Chipper - pig in a poke?

[gf beranek]

Nice rims.

Those drum chippers are indestructible. Little bit of dough to get this one going it will be cheap to maintain there after.

 

[SouthSoundTree]

Erik, what kind of gap are you talking about. I just always set mine as close as possible. I have serrations/ grooves on one side of the blade and the clamp on the drum, so I had fixed choices, maybe 1mm differences. I get a coarse chip, which is good for mulch, IMO. Less weeds than a finer chip, more airflow to soil.

 

[pantheraba]

should be a 1600, so what did you steal that beauty for?

hahaha..I was waiting for that question. They wanted $1000...offered $700..no go...ended up at $900. I am hoping $1k to $1500 input and we'll have a functional unit.

 

[NeTree]

Erik, what kind of gap are you talking about. I just always set mine as close as possible. I have serrations/ grooves on one side of the blade and the clamp on the drum, so I had fixed choices, maybe 1mm differences. I get a coarse chip, which is good for mulch, IMO. Less weeds than a finer chip, more airflow to soil.

I used to set my knives to .2" above the drum, then adjust the anvil for .010" clearance.

 

[Greenhorn]

hahaha..I was waiting for that question. They wanted $1000...offered $700..no go...ended up at $900. I am hoping $1k to $1500 input and we'll have a functional unit.

Sweet, if the drum bearings are good and compression is good on that motor should be good to go after some tlc.

 

[No_Bivy]

definitly check for slop in the drum bearsings before ruining a new set of knives......

 

[pantheraba]

Good advice...will do.

 

[No_Bivy]

whats the pig in a poke part?

 

[pantheraba]

haha...I thought everybody grew up hearing that expression!!

From Wikipedia: The idioms pig in a poke and sell a pup (or buy a pup) refer to a confidence trick originating in the Late Middle Ages, when meat was scarce, but cats and dogs (puppies) were not.[1][2][3] The idiom pig in a poke can also simply refer to someone buying a low-quality pig in a bag because he or she did not carefully check what was in the bag.[4]

The scheme entailed the sale of a suckling pig or pup in a poke (bag). The bag would actually contain a cat or dog (not particularly prized as a source of meat), which was sold to the victim in an unopened bag. The French idiom acheter (un) chat en poche (to buy a cat in a bag) refers to an actual sale of this nature, as do many European equivalents, while the English expression refers to the appearance of the trick.[5]

Poke refers to "poke sack"...a poke is a sack or bag. If you like polk salad, you could poke the polk into the poke sack.

 

[thattreeguy]

i buy from zenith cutter co, measure it up, they are a pretty generic bl;ade, fix that unit and run it man...

 

[treeman75]

Did you find a cat or pup in it?

 

[treeman75]

Thx on Wesspur...plan is to get 4 new knives, to start with known good stuff. I hope I can find an anvil. Good tip on a mud flap.

I think it is a mix and match setup, too. The way the chipper is mounted to the frame doesn't look factory.

Hahaha, Paul...cold day/hickory/video...now I understand. "0 - warp drive"...excellent description, good visual.

We didn't realized a knife was missing at first but when we put one belt on and engaged the drive the whole unit got a case of the bouncing Watusi...a missing knife, full power, four belts, engage chipper drive and video...THAT would be something Paul would really like.

I would make sure everything is right before I'd run that thing full power! I have seen a knife go clean through the top of a chute. Trust me you never want to see that.

 

[pantheraba]

Did you find a cat or pup in it?

No oinkin', barkin' or meowin' yet...I'll let you know. 10-4 on getting it right before going from impulse to warp drive! I don't want Scotty to be screaming, "She cain't take it, Captain!!!"

I spoke to Vermeer today. They are working to help ID what I have..told me how to determine if engine is Chrysler or Ford and where the VIN might be stamped on the frame.

 

[rbtree]

The engine is a 300 Ford Industrial.

Also, the bed knife may be sharpenable...if needed. It should be reversible and have 4 working edges.

 

[Al Smith]

The bed knives tend to get dished out in the middle .Depending on how badly it's often possible to use a surface grinder to refurbish them .

 

[pantheraba]

Thanks, guys....good info on Ford and knives. My son is monitoring this thread, too...he is doing most of the hands-on work to resurrect it so this is all very welcome info. He's been able to remove 3 knives and anvils...one is going to require heat it seems. He has also welded some tears in the feed tray and replaced the tires and straightened the pintle hitch (heat and sledge hammer).

He said the bearings on the chipper drum seem snug..but the wheel bearings need attention..hopefully only tightening...will repack the bearings while adjusting.

 

[NeTree]

Good motor; not much ever goes wrong with them. Carb icing in the fall, but that shouldn't concern you down there.

 

[Al Smith]

A little word of advice .Use new bolts when you put the cutting assembley back together and grease them up with never-seeze .I've had to drill those damned things out on several occasions and it's a monumental pain in the buttocks .

 

[treesmith]

It seems you can never duck fast enough. I remember when I first started with Asplundh, I was gun-shy of the chipper. One of the other guys made fun of me for my way of feeding from the side. (This was before the days of the triangular table preventing center feed). One cold winter day we were chipping some water oak brush and he had a big cyst behind his ear. A piece of brush tagged it and popped it. He didn't make fun of me any more.....

They're awesome on bamboo, too. We had to cut ROW through a cane patch once. Chipping 5-inch diameter bamboo is a sight to see. The cane touches the drum....and just seems to disappear! It's unbelievable how fast it'll rip it through there. Of course it doesn't chip it so much as shred it....

 

[Al Smith]

Toms lady worked as a brush dragger for another tree service before Tom snatched her up by paying more money .Once she forgot to tie up that shoulder length blond hair and a piece of brush darned near snatched her in .

Danged old chuck and duck is one piece of machinery you need to be especially wary of .They eaten ropes ,saws, people ,fence posts and fence .I even hear they do a job on cell phones .--can ya hear me now ---

 

[pantheraba]

Good tip on new bolts...we have one anvil now that will have to be heated or drilled out to remove...anti-seize is good idea, too.

Another good thing to do with bamboo is burn it...it explodes wonderfully..big pieces are awesome booms.

 

[Al Smith]

That bamboo is some invasive stuff .It grows like a weed even this far north .

I'd imagine farther south if not kept in check it might get as bad as kudzu given enough time .

 

[C. Kirk]

I had a BC1600 not share of the year it was. The belt was solid belt.The best way to start the drum was slow on the clutch and add gas as it engages. I all thru brush from the left side and walk right past the shut. This help cut down on getting wiped. And i never wore gules when chipping and tuck in the shirt. Don't go to big or to long on hardwood. About 8.00" max on most wood. On soft wood like silver maples i could run 8" and about 25' long thru it. After using for a month i fell it love with it on how fast it whet thru a big brush pile.

 

[Al Smith]

Another thing you have to watch on those old chippers is metal fatigue on the chuting .Over a period of years they shake them selves apart .

It could really be bad if the feed table fell apart or the discharge chute gave up the ghost while running brush .I've welded them and the welds held only to break apart some place else .

 

[Tucker943]

Wheel bearings are as important as anything else on that chipper. I speak from experience. Nothing stirs the soul like seeing your chipper wheel headed into oncoming traffic on a 4 lane interstate and watching the chipper rip from side to side behind the truck trying to just tear clean off the truck........ I don't laugh when I tell that story. And that was the first of 2 times I've had a wheel bearing blow apart on a chipper in traffic. The second time, the tire took off into oncoming traffic and hit a car..........