Mower Maintenance; Servicing The Cutting Blades - Toro TimeCutter Z5020 Operator's Manual

Mower Maintenance

Servicing the Cutting Blades

Maintain sharp blades throughout the cutting season
because sharp blades cut cleanly without tearing or
shredding the grass blades. Tearing and shredding turns
grass brown at the edges, which slows growth and
increases the chance of disease.
Check the cutter blades daily for sharpness, and for any
wear or damage. File down any nicks and sharpen the
blades as necessary. If a blade is damaged or worn,
replace it immediately with a genuine Toro replacement
blade. For convenient sharpening and replacement, you
may want to keep extra blades on hand.
A worn or damaged blade can break, and a
piece of the blade could be thrown into the
operator's or bystander's area, resulting in
serious personal injury or death.
• Inspect the blade periodically for wear or
damage.
• Replace a worn or damaged blade.
Before Inspecting or Servicing the
Blades
Park the machine on a level surface, disengage the blade
control switch, and move the motion control levers
outward to the park position. Stop the engine and
remove the key.
Inspecting the Blades
Service Interval: Before each use or daily—Check the
cutting blades.
1. Inspect the cutting edges (Figure 42). If the edges
are not sharp or have nicks, remove and sharpen the
blades; refer to Sharpening the Blades.
2. Inspect the blades, especially the curved area
(Figure 42). If you notice any damage, wear, or
a slot forming in this area (item 3 in Figure 42),
immediately install a new blade.
1. Cutting edge
2. Curved area
Checking for Bent Blades
Note: The machine must be on a level surface for the
following procedure.
1. Raise the mower deck to the highest height-of-cut
position; also considered the 'transport' position.
2. While wearing thickly padded gloves or other
adequate the hand protection slowly rotate blade
to be measure into a position that allows effective
measurement of the distance between the cutting
edge and the level surface the machine is on.
1
2
3
1. Deck
2. Spindle housing
37
Figure 42
3. Wear/slot forming
4. Damage
G009679
Figure 43
3. Blade