The Toro Company

Ag-chem Equipment Company, Inc.

David H Torborg

Rex R Bergsten

John B Heckel

Jon P Rydquist

A mower having a cutting deck for cutting grass has four drive wheels arranged in a square or rectangular configuration on the mower's frame. Four wheel drive and four wheel steering are employed with the drive wheels. The four wheel drive is provided by a hydraulic drive system that employs a pair of identical serial circuits which have their own pumps with each pump serially sending its output through a rear drive motor and a front drive motor that are catty-corner to one another on the frame, i.e. are on opposite sides of the motor. Various flow crossover paths and flow recirculation paths are provided in the serial circuits to ensure the drive motors receive adequate flow in maximum turns of the mower. The flow recirculation paths around a pair of drive motors at one end of the frame are shut off during reverse and during braking so that all drive motors retain hydraulic braking in these conditions.

Mower with four wheel steering and hydraulic four wheel drive

This invention relates to a mower and a tracked implement that convert from one to the other by coupling a mower unit or a tracked unit to a common drive unit. The drive unit is thus used in both products to provide cost savings in the purchase of the equipment. In the tracked unit, a cab for enclosing the operator's station is part of the tracked unit and gets mounted to the drive unit when the tracked unit is coupled to the drive unit. A pair of idlers rotate on pivot axes that are fixed relative to a pivotal idler support that carries the idlers. The pivot point for the idler support is chosen to prevent track elongation when the tracked unit climbs obstructions such as a curb. In the mower unit, a relatively heavy cutting deck is used and spring biased weight transfer arms transfer some of the deck weight to the mower frame.

Tracked implement with pivotal front and trailing idlers and powered rear drive member

A tie rod assembly for a steering wheel structure for an agricultural vehicle such as a row crop applicator uses hydraulic cylinders to set the track width of the vehicle. The track width may be modulated between a minimum and a maximum track setting and modified until a desired track width is achieved while the vehicle is in motion and negotiating a turn without affecting toe-in settings. Toe-in settings are maintained by a closed loop series hydraulic system which further has the capability to reinitialize any toe-in setting to a preset condition in the event any hydraulic cylinder experiences cylinder drift.

Vehicle with hydraulically adjustable tie rod

A rear axle auto-tracking system automatically ensures that the rear axle follows the front axle on an agricultural vehicle having adjustable front and rear track assemblies. With the auto-tracking system energized, the vehicle operator simply adjusts the front track while driving and the rear axle automatically adjusts to stay in line with the front track within about .+-.1/2 inch per side. The system can be turned off to allow independent rear track adjustment. If the system is re-energized while driving, the rear track will quickly adjust to follow the front axle setting. As when adjusting the front track, the vehicle must be moving when adjusting the rear axle track.

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Eagan, MN, United States of America

David H Torborg