522xi out of the bushes?

[mikeeyre74 289]

So here's a deal that comes along once in a lifetime or so… A guy has just offered me, free of charge, a Toro 522xi.  It has some kind of mower deck on it that he says is in rough shape, but he drove the tractor there sometime in the spring into a field near his house and parked it. He thinks it might need a head gasket, but I'm not sure why he says that... he's no mechanic.  His wife doesn't like it and wants it gone, which is the strangest thing I've ever heard… But I'm not going to argue with him, I'm just going to go get it.  

 

My question is, my friend has a truck and a trailer… I assume that this thing will not start because it has been out in the field for quite some time. How do I get this thing up onto a trailer if it weighs 1000 pounds like I read online? Does it have a tow valve? Will I be able to get her on there with a come along and two guys pushing? 

[SylvanLakeWH 24,093]

Come along will work or for $10 get a boat cable winch and bolt it to the trailer. Use mine all the time - works like a charm...

 

[EricF 589]

The Eaton 1100 hydro unit in the tractor doesn't have a tow valve, but it unloads at low speed -- pushing it or towing it out on a come-along or winch is no problem. If you pull it with a vehicle, just keep to a walking pace.

[Cee245 753]

The 520-522XI does have a neutral. The 520h 416h does not with the Eaton 1100 tranny @EricF

 

An xi, It should be easy to push on to a trailer in neutral.

 

Cory

Edited August 1, 2017 by Cee245

[DennisThornton 4,769]

Neutral and a come-a-long.  Right away! 

[shallowwatersailor 3,213]

Take a battery with and do try to start it. If it has the mower deck attached it is more like 1400 pounds. Raising the mower deck will make it easier to move. If it won't start,  all of the 5xi have a neutral position. If it has been left in either Lo or Hi, move it to the opposite gear then to neutral. Sometimes internally it doesn't quite mesh and disengage.

 

Also pump the tires up to 20 psi so that it is easier to roll. There was a correction  from '99 in the Owner Manual. I guess Toro found that the standard Wheel Horse 12 psi wasn't sufficient.

[Forest Road 594]

Lever to right of seat center position is neutral. They roll quite easily. 

[doc724 924]

to add to what John Matthews said, these machines have a lot of safety switches.  They will not start unless the parking brake is on, the seat presence switch is working and the PTO switch is pushed in.  More than once I forgot one of them and there was a lot of cussing going on.

[FatJackDurham 318]

Nice score! Can't wait to see the pictures. I love those "in the bushes" opportunities. Here, there was an ad on craigslist for a free catamaran, you just had to haul it away. I wish I had had a large enough trailer to get it.

[mikeeyre74 289]

Ok felllows, here we go...

 

 

thats my pal Jody there in the pic, helping me beat down the overgrowth to find this thing in the weeds. 

 

 

aftwr some weed pulling and cutting, we "found her"...

 

 

 

this was no place to let a Horse rot..

 

i disnt get get any pics of the extraction itself with the tow strap and all, but it wasn't too bad. Once we got 'er out it was like this:

 

 

 

 

 

From there

From there it was 

...

 

 

onto the trailer with the come-along, no issues. Rolled like a champ in neutral. Thanks fellows!

 

and then..

 

 

she followed us back home. 

 

A Quick stop and $10 later at the car wash:

 

 Yeah, that's me...

 

and then hen she was somewhat presentable. Still mighty covered with horse poop and old grass, but at least now you could get near it without getting tetanus or having a rat jump out and gnaw your arm. The pictures don't really show it, but the underside of this and all on the deck surface and engine bay was SERIOUSLY covered with gross stuff. Up to an inch thick. 

 

 

back home we got her unloaded next to this tiny lawn ranger of Jodys that needed some work ...

 

https://flic.kr/p/XoYtXz

[mikeeyre74 289]

 

and then we took a look around at it. Needs a few things. Lower panel at the front. Headlight assembly is totally smashed. Front tires are beaten to death.. a miracle that they hold air at all. There's STILL so much manure and garbage wedged into the recesses of this thing! Battery needed too, I'd guess... but after checking the oil which amazingly looked like it was new, it fired right up with some fresh gas and a jump from the car. A bit of a PITA to prime with fuel, but we got her going. Drove for twenty minutes with no issues showing on the transmission. Also good! Can't read the gauges at all because the plastic is all foggy looking... gonna have to buff this somehow:

 

 

Also found it's leaking oil like a seive on the left hand side que to the PO putting an SAE bolt into this metric hole to try and fix the valve cover leak. 

 

 

i hope a helicoil fixes that up sooner than later, tho. 

 

So so that's my story! 522xi out of the bushes and heading for a better life... stay tuned for questions!

[elcamino/wheelhorse 9,029]

Well that is not bad for free. You did a lot better at the car wash then the experience my brother had when he worked all day to get a frame from under a 53 Ford Station Wagon , paid the guy and stopped at car wash to clean the frame and blew holes all in the grime covered parts. Does not look you will have too much work on the freebie.

[DennisThornton 4,769]

Mike, you are beginning a life altering event that you are going to like. 

[shallowwatersailor 3,213]

Great find! After all of the usual fluid changes, etc I would take the fender off to get at the rest of the grime, and consider pulling the engine to clean under the shroud. If it was as bad as you say, it will still be bad underneath. Good to see that it has the updated mule drive. Headlight bucket and front valance are a bit pricey but worth buying as the tractor was certainly priced right!

