Episode 168: Chris Brumley

Welcome to the Reel Turf Techs Podcast, Episode 168.

Today we’re talking with Chris Brumley, Equipment Manager at Colonie Golf & Country Club in Voorheesville, New York. Colonie is a private 18-hole facility with golf, tennis, and pool amenities, and Chris is the lone technician responsible for keeping a fleet of equipment from all the major manufacturers up and running.

Chris shares how growing up around the golf course shaped his career path. His dad spent years as the superintendent at Colonie, so the course was always a familiar place. What started as helping out eventually turned into an opportunity when the club’s longtime mechanic faced health issues, pushing Chris into the equipment management role full time.

They talk about the realities of running a one-man shop, from the never-ending task of greasing equipment to dealing with machines that don’t always come back as clean as they left. Chris also shares some of his favorite tools, including a cordless Milwaukee rotary tool and low-profile bit sets that have saved the day more than once.

The conversation covers learning from mentors, group chats, YouTube fun, and fellow technicians, along with bigger projects like rebuilding a ProGator diesel engine and transmission. Chris also discusses making custom tools for the shop and finding small efficiency gains, such as swapping grease fittings to 90-degree angles to make maintenance quicker and easier.

It’s a great conversation about growing up in the industry, learning by doing, and finding practical solutions when you’re the only person in the shop.

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• Email us at ReelTurfTechs@gmail.com
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Transcript

Trent Manning 0:05

Welcome to the reel turf techs podcast for the technician that wants to get reel follow along. As we talk to industry professionals and address hot topics that we all face along the way we'll learn tips and tricks. I'm your host, Trent. Manning let's have some this episode are real turf techs on golf course industries Superintendent radio network is presented by Foley county a strong supporter of equipment technicians and golf course maintenance departments everywhere Foley county offers a proven solution for above and below the turf for turf professionals To learn more about Foley company's line of real grinders bed knife grinders and the air to G2 family of products or to find a distributor visit www dot Foley C o.com Foley Ready for play

1:05

Welcome to The Real Turf Techs podcast, episode 168. Today we're talking to Chris Brumley, equipment manager at Colony Golf Country Club in Voorheesville, New York. Colony is a private 18-hole course with pool and tennis. Chris is the lone tech in the shop He has most of the big name equipment brands. Let's talk to Chris

Trent Manning, CTEM 1:30

welcome, Chris, to the "Reel Turf Techs" podcast. Thanks for coming on

Chris Brumley 1:34

Hi, Trent. Thank you for having me

Trent Manning, CTEM 1:36

Yes, sir. It's gonna be a lot of fun. Tell us how you got into the turf industry

Chris Brumley 1:41

My dad's been the superintendent at the Colony Golf Country Club for quite a few years now. I think he's on his 40th year there. That's, not all of it's been as a superintendent. Maybe 30 years as a super or something. And I always enjoyed going in and spending time with him as a kid, riding around on the tractors and stuff, and it just kind of almost felt like a second home, as funny as that sounds.

Trent Manning, CTEM 2:11

Oh, no, I get it

Chris Brumley 2:13

And I would All my school breaks, I would go in and help out, kind of prepare for events as needed And, it just kinda grew into a career from there

Trent Manning, CTEM 2:28

That's awesome. Yeah, I mean, I can definitely relate because I brought my kids to the golf course I don't know how many times. On the weekends and stuff, if I was in there messing around with whatever they were playing or riding a golf cart around the building once they got old enough. And hopefully they got a lot of good memories being at the golf course

Chris Brumley 2:49

Absolutely. I have so many great memories from that course.

Trent Manning, CTEM 2:51

So what kinda got you into working on equipment?

Chris Brumley 2:56

I believe, it's kinda hard to fully track down or narrow down, but our older mechanic there just had health issues and was kinda backing off from his, I guess, duties, and I guess I just took that position and I found I enjoyed it

Trent Manning, CTEM 3:18

Okay. I mean, that's one way to learn about turning wrenches is just hopping in there and doing it, and I think a lot of us have probably learned that way. Was your dad mechanically inclined? Did he work on some stuff? Yeah.

Chris Brumley 3:33

I think he was a mechanic there for maybe the few years before being super.

Trent Manning, CTEM 3:39

Okay. Yeah

Chris Brumley 3:39

yeah, and I've learned so much from him.

Trent Manning, CTEM 3:42

That's awesome. That's so cool. Yeah, and there's definitely a lot of superintendents out there that are also the mechanic and the irrigation tech and the spray tech, I mean, it's-- those guys wear a lot of different hats.

Chris Brumley 3:55

Reel

Trent Manning, CTEM 3:56

So yeah, super cool. So is he still working at a golf course?

Chris Brumley 4:02

Yeah. Yep, I'm still working on him, and it's been a gift every day to spend time with him.

Trent Manning, CTEM 4:08

Oh, that's so cool. Yeah.

