Asplundh Chipper Help - Manuals

[Warteetee]

Just got a new set of knives from Zenith - can't wait to get the lone bolt out and new blades - getting there.

 

[Warteetee]

Sorry, it was $12 per blade. Looks like it is not too much of a deal. I bought the new blades instead. Cheers

 

[begleytree]

Sorry, it was $12 per blade. Looks like it is not too much of a deal. I bought the new blades instead. Cheers

you are running into the same thing we all do. I can get mine sharpened at $60 + tax and could buy new ones for $68 +shipping, so it was a no brainer. now new blade prices have risen and thats bringing sharpening back into consideration. my guy is kinda cheap at $1/inch, but some guys pay more and its about the same price to buy new ones. others get good deals sharpening and go that route when they can.
imo, everyone should have a spare set sharp and ready to go anyway, so you're not out anything. get that cutter bar trued up though.
-Ralph

 

[ropensaddle]

Sorry to hear you are having trouble bolt should have been
changed at least you won't make that mistake a bolt is cheap
compared to time getting stuck one out. I have torched out a
few with no problems by cutting the heads off them and getting
wedge out that way as beg mentioned the rotor drum and wedges
heat slower than the bolt and bolt head can be melted out wedge
pryed out! You then will end up with a stud sticking out of drum
and is easier to remove with channel locks and heat! If you do this
just put fire on bolt head only and gradually melt using oxygen just
a little at a time until no head is left. then drive in long bolt in short
hole to loosen wedge and wiggle pry until wedge is out let drum and
wedge cool slowly as to not temper them and should work it has for me.

 

[Warteetee]

I have a new cutter bar and another one that does not have as sharp of edges. Once I get the last bolt for the blades out I will replace the cutter bar wiht one of the new ones.

Still thinking about one of the posts before about this machine being a widow maker - yikes.

 

[begleytree]

I put my chipper blade bolts in with antiseize and have had no further problems with stuck bolts. I also use it on sparkplugs too, metal into aluminum thing..
anyone else use that stuff on theirs too? at $15 a can it's not cheap, but a can will last you the rest of your life.
-Ralph

 

[ropensaddle]

The last time I did one the stud was easy to turn
after wedge came out some people put anti seize
on these to make breaking down easier but I just
replace bolt at first sign of wear as am afraid anti
seize could cause bots to loosen and I have seen
a chipper that lost wedge was not pretty and I
would not want to be near one. I have never had
mine come apart but I double tighten every bolt to
make sure tight. Sorry beg you must have been typing
and posted before mine anti seize must be ok if beg
has used it with no problems I may change my practice.

 

[begleytree]

The last time I did one the stud was easy to turn
after wedge came out some people put anti seize
on these to make breaking down easier but I just
replace bolt at first sign of wear as am afraid anti
seize could cause bots to loosen and I have seen
a chipper that lost wedge was not pretty and I
would not want to be near one. I have never had
mine come apart but I double tighten every bolt to
make sure tight.

I too have seen that, it was a mitts & merrill and the blade shreded the chute and flew off into the direction of a trailer park. we never found it. at that time a man was shoveling rakings into the back of the truck and the blade went right over his head (by the shred marks)
I have never had anything losen from using anti-sieze on it. imo, you get a better torque due to less grabby resistance on the bolt itself and it seats down harder instead of hitting a tight spot and tripping the torque wrench.
thats why its recommended that you put the copper seal RTV on your engine head to block bolts as well. smoother torque down and more reliable torque readings.
-Ralph

 

[rbtree]

Never had a bolt loosen from using antiseize.....have used it for years.

 

[ropensaddle]

I have a new cutter bar and another one that does not have as sharp of edges. Once I get the last bolt for the blades out I will replace the cutter bar wiht one of the new ones.

Still thinking about one of the posts before about this machine being a widow maker - yikes.

Don't let that fool you the truth is they are safe if you respect them and will work and chip years after new types are junk.Right under widow maker beg replied that the only fatalities were caused by slow feed types not the type you have but make no mistake if you get your hand or other part of your body to the drum bad things will happen. I ask you are you stupid enough to do that? I didn't think so as you are here and asking for help so you know to respect it and am sure you will do fine.

 

[ropensaddle]

I too have seen that, it was a mitts & merrill and the blade shreded the chute and flew off into the direction of a trailer park. we never found it. at that time a man was shoveling rakings into the back of the truck and the blade went right over his head (by the shred marks)
I have never had anything losen from using anti-sieze on it. imo, you get a better torque due to less grabby resistance on the bolt itself and it seats down harder instead of hitting a tight spot and tripping the torque wrench.
thats why its recommended that you put the copper seal RTV on your engine head to block bolts as well. smoother torque down and more reliable torque readings.
-Ralph

Thanks beg I may use it next time already have some
have used on lots of other things but spooked on chipper and as I said
I get them as tight as I can that Is my torque and has never failed me!
I do heads as you mentioned and do torque them usually five pounds over
recommended as I like them sealed.

 

[Warteetee]

I got the last wedge bolt out with the hot wrench and that part is done. The lifters were in there pretty good and at this point I have two that are soaking in some penatrant to get them to come out. Wouldn't you guess that those which are stuck were under the same wedge with the seized bolt. I bet this was the wedge that was facing up and got some rain and age to it. I will be working on that tonight.

Now, how does the cutter bar come off - two bolts from the underside?

Thanks and got some anti-seize and will use that on all the bolts when they go back in (all new bolts that is).

