Toro

Toro sprinkler heads and nozzles are what a homeowner reaches for when a lawn sprinkler zone has a broken head or a nozzle watering the sidewalk. The 570Z spray heads regulate their own pressure, and the 570 nozzles screw onto the riser by hand. Most repairs take a shovel and an afternoon.

The Toro Company started on July 10, 1914, as the Toro Motor Company. It built engines for The Bull Tractor Company, which is where the name comes from. Toro is based in Bloomington, Minnesota, and trades on the New York Stock Exchange as TTC. It designs, makes and sells lawn mowers, snow blowers and irrigation supplies, and it became number one in golf course irrigation after buying Moist O’ Matic of Riverside, California.

The 570 spray heads

The 570 is Toro’s pop-up spray body for lawn zones. For a home lawn, get the 570Z, because it regulates pressure at the head and pulls its riser back down on a positive spring after every cycle. A head that regulates pressure keeps its spray pattern when your supply runs high, and high pressure is what turns a spray into fog. Toro’s funny pipe, flex assemblies and 1/2-inch male adapters connect the lateral line to the head.

Set a new body so the top of the cap sits level with the finished grade. A head set high gets clipped by the mower, and a head set low gets buried in thatch. Seal the threads from the riser or barbed ell with PTFE tape only, because pipe dope softens plastic threads, and tighten the body by hand. Run water through the open body until it comes out clean before you put the nozzle on. Otherwise the dirt from the dig goes straight into the nozzle screen.

570 nozzles

Toro bodies have male threads on the riser, and Rain Bird and Hunter bodies have female threads, so match every replacement nozzle to the brand of the body it goes on. The 570 nozzles come in quarter, half and full circle patterns. For the odd corner where a fixed pattern would soak the driveway, use the adjustable 0-to-360 Variable Arc Nozzle. Turning the adjustment screw clockwise shortens the throw and cuts the flow along with it. Screw one head way down and that spot gets less water than the rest of the zone, so take off only as much as the edge needs.

The low-trajectory series keep water on narrow strips and out of the wind, and the 12-foot series covers open turf. If heads fog, check the zone against the 50 PSI top of the recommended range. On zones where pressure changes from the first head to the last, use the MPR Plus nozzles, which are pressure-compensating.

Precision Series nozzles

The upgrade worth making on an existing zone is the Precision Series Spray Nozzle. Unscrew the old nozzle and screw this one on, and Toro says you’ll use 25 to 30% less water. It throws bigger droplets that hold together in the wind. In the Bitterroot, with 14 inches of rain a year, a lawn depends on its sprinklers, and that’s where the swap pays back fastest. The screen is built into the nozzle, so if it plugs, pull the nozzle, clean the screen and screw it back on. If water still runs off after the swap, shorten the zone’s run time.

Toro also makes the T5 pop-up rotor and the gear-driven Mini 8 rotor for bigger stretches of turf. The Mini 8 is built for clean water, so don’t use it on pond or ditch water.

Mowers, snow blowers and Exmark

Toro’s mowers and snow blowers come from the same Bloomington company, and Exmark belongs to the same family. Toro bought Exmark Manufacturing of Beatrice, Nebraska, to serve landscape contractors, and it bought the residential mower maker Lawn-Boy. TimeCutter and Titan mowers carry 3-year warranty terms, and on a covered claim Toro repairs or replaces the machine, whichever it chooses. Run the gas engines on 87-octane unleaded with no more than 10% ethanol. E15 isn’t approved, and the warranty may not cover engine damage from unapproved fuel. Buy only as much gas as you’ll burn in 30 days, and add stabilizer the day you fill the can.

Toro 570 Series specifications

Spec	570 Series
Inlet	1/2-inch I.P.S. threaded
Recommended operating pressure	20 to 50 PSI
Maximum working pressure	75 PSI
570Z body height	4-inch body: 4 3/4 in; 6-inch body: 7 1/8 in
570Z inlet option	Side inlet
Spray radius adjustment	3 ft minimum to 15 ft maximum
Nozzle series and trajectory	12 ft at 23°; 10 ft at 12°; 8 ft at 5°; 5 ft at 0°
15-Q nozzle (89-1769)	Quarter circle, white
15-F nozzle (89-1764)	Full circle, white

Frequently Asked Questions

Will a Toro nozzle fit a Rain Bird or Hunter sprinkler body?

No. Toro bodies have male threads on the riser, and Rain Bird and Hunter bodies have female threads, so a nozzle only fits the brand of body it was made for. Pull one nozzle before you shop and look at the threads, and if the zone mixes brands, buy nozzles for each brand of body in it.

How do you fix a sprinkler head that sits too low or too high?

Dig around the body, unscrew it from the fitting below, and reset it so the top of the cap sits level with the finished grade. Toro funny pipe and flex assemblies bend, so you can raise or lower the head a few inches without cutting the lateral line. Flush the body with the nozzle off before you put it back together, so the dirt from the dig doesn’t plug the nozzle screen.