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Toro Reelmaster 5010-H Bedknives

11 posts
  1. Jon Ferrucio
    Jon Ferrucio avatar
    6 posts
    7/23/2019 12:07 PM
    So we purchased 2 brand new fairway mowers last year and are now on our 8th bedknife that the face has essentially come off. We grind to factory specs and run with little to no contact. Is there anyone else out there experiencing the same problem?? Thanks for any and all replies.

    Jon Ferrucio
    Mahopac Golf & Beach Club
    Mahopac, NY



  2. James Smith
    James Smith avatar
    113 posts
    7/24/2019 8:07 AM
    I generally get about 5 years off of a bedknife on my fairway mower. are they wearing down or is something breaking off? what is the height of cut on the unit?



  3. Jon Ferrucio
    Jon Ferrucio avatar
    6 posts
    7/24/2019 9:07 AM in reply to James Smith
    Hey James, they are the Toro Edgemax bedknives and we mow at .450. We are going to try using just the standard bedknives. Hopefully the quality of cut isn't much different



  4. Roland McPhearson
    Roland McPhearson avatar
    9 posts
    7/26/2019 11:07 AM
    I've only had a couple years experience with the fwy edge max knives. 8 failures in less than two years sounds much more than typical. I like the standard knives much better. I get a better quality of cut with the standard knives because my maintenance routine is better suited for them.

    Thanks for sharing your experience with them. That's valuable info for all of us.

    -Roland



  5. Benjamin Jackson
    Benjamin Jackson avatar
    3 posts
    2/14/2020 8:02 AM in reply to Jon Ferrucio
    We purchased the same units last June and had the exact same issue. The Toro Edgemax bed knives are a nightmare! I have gone back to the standard knives and have had no issues at all. 



  6. Phil Nadeau
    Phil Nadeau avatar
    3 posts
    2/16/2020 9:02 AM
    I have fought with our vendor and Toro for years on this problem, with these Edgemax Knives there is absolutely no tolerance for any foreign objects whatsoever. Are the faces breaking in the middle or edge of the knives? Are this edge series reels as well? So far, I have had one full break of the knife and reel due to something getting in the reel during mowing, but I can account for 5-10 over the last 5 years. Have gone to standard knives and never had a break, have the pictures to prove that standard knives save my reels from the inevitable operator error. 



  7. Benjamin Jackson
    Benjamin Jackson avatar
    3 posts
    2/17/2020 4:02 AM in reply to Phil Nadeau
    Phil, 
    Since last June, when we received the new units running both the Edgemax reels and knives, we have had 9 broken knives and 3 destroyed reels because of it. Two of the reels were the very first week and our dealer said it was because we were scalping our fairways... We have never had a reel destroyed because of scalping before. It is very frustrating to be told it is most likely operator error when it is obvious the product is the issue. 



  8. Phil Nadeau
    Phil Nadeau avatar
    3 posts
    2/17/2020 1:02 PM in reply to Benjamin Jackson
    I have heard all the excuses for it. What I believe the issue lies in is the flexibility of the knife. As I mentioned before I have had a foreign object break a knife, causing the reel to break at a weld. Go to cause? "Well, the break is motor side, so it was probably a reel/bedknife contact issue". Funny, this machine is 3 hours old and had one check (at delivery) before breaking a reel. But, customer service/warranty will always defend their products before taking criticisms I suppose. What is frustrating is we have all Edge series reels now and all came with standard Edgemax Knives, and no other machine has gone through what my fairway reels have, greens,tees,approaches and surrounds have not ever had a reel break. Just fairways. I always thought part of the issue lied in the Edgemax Knives for Fairways had a hardened steel insert in the face of the knife, while other edgemax knives were complete (no insert but rather whole knife was that material) so in essence instead of an insert popping, causing the reel to catch, the knife would shatter, thus saving the reel. All in all, I feel your pain, not only is it expensive to fix, it puts a ton of down time on the machine if you go standard after a break, since you are grinding/replacing five knives instead of one.



  9. Jon Ferrucio
    Jon Ferrucio avatar
    6 posts
    2/18/2020 10:02 AM
    Hey guys so here is the update for our situation. We were able to convince our distributor to replace the Edgemax bedknives and have not a had a single incident since. The Edgemax bedknives on our Greensmaster TriFlex have not had any issues at all so far...



  10. Phil Nadeau
    Phil Nadeau avatar
    3 posts
    2/18/2020 10:02 AM in reply to Jon Ferrucio
    Good to hear you got your solution. Maybe with a little more push I can get them to do the same. 



  11. Andrew Cross
    Andrew Cross avatar
    5 posts
    7/9/2020 8:07 PM
    Had same issue at previous course, switch fairway mowers to standard bedknives and problem went away. Other thing to note is if you have 11 blade reels they are forward swept, which provide a more aggressive cut but also expand outward when they hit something, there by hitting the knife and breaking the insert. If you have 8 blade reels they are radial which shrink inward on impact (this info is per Toro https://www.toroadvantage.com/reel-mowers/fine-tune-fairways-tips/)



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