How'd it go today?

[lxskllr]

Bummer. Hope that's it for awhile. Pretty soon, it's gonna be getting a little cold for roadside repairs.

Went to the chipper to take a look today. Figured out what engine I have. Looks like I got a couple more horses than I thought. It was sold as 27, but from what I can find on the web, it's 31.5.

My locks I bought for the fluids are too big, so I stopped back at TSC and got smaller locks.

Oil filter was a huge hassle trying to figure out. The model number was on top where I couldn't see it. Every pic I tried taking with my phone was blurry. I needed another hand.

Broke the pusher paddle trying to get it out. It's jammed in there tight. I might have to try auguring it out with my bit brace, but I don't have anything that'll reach the full length.

Fuel tank has some scary looking rust on the bottom. Nothing that can't be dealt with, but it's probably spendy to buy another one. It might eventually become a plastic gascan :^D

Still need to figure out how to raise the feedwheel. I think I know, but I didn't feel like screwing with the big springs today. Daylight was slipping fast for an extended project to "see what's in there".

Air filter had a huge wad of tape around it holding it together cause the clips wouldn't clip tight. Literally 10 seconds a clip bending them with my leatherman fixed it. Not sure why the original owner didn't do that.

Didn't really accomplish a whole lot, but I'm more familiar with the machine now. Strainer's a bit of a mystery. If I'm looking at the right thing, it doesn't look like it was ever removed. Have to study it closer.

 

[Nutball]

The horsepower can be affected by how they have a particular model of engine setup. It's stupid, but they do that, where they use the same engine, but detune it to justify charging less.

Most gas tanks I see are plastic.

 

[lxskllr]

I'm just going by what the auction house said. They probably know less than I do, since I have the time to really hunt stuff down. The only markings are the engine ID, which I accidentally found trying to peer under the "hood". I still need to figure out what years they were made. It's an older engine. Started around 2005, ended?

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Bummer. Hope that's it for awhile. Pretty soon, it's gonna be getting a little cold for roadside repairs.

Anybody wanna start a poll as to when my 460 for the f350 is going to be done that I sent in a year last october? I mean they called and said the machining is done. Now waiting on assembly. Any takers? First snow storm... 4 inches of rain.... sub zero temps. Plenty of room for betting on a number or conditions.
Yes, on a slate driveway.

 

[lxskllr]

Jeez, what did you get done to it? Sounds like they aren't in any hurry, Get to it when they feel like like working on something...

edit:
I was reviewing my pics, and I think I got a year on the engine. It's partly missing, but it looks like an epa year of 2006. That anniversary sticker on the chute might be exactly right; a 2008 chipper.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Dude just kept dropping the ball on it. The machinest. I am guessing there might be drugs involved. I've had him do motors in the past, no problems. Until now, after Covid. Once they made him shut his shop for two years, he lost some good employees etc. Now he just wants to retire. But I would like him to finish my stuff first so I can retire too. Lol

 

[Tree09]

Fuel tank has some scary looking rust on the bottom. Nothing that can't be dealt with, but it's probably spendy to buy another one. It might eventually become a plastic gascan :^D

Put some gravel and soapy water or diesel in it and shake it around. You can put it in your bed and drive around, or even better rachet strap it to a concrete mixer if you have access to one. I've even heard of guys tying it to their tire and driving up and down the driveway slowly, a backhoe would be even better since you could lift the tire up. Dump it out, rinse it out real good, and get some red kote to recoat the tank. It'll be good as new, if there's holes you can have them welded or brazed. I did my gas tank for my 52 case backhoe, works great.

Edited Ps: if you have to weld or braze it, it's still a gas tank and will explode if you don't know how to purge it. Not a diy kinda thing unless you actually know what you're doing and have the tools to do so. There's shops that can do it for you.

 

[Burnham]

Might think about using a length of chain rather than gravel. Easier to clean, maybe.

 

[Tree09]

More risk of a spark but sure.

 

[Nutball]

If the gravel contains quartz, it could cause lots of electrical sparks. Neither should be a problem when wet.

 

[Nutball]

I thought model mushrooms were supposed to be very good. I found some at the store, dehydrated. I cooked them, and they tasted like ash and horse stall. That's probably what they grew them in.

