# Blown engine on Bandit 150 chipper question



## crazycat (Jan 20, 2013)

I recently bought a 1995 bandit 150 chipper with a ford 2.3 engine. I just got it apart and its got a hole in the piston, so it needs a complete rebuild or replace with something else.
My question is, Is the 2.3 worth rebuilding ? It will cost over $1000 I will be chipping up to about 8" . Or would I be better off trying to find somthing with a little more power ? Can any one tell me what other motor will bolt up. Can I use somthing out of a mustang or ranger ? I know my 2.3 is an industrial motor so Iam guessing it has a smaller cam to make power down low. Thanks..


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## CalTreeEquip (Jan 20, 2013)

Sounds like the timing belt slipped. You'll need to rebuild the head, replace whatever valve hit the piston and replace the one piston. I should not be too involved. A car engine will have a different head, the exhaust and intake ports are different. If you have the time you might find a good diesel engine at auction that you can make fit. It's usually just a matter of finding or makes mounts. I have found that water pumps are cheap and have good low hour engines on them. Just find an 80 hp Perkins, Cummins or JD, Bandit will have the mounts for those. You could also put a Ford 300 on it, that would be the cheapest option.:msp_biggrin:


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## VA-Sawyer (Jan 24, 2013)

A Ford 300 is a 5.0 L engine. That would be quite a jump up in size from a 2.3 L . Would probably cause a number of problems in the "breaking parts" department, but sure would chip well till something "blew".

Rick


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## CalTreeEquip (Jan 24, 2013)

Nah, the 150 came with a 300 engine. The four banger was just a cheaper option.


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## VA-Sawyer (Jan 24, 2013)

In that case, just make sure all the "300" related parts are changed as well, and it should be good to go.
That might be the cheapest choice in the long run. There were a lot of those 300's built over the years.

Rick


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## crazycat (Jan 31, 2013)

I was going to use the 300 engine but the clutch and bell housing are different , so I just bought a 2.3 out of a 84 ranger. I will give it a try and see if there is really any difference.

Its really getting tough to find an engine with a carb and distributor any more.


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## crazycat (Feb 15, 2013)

O.k I got the new engine in my chipper. Runs good, But now I have a problem with the way its chipping. There is always about a 12" - 16" piece of unchipped wood laying in the chamber between the end of the feed rollers and the disc. This causes the rollers to jam. After I chip 4 or 5 logs I have to back The rollers up and I get 4 or 5 - 16" pieces back out. I did turn the anvil over to the new side and adjusted the knives, But that did not help. Does anyone know what the problem could be ? thanks


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## CalTreeEquip (Feb 15, 2013)

That is just how those things chip. The last piece you chip should be a wide brushy branch that will sweep the chamber clean and leave only twigs behind. If you though in wood at the end chances are good it will not chip all the way. Make sure your blades and bed knife are sharp and well adjusted.


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## Goose IBEW (Feb 20, 2013)

Glad to hear you got your chipper back up and running. The 2.3 liter auto engines will retrofit and work in our chippers. My chipper is an '87 vintage and on its 3rd one. It is also quite easy to upgrade to an electronically controlled fuel injected model. You simply have to mount the electronics and have the computer reprogrammed to defuel at a specified rpm and it will act as a governor. You can also get an adapter plate and put the carb on the fuel injected block if you are more comfortable going that route.


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## Goose IBEW (Feb 20, 2013)

crazycat said:


> There is always about a 12" - 16" piece of unchipped wood laying in the chamber between the end of the feed rollers and the disc. This causes the rollers to jam. After I chip 4 or 5 logs I have to back The rollers up and I get 4 or 5 - 16" pieces back out. I did turn the anvil over to the new side and adjusted the knives, But that did not help. Does anyone know what the problem could be ? thanks



My old Badger does this too. I have found lately that its worse when the wood is freezing temperatures as well. Can anyone concur with this? I thought it was due to my infeed system needing some attention. I am not too worried about the pieces hanging out in the chamber, the jamming up gets to be a pain. Using a branch to sweep it out has seemed to help though.


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## crazycat (Feb 20, 2013)

Goose IBEW said:


> Glad to hear you got your chipper back up and running. The 2.3 liter auto engines will retrofit and work in our chippers. My chipper is an '87 vintage and on its 3rd one. It is also quite easy to upgrade to an electronically controlled fuel injected model. You simply have to mount the electronics and have the computer reprogrammed to defuel at a specified rpm and it will act as a governor. You can also get an adapter plate and put the carb on the fuel injected block if you are more comfortable going that route.[/QUOT
> 
> Thanks for all the help everyone... I will have to try a fuel injected one sometime, They should make a bit more power. I was going to do this but I couldnt figure out how to make the governor work. I would like to see this working sometime.
> 
> I did call brush bandit about the wood getting trapped in there and they said its o.k and to just run some brushy stuff through every now and then. Also I leave the clean out door open on the bottom and that seems to help also... Thanks


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## BASE83 (Sep 23, 2013)

Crazycat, what year vehicle was the replacement engine from, I have a Bandit 90 with blown engine.


