Altec DC1217 Feed Issue and Belt Alignment

[Patrick1903]

Hi All, I have a chipper that I acquired recently that needs some work. I’ve gotten some things knocked off the list, but need to focus in on a feed issue and belt alignment issue. The belt alignment needs to be fixed first. When we have engaged clutch I can smell a burning belt smell. The pulley on the chipper side needs to come about an inch or so forward towards engine (ie towards trailer tongue). The manual only appears to say to adjust the engine position to align pulleys. However engine adjustments would appear to only move the engine side to side, so I can see that to tighten and slacken belt. Should I just be able to adjust the location of the chipper pulley outward on the shaft? I am planning on putting a wrench on the pulley bolts to see what happens. Pics of pulley and shaft (and worn belt) below.


Item number 2. Upper feed wheel jams when feeding debris. I reversed and when forward and it pulled the debris in ok yesterday. I was doing a quick test. I had experienced this in very limited testing after I got the chipper, so I made sure to make sure everything was lubricated well and replaced the hydraulic fluid. (Fill and spill and new filter). Old fluid was bad, lots of water intrusion. There was a jury rigged reservoir cap on it, that was first thing I fixed.

After feeding debris yesterday, i noticed that the outside of upper field wheel bearing was rotating. The bottom bearing was not. Is that the outer race that is moving? I believe it should not be moving, right? Is that related to a potential feed issue? Would that indicate the bearing needs to be replaced? I’ll try to upload video below.
Thanks
Patrick
View attachment IMG_3817.MOV

 

[Patrick1903]

I got the clutch side pulley off today, was able to move the bushing (i guess that’s what it’s called) further out on the pto shaft that should allow pulleys to be in alignment. While I have the pulley and belt off, I’m going to try to replace the belt. Current one is in bad shape. It’s an Altec part number, with suffix of -84. Wondering if that means it’s 84 inches. I’ll have to measure to verify. I’m trying to find a replacement belt.

Unfortunately one of the bolts had a hard time going into the threaded holes in the pulley that act as a puller for the pulley. Broke it. The other two bolts got the job done and pulled the pulley off the bushing. Fortunately the pulley is off and I can drill it out on the bench. Need to get replacement bolts. I’m fairly certain I’ll have to start adjusting the engine position with the adjusting bolts in order to get a new belt in place. I’ll start looking into that next. I was surprised to see only one locking bolt on 1 corner, two other corners (opposite sides) had the adjusting bolts. Not sure if that’s standard on this machine or if it was a new engine supports/rails that were put on it.

 

[user 159780]

Vermeer uses the same type tapered shaft pulley. While attempting to separate the two halves one of the three bolts stripped. Used a Helicoil to finish the job.

Since Vermeer had the hub in stock, for a reasonable price, I replaced it.

BTW it was recommend to replace the bearings on both sides, at the same time.
I did the belt side only at first, but the ticking noise from the opposite side was a warning sign imo.

Removal was easier, compared to the belt side.

The belt should be available here...

https://www.altec.com/altec-parts/

 

[Patrick1903]

I have a really hard time finding any parts on Altec’s website. I have an account at Altec Connect or whatever it’s allied, but my p/n searches rarely come up with anything. When I call them, they take my info and call or email me back, normally days later (if at all) with a quote. Generally their parts are more expensive than what’s available online elsewhere.

@mrhemihead Are you talking about replacing the bearings on the cutter wheel, inside and outside? I think I should be ok for now. They seem ok, but I haven’t run this chipper much yet due to getting other items fixed first.

 

[bovander]

Are you happy with your Altec? Does it work well? Hard to find parts? I'm looking at 2008 Altec DC1217 600 Hour listed for $23,000. I've never used an Altec chipper before

 

[Patrick1903]

Are you happy with your Altec? Does it work well? Hard to find parts? I'm looking at 2008 Altec DC1217 600 Hour listed for $23,000. I've never used an Altec chipper before

Hi there. I can't really give you a definitive answer b/c I haven't really used the chipper much yet. I have chipped with it for one hour, maybe more. And it worked fine so far. I had bought it do a couple of clearing jobs (not for-hire, but personal and farm work). It had a rebuilt motor in it, but some of the wiring was suspect. SO I had that fixed, and still have a couple other things I want to "get right." I replaced the drive belt, aligned the pulleys, etc. It needs new knives. I thought I had a feed issue but it turned out to be I wasn't running it hard enough. We also run a bandit chipper (farm) and it seems to run at lower power, so I was afraid of blowing this Altec one up. Plus part of my lingering issues is that I have some electrical issues and the tach doesn't work - it has power, but it doesn't read at all. I think there's some ground issues going on. I haven't had time to do much with it lately, but I do have a bunch of work to do with it, it will just be a couple more months before I really start using it more.

Mine is a 2007 model. Not sure of hours b/c old tach was destroyed and inop. It is very similar to the Bandit that I use much more often - except that has a Cat engine instead of the perkins. Parts have been fine for what I've done. Mostly through RL Supply, and Landmark. I think Altec bought several others, or vice versa, so there's a lot of different names but some parts, it seems.

I have it for sale right now - https://www.arboristsite.com/threads/chipper-altec-dc-1217-perkins-diesel-12”-chipper.364717/. Figured if it took awhile to get it sold I could get my use out of it in the meantime.

Take care,
Patrick