Raytree drum mulcher

   / Raytree drum mulcher
  • Thread Starter
#41  
What I did :
1. Remove cover and I took a leaf blower and cleaned out all of the dirt and debris.
2. Record the tension bolt for correct belt tension on reassembly. I used a set of what I call spreaders. It is like a compass you use to make circles. I also took a perma marker and drew a line down the middle of the threads on the tensioner bolt and backed it off 3 turns, or loose enough to take the belt off. Note how many turns you make you'll need it for reassembly.
3. Before you loosen the 4 bolts that are holding the drive check the gap between the frame and the edge of the motor. Mine was .037. I used a set of feller gauges to do this, and used them to support the motor during reassembly. I was able to do this because I layed the mulcher down horizontally to do the job. ( I guess that should have been step 1 but I am going off memory )
4. The 4 nuts you will be looking at will take a 15/16 socket. If you don't have an impact wrench you may ought to get one or have a helper close by to hold backup for you on the large allen head bolts on the inside of the mulcher. Once you have those loose take the belt off. I made sure that I put my belt back on the same way I removed it so it would be turning in the same direction. Cogged belts are picky about how they are tensioned and lined up so I tried to put things back the same way I found them. With the exception of the pulleys.
5. Raytree uses a 2 part coupling design. It is captured to the shaft with a tapper, and a keyway. You will see 4 allen head bolts. I think they were 8mm but I cant recall. Anyway, you will also see 2 threaded holes. These are to push the tappers apart from each other. I removed 2 bolts completely to use to push with, and I loosened the other 2 and left about 2 threads holding the 2 halves of the coupling together. You will also see a bolt in the center of the shafts with a big round thick washer. You can remove these. The bolts and washers will allow you to get back to the proper placement of the hub assembly later. There is a split in the hub that opens up the outer hub so it will slide off the shaft once the hubs are separated. You want to be careful here though, just use enough spread with a wedge or flat head screwdriver to get the hub to move, also, insert the screwdriver as far out as possible so on reassembly it doesn't get in the way of the flat washer to line up the couplings. These things will break in half, and then you will be trying to find a new one ! When separating the coupling hubs go slow, 1/4 turn or less on each one of the 2 pushing bolts you are using to separate the coupling hubs. You'll feel it when they separate, they are pretty tight. The hub should slide off easily.
6. Now that you have both pulley's off, change there locations ( drive on driven, driven on drive ). What I done here is slid the pulley's on till they liked about a 1/4 of an inch going completely onto the shaft. Then I let the bolt and washer ease them on the rest of the way onto the shaft. The washer acts as a stop to align the inner part of the hub to the exact placement on the shafts. I didn't tighten the bolt in the center to tight, but I didn't want it to move either. I left the locking washer off during this process.
7. Remove the 2 separating bolts used to push with and insert them back in the holes they came out of, see why we left the other 2 bolts in now, no lining up issues. Remove the wedges if you haven't already done so. Start tightening the bolts as so they will be letting the tapper attach to the shaft. You will want to do this in an even manner, criss cross method. Do this to both pulleys.
8. Replace the belt.
9. Raise hyd. motor enough as to let the proper spacing to ride along the slotted hole in the frame and adjust your bolt tension back to where it was when you started, and tighten the hold down bolts. You will have to have an extension to do this cause the pulley you just put on this shaft is nearly in the way.
10. Go get a cold beer... Good Luck
If I decide to do it I will get a RPM tach and see what it is before and after swapping the pulley's, but it makes sense once you think about it. Thanks for the tutorial, it's always good to listen to someone who has done it, you ought to make a Youtube video, I bet it would get some views. Charlie.
 
   / Raytree drum mulcher
  • Thread Starter
#42  
Alright so I swapped my pulley's this morning, prior to the swap I was getting a reading of 1115 rpm's on the drum pulley, after the swap I was getting a reading of 1970 rpm's on the drum pulley, for an increase of 855 rpm's, all readings were at wide open on the machine which is 2400 rpm's. Only time will tell if it will hold up under the increase, we will see.
 
   / Raytree drum mulcher
  • Thread Starter
#43  
Could you put a pic up to see how you did the grease nipple extender out of curiosity please?
While I was swapping the pulleys this morning I snapped a couple of pictures of the grease nipple extension.
20250826_090837.jpg
20250826_091342.jpg
 
   / Raytree drum mulcher #44  
While I was swapping the pulleys this morning I snapped a couple of pictures of the grease nipple extension.View attachment 3981936View attachment 3981937
Well alright Charlie, you will see a big difference in the way it preforms. I just run mine this evening for about 30 min. I wish I had thought about this from the start. The pieces it mulches up are so much finer now. It still isn't a high flow, but I am doing it for myself so I can go slow and do my place like I want to. Great Job !
 
   / Raytree drum mulcher
  • Thread Starter
#45  
Yeah, it's not a high capacity machine but I do believe it's well worth the $6k that you can get them for, and it's well made. Mine paid for itself within 2 months of me purchasing it, and you aren't in debt $25-30k . The only thing I can"t figure is why in the world wouldn't the company set these up like this from the factory since it's such an improvement in performance, I have a job tomorrow that I will test it on in conjunction with my forestry mower. Let me know if you don't get a response from the company about an owners manual and we will figure out a way to get you a copy of the one they sent me. Charlie.
 
   / Raytree drum mulcher
  • Thread Starter
#46  
Well alright Charlie, you will see a big difference in the way it preforms. I just run mine this evening for about 30 min. I wish I had thought about this from the start. The pieces it mulches up are so much finer now. It still isn't a high flow, but I am doing it for myself so I can go slow and do my place like I want to. Great Job !
Also Post #42 has all the numbers that you wanted information on RPM's before and after the pulley swap
 
   / Raytree drum mulcher
  • Thread Starter
#47  
Did a job with the newly transformed Raytree mulcher and it definitely performed much better since swapping the pulleys, it did a good job on some 2"-3" hardwood oaks for a low flow mulcher.
20250828_163025.jpg
20250828_154041.jpg
20250828_163033.jpg
 
   / Raytree drum mulcher #48  
   / Raytree drum mulcher
  • Thread Starter
#49  
Looks pretty good. I believe my next move on mine will be to put some double sided knife cutters coupled with my aggressive factory mulching teeth. Those things are kinda expensive though.
Did you get a response from the company about an owner's manual yet?
 

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