Chris Brumley 4:10

we butt heads regularly, but at the

Trent Manning, CTEM 4:14

Well, that's, yeah

Chris Brumley 4:15

at the end of the day, it's just work, figuring out how to solve each specific problem and go from there

Trent Manning, CTEM 4:21

Yeah. Well, I interviewed another guy and his dad was the technician, and he was the superintendent and and that was, yeah, that was super cool. And you could tell they, they might butt heads from time to time, but all in all it was-- they had a good relationship and I mean, how valuable that is to get to work with somebody like that, that you've looked up to your whole life and kinda showed you the ropes

Chris Brumley 4:48

Yeah, and it just makes the work environment so much more easier to get get through, if you got someone there that you're comfortable asking questions,

Trent Manning, CTEM 4:57

Mm-hmm.

Chris Brumley 4:58

and just, we go up and hit each other in the arms regularly just,

Trent Manning, CTEM 5:02

Yeah. That's good. Yeah. You gotta keep it fun,

Chris Brumley 5:07

yep, definitely

Trent Manning, CTEM 5:09

What's your least favorite part of the job?

Chris Brumley 5:13

There's... I'll be honest, there's a couple things I'm not too thrilled about doing. I think one of them is definitely greasing, just because it's so messy and so time-consuming. Then you gotta switch out their... We use the cartridge with an electric grease gun, and just having that run out at the worst time possible, just very annoying

Trent Manning, CTEM 5:36

Mm-hmm. Yeah, they need to come up with a grease gun with that has two cans, but it would still run out at the most annoying point. It's like Murphy's Law

Chris Brumley 5:47

Exactly. I've thought about maybe trying one of those five-gallon pail greasing units, maybe pressed air run

Trent Manning, CTEM 5:54

Yep

Chris Brumley 5:56

But it's also very convenient to have that freeze gun just take out on the course as needed

Trent Manning, CTEM 6:01

Right, right, right. Yeah. No, that's true. Those, I know electric grease gun is they're really nice.

Chris Brumley 6:07

I, it's been a game

Trent Manning, CTEM 6:09

really nice. I definitely, I don't necessarily like the operators using the electric grease gun.

Chris Brumley 6:18

Right. Blow out seals way too easily

Trent Manning, CTEM 6:19

yeah, 'cause yeah, it's really easy to blow seals out. I mean, even the technicians that worked for me, we didn't use electric g- grease guns on rollers or any stuff like that. We'd still use the hand grease gun. But if you're keeping up on your greasing schedule, you shouldn't have to, put too many pumps in on a roller bearing or whatever, couple pumps, every few weeks or whatever and good to go. But some of those other joints, especially when bushings get worn and those kind of things, they take more grease and end up pushing out a lot of grease too

Chris Brumley 6:58

Just, makes a mess. They're red and sticky, tacky grease, just leaves those strings hanging from your grease fittings, and you gotta go around and wipe them all off so they're not leaving streaks down the fairway or keep,

Trent Manning, CTEM 7:08

Oh, yeah. Yeah Yep, for sure. Yeah. Greasing's not fun

Chris Brumley 7:13

No, it, I mean, it's funny 'cause before it was my job, I enjoyed taking the grease gun around and, hitting all the fittings. But now that I'm, it's actually in my job description, I don't enjoy it anymore. I-

Trent Manning, CTEM 7:27

Well, that's I remember as a kid, I really enjoyed mowing the grass until it was my job to mow the grass, and then I didn't enjoy it anymore.

Chris Brumley 7:37

Yeah

Trent Manning, CTEM 7:38

It's different when it's your duty

Chris Brumley 7:40

Well, yeah, that's nice 'cause I get to I, I still get to mow occasionally. We have such a small crew that, if somebody calls out sick, I'm the one that gets called in to cover for them

Trent Manning, CTEM 7:51

Okay. Yeah

Chris Brumley 7:52

So I, I do pretty much everything at the course. Do everything except the spraying

Trent Manning, CTEM 7:59

Okay. Yeah. And I think a lot of golf course mechanics or technicians or equipment managers, whatever you're calling us we're kind of that go-to guy that ends up doing a lot of different roles or tasks, whether it's working on electrical or plumbing or who knows what you might be working on. What's your favorite tool?

Chris Brumley 8:23

Probably my Milwaukee rotary tool, the new brushless one. It's just so handy and game-changing to have a cordless Dremel. You can throw a wire wheel into it and just like clean corrosion on battery terminals. Inside the the bed knife bar adjusting screw on the Toro reels, those get cruddy. So just take it, run it in there a couple times, and it busts it all out very, easily. It's good

Trent Manning, CTEM 8:51

So it's more like a Dremel style?

Chris Brumley 8:54

It, it's, yeah, it's a Dremel just Milwaukee branded. It's a cordless one.

Trent Manning, CTEM 8:58

Okay

Chris Brumley 8:59

I take it out into the field sharpening chainsaws

Trent Manning, CTEM 9:03

Oh, wow. All right

Chris Brumley 9:04

It's super handy

Trent Manning, CTEM 9:06

That is cool. Yeah, that is really cool. I'll have to check into one of those.

