[JGwestTX]

My roller came in late Thursday after we left to go out of town. As soon as I got home I installed it and was ready to go! But I had to mow it down and bag with my Snapper so I wouldn't have that much clippings. I was excited to get this beast going! needless to say, this machine can go! I had to throttle it down so it wouldn't run away! Lets just say I have to work on my "feathering" technique. Overall I was satisfied with it. Once I get rid of the tree wells, I'll start to lower the HOC and bring in sand to level out the yard. I could see some low spots after using the Snapper but now I see even more after using the Tru Cut.
I'll start another thread on the work progress on the yard. But for now I'll leave y'all with the final picture of my refurbished 27" Tru Cut and some yard pics after mowing.

[scottcgrable]

Dolphin Power Equipment has great customer service! I ordered some more parts yesterday and had a question about the clutch. They passed me on to their mechanic who helped me out with my questions! Will definitely use them again!

Congrats on the great reel and being done with all of the work you put in! That thing is going to outlive you!

I assume you had your questions answered on the clutch but I too was wondering... Were there additional parts that you needed for the clutch facing? That seems to be one of the parts of the mower that is hardly ever talked about. Was there a lining needed on both sides of the main drive sprocket? What exactly did you do for the clutch.

Thanks!

[JGwestTX]

Yeah I searched the forum for help on this subject and mostly found how to adjust it. I learned the rest on the fly. Well like I said, Dolphin Power Equipment has great customer service!
The drive sprocket on the clutch is the only one that has a lining on both sides. It's like a fiber plate similar to brake pads. The drive side of the clutch bell does not have a lining. I figured it would have an aluminum just like the reel side hub. The tricky part was installing the rivets. I had never used that type before. But luckily, one of the mechanics at work had a special punch used for those rivets.
It was a pretty easy process putting the complete clutch back since I took pictures. At least now if it needs some work I know I can do it myself without taking it into the shop.

[scottcgrable]

Yeah I searched the forum for help on this subject and mostly found how to adjust it. I learned the rest on the fly. Well like I said, Dolphin Power Equipment has great customer service!
The drive sprocket on the clutch is the only one that has a lining on both sides. It's like a fiber plate similar to brake pads. The drive side of the clutch bell does not have a lining. I figured it would have an aluminum just like the reel side hub. The tricky part was installing the rivets. I had never used that type before. But luckily, one of the mechanics at work had a special punch used for those rivets.
It was a pretty easy process putting the complete clutch back since I took pictures. At least now if it needs some work I know I can do it myself without taking it into the shop.

Thanks for the info. I am most likely going to have to refurb my clutch lining over the winter.

Just so I have things right...

Drive Sprocket - lining on both sides. you replaced both sides?
Drive side plate that compresses against drive sprocket - no lining. bare metal.
Reel side plate that compresses against drive sprocket - aluminum lining. did you replace this?

Any other good tips for when you took everything apart?

Thanks again!

[JGwestTX]

Yeah I searched the forum for help on this subject and mostly found how to adjust it. I learned the rest on the fly. Well like I said, Dolphin Power Equipment has great customer service!
The drive sprocket on the clutch is the only one that has a lining on both sides. It's like a fiber plate similar to brake pads. The drive side of the clutch bell does not have a lining. I figured it would have an aluminum just like the reel side hub. The tricky part was installing the rivets. I had never used that type before. But luckily, one of the mechanics at work had a special punch used for those rivets.
It was a pretty easy process putting the complete clutch back since I took pictures. At least now if it needs some work I know I can do it myself without taking it into the shop.

Thanks for the info. I am most likely going to have to refurb my clutch lining over the winter.

Just so I have things right...

Drive Sprocket - lining on both sides. you replaced both sides?
Drive side plate that compresses against drive sprocket - no lining. bare metal.
Reel side plate that compresses against drive sprocket - aluminum lining. did you replace this?

Any other good tips for when you took everything apart?

Thanks again!

Scott,
Yes sir you are correct on everything. The aluminum facing looked like the rotors on the front of a truck and had some nasty ridges that stuck out. I wasn't going to chance it by leaving that on and having a new facing for it to ruin.
Take plenty of pictures and label EVERYTHING. Pictures of everything together before you take it apart will cut down on reassembly. I went as far as taking pictures of a new one at a local shop to compare. They weren't the same just because mine had been in the shop before I even got it. But I still had my pictures to go off of.

Be careful when taking the bearings off the reel. I used a small bearing puller and it came off pretty good. If you're not careful, they'll break.

The rivet setter tool is used for the rivets. You can probably find it at a big box store or order it online. The rivets are size 7-7. make sure you get one that fits that size. you'll have five on the aluminum facing and 4 on the clutch lining.

Make sure you have a two thin walled wrenches to take the two nuts off at both ends of the clutch assembly. I forgot what size they were, 15/16" or 7/8".

The best thing to do is take everything apart. Check over everything to make sure its good enough to go back on or if you need to replace it. Make a list of everything you need. Order it from Dolphin Power Equipment in Florida or a nearby dealer. When ordering the aluminum facing remind them to send the rivets as well. They forgot to send them on my order.

When you get around to doing the refurb and have any questions, I'll be happy to help you out!