 

[Tree09]

I maybe should have specified rocks, not gravel per say. You don't want any fines in there.

 

[Kaveman]

BBs for your bb gun. Great for cleaning tanks and such. Copper coated bbs are fairly common and not near as prone to sparking, though the copper coating does come off after awhile.

 

[Burnham]

I maybe should have specified rocks, not gravel per say. You don't want any fines in there.

Soon as you start tumbling rocks, you will make fines.

 

[lxskllr]

Fooled with the chipper again today. Feed wheel won't engage. I'll have to dig through the manual and see if anything looks interesting. I did the one easy thing and topped off the hydraulic fluid, but I think there was enough in there. A video from the auction showed it working, so I'm not sure what happened. I shut the engine down once with the hydraulic valve open, and the wheel turned about ⅛ turn when the RPMs were dropping, but that's all I could get out of it. I think it'll have to go to John for some professional attention.

Greasegun worked great. How do y'all handle excess grease when it gets purged? I was thinking a stick to scrape it off, and put it in an old nut tin or something. Wiping it with rags will leave me ragless in short order, and I have *a lot* of rags.

 

[Trains]

Soon as you start tumbling rocks, you will make fines.

packet of 100 small nuts, empty into tank, slosh around, remove hard to get nuts with magnet on stick.

 

[Knotorious]

View attachment 134424View attachment 134425

Goofing around with the wife yesterday.

I think the Unicender is really cool. Isn't it the OG of multicender devices? I just don't like how you have to wrap your rope around the device to descend in a controlled manner. If there were ever an emergency, that might be problematic, but maybe I'm overestimating the potential for a dilemma. In general, I just think that's a functionality defect that the more recent devices have found solutions for. But what do I know? I'm just "that guy with the face."

UNRELATED Update: What have I been up to? Well, still making YouTube videos. Having a lot of fun with that. I've said this before, but this time I really mean it: I'm running out of metaphorical fuel for creating new hitches. It's not that I've run out of designs, it's more that I'm low on enthusiasm. I tend to do that with my hobbies. I'll find something I'm interested in and then completely burn it out. Oftentimes I never return to the hobbies ever again. I've taught myself everything from origami to knife and hatchet and axe throwing to primitive survival shelter building to synthesis of organic compounds in homemade laboratories (complete with fume hoods) and beyond...

I went balls to the walls on all of those hobbies (and many more) and inevitably burned out and never returned to them ever again. Thankfully, I still enjoy making educational content surrounding tree climbing...just not so much with the hitches these days. I don't think that I'll ever grow tired of tree climbing; it's just so cathartic and helps me build strength in muscles (mostly muscle groups) you can't readily access with gym equipment.

So yeah, "big things poppin', little things droppin'!"

 

[lxskllr]

Well, there's still lots of stuff to video, even if it isn't hitches. Important thing is to stay busy doing /something/.

 

[Marc-Antoine]

Soon as you start tumbling rocks, you will make fines.

Soon as you start tumbling something on rust, you'll make fines.

 

[Bermy]

Fooled with the chipper again today. Feed wheel won't engage. I'll have to dig through the manual and see if anything looks interesting. I did the one easy thing and topped off the hydraulic fluid, but I think there was enough in there. A video from the auction showed it working, so I'm not sure what happened. I shut the engine down once with the hydraulic valve open, and the wheel turned about ⅛ turn when the RPMs were dropping, but that's all I could get out of it. I think it'll have to go to John for some professional attention.

Greasegun worked great. How do y'all handle excess grease when it gets purged? I was thinking a stick to scrape it off, and put it in an old nut tin or something. Wiping it with rags will leave me ragless in short order, and I have *a lot* of rags.

My chipper has a hydraulic bypass switch. If it's off, all the oil bypasses and nothing turns, well, the feedwheel turns very very slowly as some little bit of oil is getting by. Maybe see if there is something similar on yours?
Excess grease, stick to scrape, rag to wipe...lots of rags have gone in the bin, along with random sticks. I also have a 2' paint scraper in the toolbox, usefull for all sorts of scraping and cleaning

 

[Kaveman]

I think the Unicender is really cool. Isn't it the OG of multicender devices? I just don't like how you have to wrap your rope around the device to descend in a controlled manner. If there were ever an emergency, that might be problematic, but maybe I'm overestimating the potential for a dilemma. In general, I just think that's a functionality defect that the more recent devices have found solutions for. But what do I know? I'm just "that guy with the face."