Chris Brumley 9:10

Yeah

Trent Manning, CTEM 9:12

Any other tools you really like?

Chris Brumley 9:15

I really like... I have a set of Snap-on, they're low profile bit set. It's like a quarter-inch drive, but it's also got an 11 millimeter hex on it.

Trent Manning, CTEM 9:25

Yes.

Chris Brumley 9:26

those are great for getting into tight spots, and I found under Briggs and Stratton engines, the for valve adjustments, you use a little five m- five millimeter Allen key, and it goes r- actually right through that opening. So you can adjust the valves and tighten the that nut at the same time.

Trent Manning, CTEM 9:45

Oh, that's cool. Yeah

Chris Brumley 9:46

makes valve adjustments so much easier

Trent Manning, CTEM 9:49

Yeah. No, that is cool. I bought one of the Blue-Point. It was actually, I bought it because I was adjusting valves on a BMW that I used to have E46 330i. Anyway, it has a 10-millimeter hex and a screwdriver, like all built into the same thing, so you can, loosen the nut, turn the screwdriver to adjust it, and then tighten it back. And it wasn't that expensive either probably 'cause it was Blue-Point, I guess. But anyway, of, yeah, that was a game-changing tool for adjusting valves. And I used it, I don't remember what Golf application I used it on, but there's a couple of them out there where it works. But then there's a lot of stuff that's like a 12-millimeter hex and a, you need a screwdriver, and I never looked in to see if they had one of those. I've definitely always been one of the guys where if they make a tool to do the job, I want that tool.

Chris Brumley 10:47

Yeah, exactly. Anything that makes the job easier, go faster, It's a must

Trent Manning, CTEM 10:53

Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, and I don't even really know where that come from, if it was the days of the service work and trying to get jobs done, but, 'cause a l- a lot of my career I was getting paid by the hour, so it didn't ever necessarily matter to do the job fast, but I was always wanting to get it done to move on to the next thing

Chris Brumley 11:15

Well, there's, and then get those jobs that just pile up and you're like, "All right, I gotta get this done, gotta get this done." So knocking, being able to knock things out quickly is pretty important

Trent Manning, CTEM 11:26

Oh, yeah, for sure. What do you do to relax or find your balance?

Chris Brumley 11:31

I really enjoy, spending time on YouTube, hanging out with my cat.

Trent Manning, CTEM 11:35

Okay

Chris Brumley 11:36

recently got back into 3D printing, so I've been, fiddling with that a little bit, getting,

Trent Manning, CTEM 11:41

right. Yeah, what what printer did you get? You get the Bamboo Lab

Chris Brumley 11:45

Yeah, I got the Bambu P2S.

Trent Manning, CTEM 11:48

P2S, yeah

Chris Brumley 11:49

Just got the AMS system for it, so I've been working with that a little bit

Trent Manning, CTEM 11:55

What is the AMS system for

Chris Brumley 11:58

it allows you to swap out spools automatically so you don't have to

Trent Manning, CTEM 12:03

Oh, that's cool

Chris Brumley 12:04

load filament in. So you can do color changes on the fly. Very cool

Trent Manning, CTEM 12:10

Yeah, no, that is cool. Yeah. Really cool. Yeah, what all kind of stuff are you printing?

Chris Brumley 12:17

My first project was a bung for an oil drum. I bought a new oil pump at work through one of our suppliers,

Trent Manning, CTEM 12:27

Mm-hmm.

Chris Brumley 12:28

just the shaft that goes down into the oil drum is way too small for the included bung.

Trent Manning, CTEM 12:36

Mm-hmm.

Chris Brumley 12:37

So I was worried about contaminants getting down into the oil drum, so I printed out one with tighter tolerances, O-rings, set screws. I went all out with it.

Trent Manning, CTEM 12:50

Oh, cool. Did you design it then?

Chris Brumley 12:52

I did

Trent Manning, CTEM 12:53

Okay. What'd you, what software do you use to design?

Chris Brumley 12:56

Onshape, it's a web-based CAD

Trent Manning, CTEM 13:00

Okay. Yeah, that's cool. Yeah, it's really-- I mean, it's amazing what all you can do with a 3D printer and things you can print and, what website or what have you found far as finding files that somebody else has already created? Are there any good ones out there?

Chris Brumley 13:19

all the general ones is Thingiverse, MakerWorld, which I think is Bamboo's version. Sometimes, you just look around. I had to make,

Trent Manning, CTEM 13:29

yeah

Chris Brumley 13:30

I had to make a window screen clip. Maybe you've seen that in the 3D printing channel. I made a little window screen clip to hold the screen door scr- window screen in place. One of the clips had broken, so I modeled that up, printed it out, and now can open our windows

Trent Manning, CTEM 13:47

I know. Isn't that-- That's just so cool.

