Chipper pto driven wood chippers

brown40 · May 18, 2016

I have a 'Value Leader' which is another Chinese version of the basic design. I think the debris swirling around and building up at the base of the gearbox pulley, the hammering from the PTO that box feeds, and the vibration off the unit itself all played into the pulley problem... the allen key would give up before the shaft. They seem to just eat drive roll belts... having the belt exposed and drawing gunk into the pulleys accounts for most of the wear. I bought the heavy duty green ones once, but they didn't last much longer--I have concluded its a wear item. I don't vary the RPM's at all really... my machines torque peaks at just under 1700 rpm, so I run it 1850-2100. If I have bigger stuff I'll crank it up a little to get the flywheel going. Its awfully loud to blast at 2600, and blows fine at the lower speeds.

Glrret · May 21, 2016

A person named Will at Woodmaxx contacted me this past Monday and informed me that the replacement parts had been shipped. The parted arrived on Thursday, and I noticed that the new pulley is a lot heavier duty than the original one and it also has 2 set screws, 1 on the key way and the other off set 90 deg.

I installed the new parts yesterday and gave the loctite setup for a full day. I plan to use the chipper today so I'll provided an update later on how it goes.

Code54 · May 21, 2016

Good to hear, sounds like they are always trying to improve the product!

ultrarunner · May 21, 2016

We used tapered shafts with a keyway and a locking nut on demanding applications in the fab shop... never had one of those loosen... and needed persuading to take apart.

TurtleCreekFarm · May 21, 2016

Glrret, after seeing your failure, I decided to look at mine (the bearings were do for lubricanting anyway). My set screws were tight but the belt already has cracks in it. I have about 10 - 14 hrs on mine. Needless to say, I just order a spare belt. Did your old pulley look like this?

aczlan · May 21, 2016

I would check your idler pulley (the white pulley on the long bolt with all the washers) to make sure it is not wobbling around and that the bearing is not bound up. It looks almost like it is dragging and causing the excess wear on the back of the belt (note that the center of the belt where the pulley drops down is not worn but the edges are).

Aaron Z

FatTire · May 21, 2016

FYI, just saw this chipper on Craigslist in northern Colorado. Not a lot of info, but from the photos I think it might be an SC5540 (5 inch chipper/shredder). If that is correct, $2K might be a good price.

Woodchipper

teg · May 21, 2016

FatTire said:
FYI, just saw this chipper on Craigslist in northern Colorado. Not a lot of info, but from the photos I think it might be an SC5540 (5 inch chipper/shredder). If that is correct, $2K might be a good price....

The ad says: "...3 point wood chipper, used roughly 15 hours, like new, stored inside. $2100 OBO, new ones are running $7500..."

Only the ones made from gold are priced that high (just in case the link dies, adding photos from CL)

View attachment 469357 . . . . . . .. View attachment 469358

Code54 · May 21, 2016

teg said:
The ad says: "...3 point wood chipper, used roughly 15 hours, like new, stored inside. $2100 OBO, new ones are running $7500..."

Only the ones made from gold are priced that high (just in case the link dies, adding photos from CL)

View attachment 469357 . . . . . . .. View attachment 469358

Sure are right there! IF it is a Echo 5540 the MSRP on the website shows it at 2,995 - he is trying to make people think it is worth a LOT more than it is....

Glrret · May 21, 2016

TurtleCreekFarm said:
View attachment 469345 View attachment 469346Glrret, after seeing your failure, I decided to look at mine (the bearings were do for lubricanting anyway). My set screws were tight but the belt already has cracks in it. I have about 10 - 14 hrs on mine. Needless to say, I just order a spare belt. Did your old pulley look like this?

The pulley that went bad on mine was the one on the pump, I can 't see it in the picture you provided. Here is a picture of mine when I discovered the problem. This is looking lower between the drive and the idler pulleys.