Also ordered a new set of blades from Zenith - should arrive next week. From previous posts, the blades should be extend just to the rides of the drum and obviously not hit the cutter bar? Anything else to look for?

Thanks again - I'm slowly getting there - can't wait to use it!

 

[Warteetee]

New cutter bar goes on tomorrow, blades due in. Just down to the last two stuck risers.

Thanks again for all of your help.

 

[begleytree]

War, How'd it go? did you get your new blades in and set? been using it?
-Ralph

 

[Warteetee]

I am having a hell of a time getting two blade adjusters ut so I am stuck right now. I bought new blades from Zenith and got a new cutter bar - so once I get the two adjuster bolts out I can put her back together and go to work.

Hope to get the bolts out this week and get it working- starting to get a little frustrated with the stuck bolts - busted several allen wrenches on them.

 

[begleytree]

I am having a hell of a time getting two blade adjusters ut so I am stuck right now. I bought new blades from Zenith and got a new cutter bar - so once I get the two adjuster bolts out I can put her back together and go to work.

Hope to get the bolts out this week and get it working- starting to get a little frustrated with the stuck bolts - busted several allen wrenches on them.

If memory serves the adjusters thread all the way thru the drum. hit both sides with penetrating oil. even a shop towel cut to fit and soaked in penetrant helps to keep it on there when you need to be somewhere else. the allen size in the top of them could stand to be a bit larger too...
good luck, you're about done with the hard part. putting it back together with all new stuff and loosened stuff is the fun part. sounds like it has been sitting awhile. as you use it and maintain it, the next time(s) are much easier. turns into a 2 hour job verses a 2 week one.
-Ralph

 

[Warteetee]

I put the unit on a level surface and then put towels on both sides of the bolts to keep the oil in. I have gone through 3 cans of penatraing oil and 3 cans of coke. I would go out every 3-4 hours to make sure the resevoir I made was full. These are the same wedge location that the other stuck bolt was in and that took being burned off - I bet this wedge was sitting up while the unit sat for a while. All of the other bolts came out real nice. I have burned just about every other bolt off the rest of the unit and replaced with new so I could make shoot, hitch, etc adjustments at any time.

This is going on a 1 month project. I can't wait to start chipping - the wife just yelled - I NEED weed control (the original purposem of buying the chipper to get the chips and get rid of the wood).

Getting there.

 

[gdn]

chipper experience

just thought i'd give a little advice on chippers, have been running 2 drum chippers and one disc daily for last 9 months, all self feeding models so i am not too familiar with your chipper but here's some points (learned from machines breaking etc)

always work with 2, both people should be at least within 5m of each other at all times the machine is running (over here the minimum legal distance is 3.5m), i have seen one person slip and get half pulled towards machine, he is 16yo and luckily pulled free from the branches with help from another worker, there were also 2 people who hit the stop button pretty much the same time, if he was there by himself he would probably not be here now,

grease bearings daily, worn bearings sound like crap and bounce the drum around quite a bit, grease is cheaper than steel,

don't over grease clutch bearing, we did that, burnt it real good and had to get clutch rebuilt,

we have a fresh blade on weekly, but ideally we should be changing blades every day, after one day's use the blades have that butter knife feel and don't cut as quick, blade changes usually take around 30-45 mins though so we do it when we have to,

Unless your bolts are in excellent condition i would replace all of them and buy a couple spare, never had threads strip or anything like this but can imagine the headache if it happened. We had one bolt on the morbark which we needed a screwdriver and hammer to get out - that was close enough,

!always keep an eye on water temp/oil pressure!. Invent a maintainence schedule and stick to it, checking fluids daily is an excellent idea. We had a couple of chippers overheat and blow fuse plugs. Expensive in time to get fixed.

If chipper slows down stop and find out why, on of the overheats was caused by palm cr-p building up around disc and acting as brake drum, the more we tried to get chipper to pull out of it the hotter it got until pssssh, all the oil from the flywheel drained out made me a very scared worker thought we killed the engine,

oh yeah don't use 12" blades, might work, might fly back out tell you it didn't,
once we chipped a 1 1/8th inch bolt, it ended up in 2 pieces from 1 clean cut, both pieces shot forward out the chute and hit the back of the truck at about a million miles an hour, sounded like a gun when off and just lucky they went forward not back.

i think morbark recommend 1.4mm clearance between blade and anvil at closest point, we generally work with a 3mm clearance but have chipped for a few days with 10-14mm and it worked.

torque bolts real good. Like i said the bolts are 1 1/8th in the drums and snapping them isn't an option, i think it is possible to over torque though but much safer than leaving them loose.

Clean all mating surfaces with a flathead screwdriver and wire brush, all that compressed crud acts as spacer pushing blades out of alignment, crud can vibrate loose leaving blades floppy (not good at all), a wee bit of petrol helps cleaning.

sharpened blades are good as new ones, can only sharpen the so many times before they are useless (get blunt real easy). I was told the blades we were using were sharpened about fifty times more than they were meant to be, apparently the metal gets softer closer to the centre, or nearer to the bolt holes. In your situation maybe its possible to sharpen yourself, on machine. Would cut down maintenance time considerably if possible. I would probably at least attempt to make them sharp my self for awhile and get the blades sent to shop occasionally.
wear gloves when installing new blades. they cut real good.
eh, this post getting too long, hope some of my experience helps,
have fun chippin, and be safe (2 people!)