Chris Brumley 13:49

It's crazy

Trent Manning, CTEM 13:50

Yeah, I made it was a bracket for a tripod for our laser at the golf course. Just regular tripod with a laser that screws on top. And one of the plastic brackets had broke. And it took me a minute using Fusion, 'cause Fusion is definitely a perishable skill. If you don't use Fusion a lot, you forget how to use it, and you have to retrain yourself watching YouTube videos to get up to speed. But anyway, I made the bracket, and I mean, it was i-identical to the one that was on there, and 3D printed and worked perfect. And, was it worth it in the long run? I don't know. But the learning experience of learning how to do stuff in CAD and the 3D printing exercise was definitely worth it to me, just to

Chris Brumley 14:43

I'm grateful enough to have been trained in SOLIDWORKS through engineering in college. So, and it ha- it's been a couple years since I graduated college, but, getting back into it, it's, it hasn't been too bad

Trent Manning, CTEM 14:57

Okay. Yeah. Awesome. Very cool. What's been one of your biggest challenges that you've came across?

Chris Brumley 15:06

Probably my organization. I'll have something, a tool, a part in my hand, turn around, won't be able to find it for 10 minutes

Trent Manning, CTEM 15:17

Yeah, that's that can definitely be frustrating. Yeah. What kind of organization system do you have in place?

Chris Brumley 15:25

We got a, just a bunch of work tables that stuff gets piled on. It just gets... I'm, I just use it as a catch-all. I got my toolbox. I think my tools are the only thing I actually strictly keep organized. I try to... I keep, the shop as clean as I can, but, you get, get into a project and cleaning's the last thing on your mind

Trent Manning, CTEM 15:46

Yeah. Yeah. No, it's definitely a challenge keeping a place tidy. Actually, the book I'm just listening to is about tidying up more and keeping your work area or your desk or, your house, whatever it is, keeping all that tidy. And it's definitely a chore to stay on top of

Chris Brumley 16:07

Yeah, I think one thing I've found, I mean, I've get- been getting better with my organization little by little, and one thing I found is just put that screwdriver or wrench away. You don't have to clear the whole table off at once. Just put stuff back. If you're walking over to the toolbox to get something else and you don't need that other tool you got, put it back. Don't need to make it a whole chore out of it

Trent Manning, CTEM 16:28

Yeah, you don't have to spend an hour cleaning up the workbench. But yeah, put a few things away here and there as you're walking by and then it gets cleaned up. Yeah. What's one of the strangest things you've seen at the golf course? Any good stories?

Chris Brumley 16:45

Yeah, we had a Jacobsen 3400 Ferry Mower, the front axle snapped in half

Trent Manning, CTEM 16:52

Okay.

Chris Brumley 16:53

Thankfully it was not on the fairway at the time. The operator had gotten or pulled off to the side to empty the buckets, and as he was emptying the buckets, it just folded right in half

Trent Manning, CTEM 17:04

Yeah, that's great. Was it a very old machine or?

Chris Brumley 17:08

This was back in 2016. I don't know what year the machine was, but I mean, it's a... It didn't have any computers or anything in it, so it was, yeah, a fairly old machine.

Trent Manning, CTEM 17:19

Okay

Chris Brumley 17:20

I've seen stuff flipped over, stuck in ditches, stuck in ponds

Trent Manning, CTEM 17:27

Yeah, it's John Borsos. He says it's amazing what an operator will do for one blade of grass.

Chris Brumley 17:33

Oh, God.

Trent Manning, CTEM 17:34

trying to-

Chris Brumley 17:36

Our rough mower guy, God bless him, he'll... he's a member at the course, so you gotta realize he wants to mow everything he can to make it easier for him and other members.

Trent Manning, CTEM 17:48

Okay.

Chris Brumley 17:48

So he'll go through all the wet areas and get the machine buried

Trent Manning, CTEM 17:55

That's, yeah, that's a shame

Chris Brumley 17:57

Yeah. Yeah he's a great guy though, and he enjoys doing it, so, let him have it

Trent Manning, CTEM 18:01

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yep. Good to have the extra help.

Chris Brumley 18:04

Yeah

Trent Manning, CTEM 18:05

Do you have a mentor in the industry?

Chris Brumley 18:08

My father, the old mechanic, and, a lot of the guys from the group chat have been great. I've got a lot of resources at our dealerships. I can just call up any of the techs, and they'll usually be more than willing to help me out

Trent Manning, CTEM 18:25

Yeah, that's good.

Chris Brumley 18:27

No,

Trent Manning, CTEM 18:27

Yeah, you gotta... What's that?

Chris Brumley 18:30

I've learned a lot from YouTube. Actually one of my, one of the things I'm most into on YouTube is watching people, service machinery.

Trent Manning, CTEM 18:38

Mm-hmm.

Chris Brumley 18:39

getting these old backhoes or skid steers running that have been sitting in the woods for 30 years

Trent Manning, CTEM 18:45

Yeah.

