Vermeer 1250 feed wheels

[Davestation75]

Hello all.
I purchased an older used Vermeer 1250 at a decent price knowing it needed some work for property use only since we have a lot of trees.
I replaced the 4 knives, bed plate and got the hydraulics working, etc and it operates great overall. Machine has paid for itself several times over. Even my girl was skeptical but now she understands why I dragged this thing home.

Recently the fixed feed roller quit and of course I have a 100x100 area to clear for a pole barn.
I removed the motor to find the motor shaft key failed and chewed up the motor shaft and roller input shaft pretty good.
I can still operate it but it takes a lot to feed it, especially larger material.
Do I need to lift the entire feed assembly out from the machine or can I take the rollers out individually repair as needed?
If I have to pull the entire assembly, might as well overall everything.
I have a parts request for prices submitted to the dealer. I'm gonna try to get by as is and plan for a winter project to fix this thing.

Any input, advice, repair tips is greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance

 

[Sidecarflip]

I sharpen chipper knives and anvils in the machine shop if you are interested. .75 cents per inch of cutting edge and you pay the inbound shipping and I pay the outbound and add that to the invoice. I also have in stock knife attachment Grade A325 attachment hardware for some chippers.

You can PM me for more info if interested.

 

[Sidecarflip]

I might add that with the ever increasing cost of new through hardened and tempered chipper knives today, especially commercial knives and anvils, it's getting to the point rapidly where it is economically prudent to get them sharpened numerous times. Unlike most knife grinders that have a static included angle setting, I can vary the included angle to adjust for the type of wood you are predominantly chipping like soft woods (which chip better and build less pitch on the knife face if the included angle is steeper or hardwood, where the included angle needs to be 30 degrees or less.

Arborists tend to ignore the Anvils, but the anvil plays an important part in the chipping process as it provides the shear point where the rotating chipper knife actually shears off the chip and any irregularities in the anvil, like divots or chips will cause the chipped wood to come out in odd shaped pieces and excess clearance between the anvil and the rotating knife always causes the chips to string out.. Nice thing about anvils is, there are 4 sides you can rotate to, to expose a new 90 degree square edge, however, the clearance between the anvil (which is adjustable) and the rotating chipper knife should always be close without any physical contact (the rotating knife will always have a bit of 'wobble' or run out so the rotating knives should always be checked (by manually rotating the drum or flywheel and checking the overall clearance for ALL the knives as they pass by the anvil.

I tend to set mine with an old expired plastic credit card, That will give you the proper clearance without excessive clearance and the resultant stringing of chips.

When I sharpen anvils, I square the flat within 0.005 end to end and grind down the flat tp remove all divots and chips in the anvil. Anvils, like chipper knives are through hardened and tempered so regrinding numerous times can be done, so long as the anvil adjustment isn't exceeded.