Vermeer BC600 hydraulics problem

[Groundman One]

Howdy,

The feed roller on our BC600 stopped working the other day, the rest of the machine worked fine. The hydraulic oil reservoir was low so we filled up and after a few minutes the feed wheel worked fine. Then on Friday the feed wheel stopped again even though the reservoir read full. We put a bit more in just in case and after a few minutes it worked fine again. My climber was using the chipper at home yesterday and said the feed wheel stopped again. It seems the feed wheel speed control lever (turtle to rabbit) was loose when the feed wheel stopped. I assume there is a oil valve in the speed control lever box that is being affected as well and that is making it loose when the feed wheel itself isn't turning.

Could this be from air in the lines from when using the chipper the hydraulic oil was low? Any suggestion on how best to bleed the lines or what other problem might be causing this?

Thanks for any help. It might save us a few bucks at the garage.

 

[Eq Broker]

It usually isn't air forming in the hydraulic lines as there is an air vent usually on all hydraulic tanks and any air in the lines would cycle out in a few minutes. It could in the flow control valve (rabbit/turtle). Make sure it isn't loosening during use as if it goes all the way down (turtle) the feed roller may not turn. Usually the arm on the flow control valve is hard to move. Do you have any other hydraulic functions on the chipper? If so, when the feed roller stops turning see if the other function quit working as well.

Hope this helps!

Dave
Global Equipment Exporters
770-420-6400

 

[Groundman One]

Thanks for jumping in.

The speed control for the feed wheel stays in place where it is set, but the shaft the lever is connected to that goes into the small black box seems to get loose at the same time the feed wheel stops turning. And turning the lever from slow to fast and back has no effect when the stoppage occurs.

No other hydraulic functions other than the feed wheel. Motor is fine. We need the machine the rest of the week so it's off to the garage with it today I think.

Just FYI, here's a pic (from the web). A large one at that. You can see the speed control box left and up from the motor where the four hydraulic hoses meet.

 

[Eq Broker]

It could be the coil on the right side of the flow control valve. You could get a test light and when it stops, see if the coil is energizing. The cartridge inside of the coil can become weathered and you need to oil it lightly. The coil has the 2 wires coming out of it.

Hope this helps!

Dave
Global Equipment Exporters
770-420-6400

 

[Groundman One]

Very groovy. Going to look into that.

Thanks.

 

[Groundman One]

It could be the coil on the right side of the flow control valve. You could get a test light and when it stops, see if the coil is energizing. The cartridge inside of the coil can become weathered and you need to oil it lightly. The coil has the 2 wires coming out of it.

Hope this helps!

Dave
Global Equipment Exporters
770-420-6400

Turns out it's a problem with the sensor that reads the speed of the flywheel-grinding disc and sends it to the coil to adjust the speed of the feed wheel. We pulled out the wire that sends that signal from the sensor to the coil and the feed wheel works perfectly, albeit at full feed speed only. So for the moment the chipper is a bit more manual than usual, you have to keep an eye on it and make sure it doesn't slow down and jam up, but we can work with it. Apparently it's a pain to get at the sensor to fix it. Might do that this week.

Thanks again for the input.

 

[Eq Broker]

Glad you found the problem. The speed sensor may have gotten into the flywheel and it ground it down. They aren't very expensive at all.

 

[Groundman One]

Glad you found the problem. The speed sensor may have gotten into the flywheel and it ground it down. They aren't very expensive at all.

Bit of a pain to get at from what the repair guy said, hopefully not too much in labour.

Maybe we'll send it to you for fixin'.