Chris Brumley 18:46

Just find it satisfying

Trent Manning, CTEM 18:48

Yeah, no, it's it's a lot of good content out there on YouTube

Chris Brumley 18:52

A lot of helpful stuff

Trent Manning, CTEM 18:54

Yeah, I watched a guy, he was pulling the sprockets off a Caterpillar dozer, but it had to be like a '20s or '30 model, dozer

Chris Brumley 19:05

I wonder if that was the video I sent you. He had the big three

Trent Manning, CTEM 19:07

Oh, yeah. Yeah. That was it. You shared it in the-- That's right. Yeah. You shared it. I forgot all about it was you that shared it. But yeah, that was so cool,

Chris Brumley 19:15

That was crazy

Trent Manning, CTEM 19:16

Yeah. That was some cool stuff

Chris Brumley 19:19

Yeah

Trent Manning, CTEM 19:20

for sure. Well, what's some of the lessons you learned from those mentors?

Chris Brumley 19:26

Stay calm. Just kinda do your research beforehand. Like, I w- I... When I hear the the... The reason I found you was the ProGator transmission. So,

Trent Manning, CTEM 19:38

Ah, okay.

Chris Brumley 19:39

on that video that you did, and that's where I started. But as far as, basic mechanical skills that's where I've learned from yeah

Trent Manning, CTEM 19:52

Yeah. And I remember you saying that you wouldn't took on that project if you hadn't watched the video

Chris Brumley 19:59

Yeah. Yeah, it was...

Trent Manning, CTEM 20:01

I mean, that's super

Chris Brumley 20:02

as I thought it was gonna be, but I don't know if I would've taken it on without your video

Trent Manning, CTEM 20:07

Right. No, thank you for that. And I mean, that's super rewarding for me too, to inspire others to try it. I don't know, just the way I was brought up or whatever, I had never really been scared to tear into something. I've always tear it apart and we'll figure it out later. But I understand, I mean, there's a lot of people that are intimidated by that because yeah, you could break something, you could make it worse. I mean, I always looked at it, well, it's broke, so,

Chris Brumley 20:35

Yeah, can't make it anymore

Trent Manning, CTEM 20:37

you can't make it any worse. But you can, and I have. I've definitely made stuff worse and I've cost the club a lot of money over the years. But on the other hand, I've saved them a lot of money too by jumping in there and trying it versus sending it off to a dealer and then waiting however long for the dealer to look at it and all those things. So, I mean, I'm glad that video helped

Chris Brumley 21:02

Yeah, I think that's one of the best ways to learn is just dive right into it. I mean, do as much research as you can beforehand, but don't be afraid to start

Trent Manning, CTEM 21:11

Oh yeah. Yeah. And if you're struggling deerin', go back and do some more research or take a breath, go walk around, whatever. I remember, I mean, I was pretty young kid at the time, but I was putting together this basketball goal that my parents had got me, and my dad was working or something, and my mom was here, and I'm, struggling putting this thing together and getting frustrated, and I'm venting my frustration to her, and she's like, "Just walk away from it for a minute." And I'm like, "She don't know what she's talking about." You know what I mean? I'm a young kid or whatever, right? But I did. I walked away and I done whatever, and when I come back to it, it went right together.

Chris Brumley 21:54

That happens all the time. I'll get so frustrated with something and my father will walk over and he'll take care of it. Like

Trent Manning, CTEM 22:01

Mm-hmm. Yeah. I mean, it's just, yeah, one of those things

Chris Brumley 22:06

Yep. Take a breath, walk away, clear your head, get something to drink, have a snack

Trent Manning, CTEM 22:11

That's amazing how that works

Chris Brumley 22:13

It, it really is

Trent Manning, CTEM 22:17

What technician would you like to work with for a day?

Chris Brumley 22:21

Anybody from chat. John Borsos is great. Chad's great. You're great. I can't really narrow it down to one of yous.

Trent Manning, CTEM 22:28

Oh, well, yeah, you, and you don't have to,

Chris Brumley 22:30

you

Trent Manning, CTEM 22:31

And if you narrowed it down to one person, you'd be selling yourself short

Chris Brumley 22:35

Yeah

Trent Manning, CTEM 22:36

I mean, most everybody in the WhatsApp group would, be happy to have you come hang out with a day or two days or whatever

Chris Brumley 22:43

You can just talk, chat

Trent Manning, CTEM 22:45

yeah, just, yeah, right, to talk shop or whatever. Do y'all have anything in your area, technicians getting together?

Chris Brumley 22:53

Not that I know of, no. I know there's actually quite a few courses in my area. I know only the mechanic from one other course

Trent Manning, CTEM 23:01

Yeah. Yeah, and I mean, it's a shame that everybody don't have that, but a lot of people don't have a group of technicians that get together. And then there's other areas that have a good group of technicians that get together all the time. I remember talking to Brian Harper. He sent out, I forget how many emails, 50-plus emails, and he got two responses or something like that. It's, not everybody's into it, but if this is the job that you choose to do, why not meet some other people doing the same thing and talk shop?

