Well new here. Thanks to all other threads found quite a lot info and manual on how to maintain my old chipper.
Backstory, bought in fall since I have to take down about 50-75 mature firs on the property and needed a chipper that wouldnt brake the bank.
The chipper is 1960s asplundh 12" drum or so I was told, it got probably 5-6 layers of paint on it so no way to read any labels / tags. Powered by 4-cyl ford that seems to be in decent condition. I got it cheap $1250, so I knew there will be issues.
First thing I noticed is axle shifted on the leaf spring on one side probably 2 inches forward, wheels are close to rubbing but no big deal. Tried to undo u-bolts and it started to twist off the bolt instead of the nut. So gotta get new ones before i fix that.
Then came blade change. With it came 4 used blades that I had a shop sharpen for me for $80. So to remove chute was a pain but i got it off, the cover over the drum had one rusted out hinge, so ill have to weld a new one, but probably do both while im at it.
Now came the fun part, getting the wedges out. Each got 3 bolts, 3/8 allen drive, my battery impact got them out no problem, but the plug holes for popping wedges had nothing in them, just steel bottom at about an inch below surface. Blow out threads with compressed air and start screwing the long bolt in. With my 48" breaker bar that 1/2" bolt started to bend as it bottomed out, since i didnt want to break it, just took a punch and went hammering on the wedges, don't know how but it popped up. So I unscrew the bolt and take out a wedge and to my surprise there is about an inch long piece of thread sticking out the bottom of it, from the plug hole. I was thoroughly confused at this point. Turns out previous owner had driven the plugs all the way to the bottom and since they were so packed i couldnt tell they still had allen drive tops. The first one i had used wise grips to get it to come out the bottom. Went to work on getting remaining three out, first one out no problem, the next two are stripped heads, so will drill them out and use an extractor. But the one that came out after screwing the long bolt in still doesnt want to pop out the wedge, i am at the point where i dont want to break long bolt in it as it will suck getting it out. So for now I jsut left everything to soak in pb blaster.
You would think this horror ends here but no I went to flip the bed knife. It came out with a good amount of force but without major hassle.
Some numbnuts instead of flipping the hardened cutter bar just flipped entire assembly 180 putting soft metal toward the cutters, this was done a while ago since both cutter bar which is removable from anvil body are now 45 degree chamfered. So someone flipped it backwards, and then the next ten people just kept raising it higher and higher. I figured to grind the bevel flat and weld on a strip of mild steel just to keep things somewhat decent.
If anyone has tips on removing the wedges, outside of beating the crap out of them I'd appreciate it.
Hopefully next weekend ill be able to get fan housing off as grease nipple broke off on that side when i tried to lube in the fall and continue all this mess.
Backstory, bought in fall since I have to take down about 50-75 mature firs on the property and needed a chipper that wouldnt brake the bank.
The chipper is 1960s asplundh 12" drum or so I was told, it got probably 5-6 layers of paint on it so no way to read any labels / tags. Powered by 4-cyl ford that seems to be in decent condition. I got it cheap $1250, so I knew there will be issues.
First thing I noticed is axle shifted on the leaf spring on one side probably 2 inches forward, wheels are close to rubbing but no big deal. Tried to undo u-bolts and it started to twist off the bolt instead of the nut. So gotta get new ones before i fix that.
Then came blade change. With it came 4 used blades that I had a shop sharpen for me for $80. So to remove chute was a pain but i got it off, the cover over the drum had one rusted out hinge, so ill have to weld a new one, but probably do both while im at it.
Now came the fun part, getting the wedges out. Each got 3 bolts, 3/8 allen drive, my battery impact got them out no problem, but the plug holes for popping wedges had nothing in them, just steel bottom at about an inch below surface. Blow out threads with compressed air and start screwing the long bolt in. With my 48" breaker bar that 1/2" bolt started to bend as it bottomed out, since i didnt want to break it, just took a punch and went hammering on the wedges, don't know how but it popped up. So I unscrew the bolt and take out a wedge and to my surprise there is about an inch long piece of thread sticking out the bottom of it, from the plug hole. I was thoroughly confused at this point. Turns out previous owner had driven the plugs all the way to the bottom and since they were so packed i couldnt tell they still had allen drive tops. The first one i had used wise grips to get it to come out the bottom. Went to work on getting remaining three out, first one out no problem, the next two are stripped heads, so will drill them out and use an extractor. But the one that came out after screwing the long bolt in still doesnt want to pop out the wedge, i am at the point where i dont want to break long bolt in it as it will suck getting it out. So for now I jsut left everything to soak in pb blaster.
You would think this horror ends here but no I went to flip the bed knife. It came out with a good amount of force but without major hassle.
Some numbnuts instead of flipping the hardened cutter bar just flipped entire assembly 180 putting soft metal toward the cutters, this was done a while ago since both cutter bar which is removable from anvil body are now 45 degree chamfered. So someone flipped it backwards, and then the next ten people just kept raising it higher and higher. I figured to grind the bevel flat and weld on a strip of mild steel just to keep things somewhat decent.
If anyone has tips on removing the wedges, outside of beating the crap out of them I'd appreciate it.
Hopefully next weekend ill be able to get fan housing off as grease nipple broke off on that side when i tried to lube in the fall and continue all this mess.