UNRELATED Update: What have I been up to? Well, still making YouTube videos. Having a lot of fun with that. I've said this before, but this time I really mean it: I'm running out of metaphorical fuel for creating new hitches. It's not that I've run out of designs, it's more that I'm low on enthusiasm. I tend to do that with my hobbies. I'll find something I'm interested in and then completely burn it out. Oftentimes I never return to the hobbies ever again. I've taught myself everything from origami to knife and hatchet and axe throwing to primitive survival shelter building to synthesis of organic compounds in homemade laboratories (complete with fume hoods) and beyond...

I went balls to the walls on all of those hobbies (and many more) and inevitably burned out and never returned to them ever again. Thankfully, I still enjoy making educational content surrounding tree climbing...just not so much with the hitches these days. I don't think that I'll ever grow tired of tree climbing; it's just so cathartic and helps me build strength in muscles (mostly muscle groups) you can't readily access with gym equipment.

So yeah, "big things poppin', little things droppin'!"

Come learn to gaff. Just put up a training pole.

 

[Nutball]

Fooled with the chipper again today. Feed wheel won't engage. I'll have to dig through the manual and see if anything looks interesting. I did the one easy thing and topped off the hydraulic fluid, but I think there was enough in there. A video from the auction showed it working, so I'm not sure what happened. I shut the engine down once with the hydraulic valve open, and the wheel turned about ⅛ turn when the RPMs were dropping, but that's all I could get out of it. I think it'll have to go to John for some professional attention.

Greasegun worked great. How do y'all handle excess grease when it gets purged? I was thinking a stick to scrape it off, and put it in an old nut tin or something. Wiping it with rags will leave me ragless in short order, and I have *a lot* of rags.

I follow the manual for greasing intervals. I might do less on the less important areas. Granted it's possible that the manufacturer might want you to use just enough to cause no immediate problems, but little enough that it wears out, so they can sell you a new part, but no sense in greasing everything such that it just oozes out and drips onto stuff. I hate bumping into something and getting grease on me.

One place I worked for said 15 pumps on the drum bearings. A chart on a similar chipper said something like 2 pumps every 5 hrs. No globs on that machine, but their machines have loads of it coming out of everywhere. I also grease it while running, so it is less likely to ooze out and more likely to evenly coat.

 

[Nutball]

I decided to read what all extra papers they include in the CC statement. Looks like C1 admits to giving my info to others at the bottom of the chart. No sense in telling them to stop now. They've opened pandora's box. If I had loads of money to throw away, I'd have them go round up everything that escaped from the box.

 

[treebilly]

@lxskllr
On some of the bandit chippers the clutch needs to be engaged for the hydraulics to work. Also if it had a winch (I didn’t look to close) there is a selector valve that switch’s flow from the wheels to the winch.

Had a long day. ~100 foot dead Norway spruce (lightning struck as well) removal in a cemetery. Pretty steep grade for the crane set up which takes a lot of time along with lots of mats and cribbing. Long droopy limbs. I’d have to suspend the pick so a guy could walk around and cut everything he could reach, then fly it away so they could clean up, then rinse repeat three or four times. Then do it all over again. Thankfully the boss sent a loaf of guys over right as we were picking the wood to help with clean up. Made short work of the raking and mat pick up.

 

[lxskllr]

I might have a lead on the chipper. Could be the autofeed settings are jacked. I didn't think it even had autofeed, but maybe? Even if it doesn't, it could be the tach is interfering with operation. In any case, I'll try turning autofeed off on the tach, and see if it then works. If that gets me something, I can try setting up the speeds for proper operation, and I guess look around for an autofeed module.

There's so many ifs, ands, what-ifs, and maybes in the manual. "You can do this if you have this part, or do this other thing if you that other option. Otherwise ¯\_(ツ)_/¯"