Chris Brumley 23:38

Make it easier for yourself and, share information. Learn from other people, share whatever you learned with them. It's just great having that support

Trent Manning, CTEM 23:48

Oh, yeah. I mean, yeah, honestly, everything I've learned from somebody else at one point or another. I mean, maybe you figure something out on your own, but usually if you figure something out on your own, it's based off of past experiences you had doing something. So, it just makes us all better to work together What would be your dream job?

Chris Brumley 24:11

I mean, I have a degree in manufacturing, and I had recently applied for a job actually be- before becoming the mechanic at the course and never heard back from them. But I mean, being outsi- being able to be outside is just wonderful, especially for your mental health.

Trent Manning, CTEM 24:32

Oh yeah

Chris Brumley 24:33

on my You know, there's things that I like to do. I don't wanna be stuck inside, a huge facility all day standing at a machine. I'd like to be able to, walk around and go outside as needed. So I think this is, a really good fit for me

Trent Manning, CTEM 24:50

That's awesome. I'm glad to hear it for sure. It can be a super challenging job, but it can be a super rewarding job too. It's kind of what you make of it and and the team that you surround yourself with

Chris Brumley 25:04

And Mother Nature,

Trent Manning, CTEM 25:04

club. Yes, Mother Nature can always be a challenge. That is a

Chris Brumley 25:10

I'm just trying to write these things. Yeah

Trent Manning, CTEM 25:14

What do you know now you wish you'd known on day one?

Chris Brumley 25:18

I mean, just take your time with stuff. There's no reason to really rush anything. That's, when stuff goes wrong, you get hurt. Take your time. Do-- Again, go do your research with what you're diving into. Just look for that, whatever support you can find

Trent Manning, CTEM 25:37

Yeah, no, good advice. Really good advice. And like we said, it's kinda hard to step back sometimes and take your w- self away. But yeah, try to remove yourself and go back to the drawing board as they say sometimes. And yeah. No, that's good stuff. How do you deal with that person? Do you have that person on your crew?

Chris Brumley 26:00

Got a couple of them. Unfortunately, it's, there's a couple guys that

Trent Manning, CTEM 26:04

One of them's a member.

Chris Brumley 26:06

Yeah, Norm's a member. He means well. He's just,

Trent Manning, CTEM 26:10

right, right

Chris Brumley 26:11

I've never seen, Just recently I had to replace, like, all the rollers, all the front rollers on a 4500 unit, 'cause I think he was just going too fast and hitting roots and stuff. So I ended up slowing the machine down by quite a bit. I'm like, "Well, that's what I gotta do." And

Trent Manning, CTEM 26:28

Right. You gotta do what you gotta do

Chris Brumley 26:29

you try to talk to these guys as nice as possible, especially about washing the equipment off, and they're like, "Oh no. I wash it off really good." I'm like, "No, you don't."

Trent Manning, CTEM 26:37

I don't-- I mean, one thing that I tried is, especially if I've had the machine up on the lift and, a reel's packed full of grass or whatever, or, just the undercarriage, I'd bring the operator over and say, next time you wash, try to, spray this area," and, agree with them. "Yeah, I know it's hard to get to, but, if you hold the hose down here, you can get some water over there and do a little bit better job." And, try to explain why, how it affects your job. If the reel's packed full of grass, well, I can't really check the quality of cut on it because it's packed full of grass, so you know, you're creating more work for me

Chris Brumley 27:16

Yeah, and I think the biggest problem is around hydraulic fittings where they, deep under the machine, it just packs the grass there and then it starts to rot the lines out, and then I gotta go in there and replace them

Trent Manning, CTEM 27:27

Yeah, there's a lot to be said for preventive maintenance and keeping stuff clean. I don't remember if it was in the WhatsApp group, somebody was talking about it or the springs on the 3150s and I mean, all the three series Toro Triplexes, they have the little springs on the brakes, and we got to the point of replacing them, every year. I'd pull the brake drum off and clean all that stuff off, put new springs in there because, I mean, there's no way to clean that other than taking the hub off.

Chris Brumley 28:02

Yeah, that's one thing I've noticed with our 3500. It packs all the grass right behind that dust shield. very hard to get that clean

Trent Manning, CTEM 28:11

Yep. Yep, exact same thing

Trent Manning 28:16

Get ready for tips and tricks

Trent Manning, CTEM 28:18

Well, what kinda tips and tricks you got you wanna share with us?

Chris Brumley 28:22

I think one of the things that I found to be most helpful is replacing grease fittings with angled fittings on the front roller or the rear rollers of a forty-five hundred or the thirty-five hundred. It's got the two fittings that point backwards. I don't know if you saw what I posted in the chat, but I had replaced it with a ninety-degree angle that faces, more towards the front of the machine. And getting your grease gun on there just makes it so much easier. Instead of having to hold the hose end backwards with the hose coming towards you, it's makes greasing a lot easier. And the other thing I did it on was our Ventrac Contour deck. A lot of the flex points were just in very awkward positions to get a grease gun in there. So, putting a ninety-degree fitting on just makes the job so much easier

Trent Manning, CTEM 29:16

Yeah, no, that's a good point. And yeah, to all the listeners, if, if you're having frustrations with a grease fitting, swap it out for something that works better. Yeah, no, really good. And I mean, it's little stuff like that takes you an extra two minutes to change the fitting, but how much time does that save you over-greasing the machine for the next five years?

