Blockbuster repair

[ChoppyChoppy]

Couple weeks ago I had a log hit the radiator and pushed it into the fan. (6" log maybe 10ft long)

~$875 later I have a new fan and radiator.

Pics to show how I fixed the real issue, poor design from Blockbuster!

I know a few guys on here have the same machine so take a look, copy my idea if you want.

Dulpicolor engine paint 1607 (Chevy orange-red) matches BTW. Blockbuster told me it was a "special color" when I asked for a paint code.

Edit. Not sure why half my pics are loading as Word files? Some is sure with the website, they are JPG for sure!

I'll get pics of the guard installed tomorrow, finished welding and painted it today. The grill is classifier screen for use on a gravel plant.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

I extended the angle iRon and also welded in a 5ft piece of 5" wide 1/4" plate between the trough and top angle iron they had. No more sticks poking through into the engine area.

Also helped to beef up the trough, it was bent well over an inch! I got it close to straight with a 20 ton jack.

 

[Streblerm]

"Special color" = the color that was on special that week or a mix of whatever was lying around.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

"Special color" = the color that was on special that week or a mix of whatever was lying around.

It's the color they use on all their machines, and has been for at least 20yrs, not unique to mine.

When I got my machine in 2013 the ALCAN trip beat up the paint pretty bad (towed from Iowa) so I had asked them on what the paint coDE was so I could repaint. Could never get a good answer, I never repainted it.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

Well the 1620 is not exactly the right color. It matched the trough fine, but not the engine cover. Oh well, close enough.

All done. Already saved the rad once within hours of installing!

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

Top plate was extended about 10" to actually cover the radiator. Was a horrible setup before, left the radiator wide open.

 

[unclemoustache]

$875 for a radiator?? You could have saved a bundle and hired a kid with a screwdriver to straighten those fins back out!

 

[WoodTick007]

Nice work. . . looks excellent and I sure it will be very effective in protecting the cooling system future damaged.

 

[shamusturbo]

I am not well versed in Blockbuster. Is that a water cooled Kubota? Could you have gotten away with eliminating that radiator bank and re-using the damaged rad? Just a thought. I had the same issue with a skidsteer rad. 1/3 water cooler, 2/3 hydraulic fluid cooler. Also, none of the processor builders make much of an attempt to guard any of the delicate components knowing one is gonna get away sooner or later.....Sorry for your trouble. It's sickening to break something you had every intention of preventing.

 

[Sandhill Crane]

Looks good! Planning to go to the Paul Bunyan Show in Ohio the second weekend in October to check out Blockbuster and the others. Your posts give me a little idea what to pay attention to. Most online videos seldom show the last cut of the log. With eight foot logs that would be every sixth cut.

 

[shamusturbo]

Looks good! Planning to go to the Paul Bunyan Show in Ohio the second weekend in October to check out Blockbuster and the others. Your posts give me a little idea what to pay attention to. Most online videos seldom show the last cut of the log. With eight foot logs that would be every sixth cut.

Getting the last 2 cuts is an art. It is something that I would consider part of the "learning curve". It is the most aggravating part of owning a processor. As time goes on, you will see efficiency start to climb and you'll wonder what the hell you were doing days, months, and years ago. My brother is the much better processor operator than me, for that reason. He has many more hours then I do. I however have way more skidsteer hours and like the chainsaw work of trimming and sorting which, in turn, makes his portion go much easier and smoother.

We are both planning to be at the Paul Bunyon Show on Saturday, the 8th. Both 6'-1", 260#, long hair, one more red then the other. Definitely worth the trip. I have gone the last 6 years. Years ago they had a firewood class/get together that was pretty cool. People from Cali, Washington, NC, Wisconsin, FL, PA, NY. Everyone said what kind of volume they were doing and at what prices. What was better was they talked about what, in particular, made them different/more efficient/set them apart. I wish they would bring that back. Most of the classes are geared towards milling/grading/wood lot maintenance.

 

[Sandhill Crane]

You mean you don't look like a young Bert Reynolds? See you there... Crane

 

[Sandhill Crane]

I'm going to be looking hard at log decks. I would like to build one. A processor is out of range for some time as I'm shifting my thinking to trucks for delivering next year. Also, the issue of processors and resplitting has me stumped for the time being. But that's why I am going to the Paul Bunyon Show. So I'll be looking at the splits coming off the different machines. I've changed one thing this year, adding the Posch PackFix hydro, from stacking to not stacking, and that change has telegraphed to delivery, which in my case needed changing anyway.
Back to fabricating. I would love to do it myself, as ValleyFirewood has, but rather than buying the equipment to do so, and never getting to it, I've found someone who is wiling to weld up a log deck as soon as I get the components together. That's another soon to be thread that I'm hoping the guys with processors can chime in on.