 

I liked the picture of it on the trailer centered for weight!

[mikeeyre74 289]

1 hour ago, shallowwatersailor said:

Great find! After all of the usual fluid changes, etc I would take the fender off to get at the rest of the grime, and consider pulling the engine to clean under the shroud. If it was as bad as you say, it will still be bad underneath. Good to see that it has the updated mule drive. Headlight bucket and front valance are a bit pricey but worth buying as the tractor was certainly priced right!

 

I liked the picture of it on the trailer centered for weight!

 

What's the updated mule drive? How do you know which I have vs the "other" one, can you clue me in?

[tunahead72 2,335]

10 hours ago, mikeeyre74 said:

 

 

"Daddy, you're home!  Where've you been Daddy?  Can we go play?"

 

[WVHillbilly520H 10,369]

50 minutes ago, mikeeyre74 said:

 

What's the updated mule drive? How do you know which I have vs the "other" one, can you clue me in?

Here's the original versions, Jeff.

[mikeeyre74 289]

I guess I'll have to wait til I get home from work to see this in person... I can't really see what the difference is in the picture, other than mine is missing the adjustment knob. ;D

[JERSEYHAWG / Glenn 4,487]

Mike, great find, great story. Best of luck. The 522 is a beast.

 

Glenn

[WVHillbilly520H 10,369]

1 hour ago, mikeeyre74 said:

I guess I'll have to wait til I get home from work to see this in person... I can't really see what the difference is in the picture, other than mine is missing the adjustment knob. ;D

The newer style has the adjustment knob underneath vs out front plus 2 visual aligners in the front don't own the Xi's anymore and only have the 1early mule drive and a clevis hitch left for that series, Jeff. 

[mikeeyre74 289]

12 hours ago, WVHillbilly520H said:

Here's the original versions, Jeff.

Well, after getting home to look, this appears to be what I have ^^^ so I have the original style then after all? My knob is broke off on the front.. Im not sure what Sailor was referring to then thinking mine was updated? Could use some clarification there I guess.. 

[mikeeyre74 289]

In other news, I got the deck off today for a look-see to get a needed parts count. 

 

 

It's a bit beaten.

 

Hard to see, but these blades are actually severely bent. 

 

 

These rollers haven't rolled in some time, I'm guessing:

 

 

This is actually the BETTER of the two scalp wheels...

 

 

 

And finally, the  reason that the previous owner just gave up on this machine "the deck just cut terrible and really uneven" is the fact that the whole thing is squashed nearly flat and totally broken!  It might be difficult to tell in this photo, but if you look on the left-hand side of this pic, you can see how the rear of the deck actually starts to curve "upwards" while the front of the deck is flat, and mostly parallel to the garage floor. 

 

 

 Fortunately, I have a good friend that is quite good with a welder. I'll need his expertise! 

 

 I have a few more pictures coming perhaps tomorrow, but I'm just a little tired after all of this wrenching. I'll post them up later. 

[FatJackDurham 318]

Geez... look at how the metal is bent... looks like one of my accidents. You don't need a welder, you need a really big hammer...

[mikeeyre74 289]

You're right. That deck needs to get striped down and then hammered back out flat. I'm thinking some square tube bracing in that area though, to help it out a bit? 

 

Last set of pics I think, for this extraction and haul out thread. I'll start breaking out my questions and curiosities in new threads from here I think. 

 

 

Rolled her into the shop and got to work stripping the broken bits off and getting that battery out for some maintenance and cleaning. PO had a little 220 CCA battery in there. Surprisingly, it still works quite well. I guess it's not that old. I've never had a tractor come with a battery that worked before.

 

Then it was blast with compressed air and scrape. Repeat:

 

 

Roll the tractor a bith and then sweep. Over and over. 

 

 

Filled a Bag with grease, compost and manure mix and she's stil not done!

 

Not sure what this wire is yet, figured it's a seat switch jump, but there two wires to the seat so... Have to find a diagram for that. 

 

 

Otherwise, it looks like I need to helicoil this valve cover and then find this NLA special valve cover bolt to sock it down. 

 

 

Fluid looks clean in both motor and hydro otherwise. She'll come back fine, it seems...

 

Mike

[EricF 589]

10 hours ago, mikeeyre74 said:

And finally, the  reason that the previous owner just gave up on this machine "the deck just cut terrible and really uneven" is the fact that the whole thing is squashed nearly flat and totally broken!  It might be difficult to tell in this photo, but if you look on the left-hand side of this pic, you can see how the rear of the deck actually starts to curve "upwards" while the front of the deck is flat, and mostly parallel to the garage floor. 

 

 

 

Don't worry -- that'll buff out...

(Sorry, just couldn't help myself )

 

Seriously, that's one tough tractor you found there. Might take a little time to find or fab all the parts you want or need for it, but it will be well worth the time and effort.

1 hour ago, mikeeyre74 said:

Otherwise, it looks like I need to helicoil this valve cover and then find this NLA special valve cover bolt to sock it down. 

 

 

Is that bolt formed/milled with the thick shoulder on it, or is it a separate spacer? To me, it almost looks in the photo as if the spacer could be a separate part pressed or slid onto a flange bolt. If it's a solid piece, you still might be able to substitute with a plain flange bolt and a suitable spacer.