Chris Brumley 29:39

Or even like not getting around or not even doing it because it's just a struggle, sometimes it- it's one of those fittings that would be easier to have on the li- do when it's on the lift, but I'm not gonna put it on the lift every time just for those fittings. So, I mean, I'm more inclined now to actually grease those fittings

Trent Manning, CTEM 29:56

Yeah. No, that's a really good point. Yeah, I like that one. Any other tips and tricks?

Chris Brumley 30:01

I mean, using tools I don't wanna say in ways they weren't designed, but I mean, if you gotta get something done, I had to pop the steering cylinder off of the 3500 Sidewinder, and I didn't have a ball joint press or anything, so I had to take a three-jaw puller, or just a two-jaw puller, and I had to have one hook on the bolt, one hook on something else, and I pushed up on the on that tapered ball joint, and it popped it loose

Trent Manning, CTEM 30:33

Oh, nice. Yeah. Yeah, right. Definitely sometimes we gotta think outside the box to overcome some of the challenges that we run into

Chris Brumley 30:42

Yeah. And I think the last thing I would say would be double-check everything. Make sure all your oil caps are tight on your engines. Make sure all your plate adjustment things on your- are set on your reels nice and tight. There's nothing worse than having to redo something because you forgot to tighten something down or You forget about something, so d-double check everything. It'll save you in the long run

Trent Manning, CTEM 31:09

Yeah, no, that's good because a lot of times when we're doing whatever, we're changing how to cut or checking how to cut, and then we get interrupted and somebody needs something, and then you come back and you're like, "Where was I?" And then just go through and double-check everything again because, yeah, you don't want that adjuster to be loose and it go to number 18 green and scalp the green,

Chris Brumley 31:33

it's always pulled away from the shop. Mm-hmm. Yeah,

Trent Manning, CTEM 31:36

Yep. Yep.

Chris Brumley 31:37

now do something to it

Trent Manning, CTEM 31:39

That's right Well, what else do you wanna talk about? Anything else on your mind?

Chris Brumley 31:44

I mean, I've really enjoyed, like, making homemade tools.

Trent Manning, CTEM 31:49

Oh, cool. Yeah. What kind of home to- homemade tools have you made?

Chris Brumley 31:52

I had to make a pickle fork for, we had to replace a roller on our top dresser. And to get the bearing which was seized onto the shaft, you had to take the, well, pickle fork and just hammer it, keep spreading it out. And NAPA, our local auto parts store, didn't have one big enough and none of the shop tools were big enough, so I ended up making my own out of an old snowplow cutting edge

Trent Manning, CTEM 32:22

Oh, okay. That's cool

Chris Brumley 32:24

Yeah, I cut it out with the oxy-acetylene torch, ground down some, taper on the end, and it ended up popping the bearing right off.

Trent Manning, CTEM 32:34

That's cool. Yeah, I like that idea

Chris Brumley 32:37

And the other one I made was a a hub puller for the Toro hubs. I don't know if you saw in the chat, but I had just recently replaced a drive motor on our Sidewinder, and I had to use it to pop that brake assembly off

Trent Manning, CTEM 32:56

Yeah, I did see that. Yeah, that was pretty clever. Yeah, I mean, it's basically like the one Toro sells, but you made it r- you made it right there.

Chris Brumley 33:05

and cut some holes into it, and it worked pretty well

Trent Manning, CTEM 33:09

Yeah. No, that's awesome. And I mean, it's really nice having the tools like a welder and a cutting torch, and you can make a lot of stuff

Chris Brumley 33:19

Yeah, I've pretty much self-taught in welding and, I'm not the greatest welder, but I'm, I can lay down a good solid weld. May not look the best, but it'll hold

Trent Manning, CTEM 33:31

This I got ridiculed for saying this, but this welder told me a long time ago that looks never held anything. And I said that in a video and put it on YouTube, and then all the welders chimed in and told me how dumb I was and how stupid I was because looks does hold everything in the world. But I still agree with the old welder that looks doesn't hold anything. And we're not welding to the level that some of the other people that get in the comments weld to

Chris Brumley 34:06

Yeah, ev- everybody's a welding expert in the comments,

Trent Manning, CTEM 34:08

yes, that's right. Exactly. Yeah, good stuff. Yeah, any other tools you've made over time? That's, I mean, that's good stuff. I like the pickle fork too. That's awesome

Chris Brumley 34:18

Not off the top of my head that I can think of.

Trent Manning, CTEM 34:21

Yeah. Yeah

Chris Brumley 34:21

there's been like small punches or something that I've made or modified

Trent Manning, CTEM 34:26

Yeah. Well, cool. You ready to do some rapid fire?

Chris Brumley 34:35

Do it

Trent Manning, CTEM 34:36

All right. What's your favorite movie?