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## BASE83 (Sep 23, 2013)

*2.3 retrofit*

I'm sitting here red faced as I reviewed your earlier post and see it was a 1984 model !!

Thanks


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## dieselfitter (Sep 29, 2013)

FYI The industrial engine version only has one spark plug per cylinder. The 2.3 was replaced by the 2.5(larger bore?), same engine. If you need parts for the industrial version, let me know.
I have a low hour 2.5 Industrial if anyone is interested. I also have turbocharger, manifolds, fuel system, harness and ECM from the automotive application I had been saving for a Ford Ranger project that will never happen. PM if interested.


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## KP Tree (Feb 18, 2014)

Hey


Goose IBEW said:


> Glad to hear you got your chipper back up and running. The 2.3 liter auto engines will retrofit and work in our chippers. My chipper is an '87 vintage and on its 3rd one. It is also quite easy to upgrade to an electronically controlled fuel injected model. You simply have to mount the electronics and have the computer reprogrammed to defuel at a specified rpm and it will act as a governor. You can also get an adapter plate and put the carb on the fuel injected block if you are more comfortable going that route.



Hey Goose, quick question. I have a "vintage" bandit 2.3 as well. I just picked it up but it didn't come with a governor. I am having a hard time finding out which model I need. If you could point me in the right direction, it would be a big help. 
Cheers.
Kp


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## lawnmower man (Mar 8, 2014)

crazycat said:


> I was going to use the 300 engine but the clutch and bell housing are different , so I just bought a 2.3 out of a 84 ranger. I will give it a try and see if there is really any difference.
> 
> Its really getting tough to find an engine with a carb and distributor any more.


I have a brush Bandit 200x trying to find out if I have a 2.3 ford or a 2.5 ford? I have no clue what the year is. I can get a industral engine ford 2.5 new for $2850 but if it is a 2.3 will everything fit on it? and if it is a 2.5 can I go get a 2.3 used one? Please help me .......


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## TC262 (Mar 13, 2014)

KP Tree said:


> Hey
> 
> Hey Goose, quick question. I have a "vintage" bandit 2.3 as well. I just picked it up but it didn't come with a governor. I am having a hard time finding out which model I need. If you could point me in the right direction, it would be a big help.
> Cheers.
> Kp


You can use a vacuum cruise control unit for a governor


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## no tree to big (Mar 15, 2014)

TC262 said:


> You can use a vacuum cruise control unit for a governor



Can u go into a bit more detail on this? My governor is missing all the linkages and Im not sure it would work properly even if I could find all that nonsense. How do u set the rpm that the cruise would come on?

Sent from my SGH-T769 using Tapatalk


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## TC262 (Mar 15, 2014)

no tree to big said:


> Can u go into a bit more detail on this? My governor is missing all the linkages and Im not sure it would work properly even if I could find all that nonsense. How do u set the rpm that the cruise would come on?
> 
> Sent from my SGH-T769 using Tapatalk


When you turn on the cruise controll unit it will try to hold the rpm you set it at. All you need to connect is a vacuum line and a throttle cable and have a way to activate. It might be a little slower reacting but it's better than nothing. I have seen these modified to work on other applications so I'm not sure how it would perform on a chipper but don't see why it wouldn't work.
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/cruise-control2.htm


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## TC262 (Mar 15, 2014)

no tree to big said:


> Can u go into a bit more detail on this? My governor is missing all the linkages and Im not sure it would work properly even if I could find all that nonsense. How do u set the rpm that the cruise would come on?
> 
> Sent from my SGH-T769 using Tapatalk


It's most likely missing everything because it took a crap and someone was trying to fix it


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## no tree to big (Mar 15, 2014)

TC262 said:


> When you turn on the cruise controll unit it will try to hold the rpm you set it at. All you need to connect is a vacuum line and a throttle cable and have a way to activate. It might be a little slower reacting but it's better than nothing. I have seen these modified to work on other applications so I'm not sure how it would perform on a chipper but don't see why it wouldn't work.
> http://auto.howstuffworks.com/cruise-control2.htm


Thank you sir, I'll see what I can dig up 

Sent from my SGH-T769 using Tapatalk


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## lgunderson (Mar 25, 2020)

crazycat said:


> I recently bought a 1995 bandit 150 chipper with a ford 2.3 engine. I just got it apart and its got a hole in the piston, so it needs a complete rebuild or replace with something else.
> My question is, Is the 2.3 worth rebuilding ? It will cost over $1000 I will be chipping up to about 8" . Or would I be better off trying to find somthing with a little more power ? Can any one tell me what other motor will bolt up. Can I use somthing out of a mustang or ranger ? I know my 2.3 is an industrial motor so Iam guessing it has a smaller cam to make power down low. Thanks..


I just rebuilt a 2.3 it cost 1,700 but he rebuilt it with industrial parts so I think so. Can you tell me how many RPM to run this engine at? Thanks


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