Chris Brumley 34:39

Probably any of the original Star Wars movies

Trent Manning, CTEM 34:42

Okay. Yep. All of those. Good deal. What would be your last meal?

Chris Brumley 34:47

Full Thanksgiving dinner

Trent Manning, CTEM 34:50

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Chris Brumley 34:53

Yeah

Trent Manning, CTEM 34:53

So how do you do the turkey?

Chris Brumley 34:57

I've never actually cooked the turkey. I've always, my mom's always done it and

Trent Manning, CTEM 35:00

Oh that's fine. How does mom do it? In the oven?

Chris Brumley 35:04

yeah, throws it in the oven not deep-fried or anything

Trent Manning, CTEM 35:06

yeah. Okay. I'm a big fan of smoking the turkey. I started doing that, I don't know, quite a few years ago, and I've been doing it every year since. You can't get the skin crispy in the smoker, so like deep frying is definitely good for that. But I mean, the meat tastes so good in the

Chris Brumley 35:23

Yeah. Sounds great

Trent Manning, CTEM 35:25

Yeah, no, it is. It's really good. Yeah, I love a Thanksgiving dinner for sure, and a nap after, afterwards. You gotta have a nap right there with it. What are you most proud of besides your family?

Chris Brumley 35:39

I mean, some of the stuff that I've done without know- any knowledge. I rebuilt the engine on the Pro Gator the March of 2025,

Trent Manning, CTEM 35:49

Okay

Chris Brumley 35:49

and I... that's the first diesel engine I've ever done. I went through, measured everything, jotted everything down, took notes of everything. Followed the service manual and fired right up. Started great. I haven't had any issues with it since running-wise. And, the transmission, I was pretty proud of that myself,

Trent Manning, CTEM 36:12

Oh, yeah. No, that's

Chris Brumley 36:13

cause that was such a big undertaking with no, formal education on it.

Trent Manning, CTEM 36:19

Mm-hmm.

Chris Brumley 36:20

And then on top of, being self-taught welding and some of the other stuff that I've done, it's just, without having that formal education, pretty impressed with myself

Trent Manning, CTEM 36:30

No, that's, yeah, that's awesome. And yeah, to take a, an engine apart and, all the intricate parts of a internal combustion engine and put it back together and fire it up and it works. I mean, there's nothing like that feeling.

Chris Brumley 36:46

Yeah. Oh, It was such a relief when it started up This engine has been through, hell and back. It's... We pulled that poor Gator down with trees till it's squatting on the ground.

Trent Manning, CTEM 36:59

Yeah

Chris Brumley 37:00

the piston gaps that I measured were like 80,000ths over spec.

Trent Manning, CTEM 37:04

Wow.

Chris Brumley 37:05

But surprisingly, the cylinder bores were within tolerance, so I just threw new rings in there and

Trent Manning, CTEM 37:12

Yeah.

Chris Brumley 37:13

worked

Trent Manning, CTEM 37:14

That's awesome, man. That's, yeah, super cool. And I think, for people that hadn't done it before, it's it's like you're saying, really nerve-wracking. When you put everything back together and you turn that start switch, like, is it gonna go? Is it not gonna go? Yeah, the anxiety that creates, and then instant relief when it fires off and is purring like a kitten. Yeah. It's yeah, something else. Nothing like that feeling. And I do think, most people, if you ever experience that firsthand you're a mechanic for the rest of your life, whether you wanna be or not. Maybe you have a different job, but you're still a mechanic at heart, yeah. Good stuff, man. Well, good deal, Chris. I really appreciate you being on, and

Chris Brumley 38:04

you inviting me

Trent Manning, CTEM 38:06

yeah, no, this is fun. I mean, like I said when we got started there, it's definitely my favorite part of the podcast deal is to get to know the other technicians in the industry and share their story

Chris Brumley 38:17

Yeah. And a lot of the guys, I've watched a lot of your podcasts and, makes it feel almost more personal to know what these guys have been through and how they've dealt with problems, and it's just more personal to actually know who you're talking to

Trent Manning, CTEM 38:35

Yeah. No, that's true. Yeah. 'Cause, yeah, I wasn't even thinking about that, but-- and especially now that we're doing the video stuff if you're in the WhatsApp group, you can go back and probably listen to whoever's chatting in the group, and see their face and get to know them. The other cool thing is when we get together at the Golf Industry Show and, to put names with faces and faces with handles, if it's like a Twitter handle, like, j.c., The first time I met him, John Borsos, I'm like, "Hey, it's j.c." Yeah, just really cool to get to meet all those people in person.

Chris Brumley 39:16

Yeah.

Trent Manning, CTEM 39:18

Yep. Well, thanks again, and we'll see you in the WhatsApp group

Chris Brumley 39:22

All right, sounds good

Trent Manning 39:28

thank you so much for listening to the Reel turf techs podcast. I hope you learned something today. Don't forget to subscribe. If you have any topics you'd like to discuss, or you'd like to be a guest, find us on Twitter at Reel turf techs.